Municipal officials in Walzbrych, Poland say they are studying an anonymous 10-page letter, delivered on 23 April, that claims to reveal the exact location of a World War II–era train packed with Nazi-looted treasure and concealed in a camouflaged tunnel beneath the Lower Silesian countryside.
City spokeswoman Kamila Świerczyńska told local media the envelope contained a witness deposition, a terrain profile, detailed geodetic tables and a map showing a spur of track terminating behind heavy steel gates “with three carriages inside.” Authorities describe the paperwork as “realistic and precise,” yet note the author has not requested an excavation permit.
According to excerpts published by the Daily Mail and relayed by Greek outlet Protothema, the wagons are each about 12 meters long, four meters wide and four meters high, and are said to hold “precious metals, including gold.” ProtoThema Russian news site Lenta.ru adds that the letter writer claims to have located “camouflaged train cars” hidden near Wałbrzych’s southern rail corridor.
A legend deep in the Owl Mountains
The so-called “gold train” allegedly left Breslau (modern Wrocław) in early 1945 loaded with valuables—rumored to include panels from the lost Amber Room—before vanishing into the vast Riese tunnel complex under the Owl Mountains as Soviet forces closed in.
Treasure fever last peaked in 2015, when hobbyists Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter presented ground-penetrating-radar images they believed showed a 98-meter armored convoy; exploratory drilling later revealed only natural rock formations, and the dig was shut down.
Officials weigh the next step
Heritage officer Anna Nowakowska cautioned that any new search must first clear Poland’s Monuments Protection Office, noting the tunnels may contain wartime explosives. “The documentation is intriguing, but verification on site is essential,” she said.
Military historian Marek Łuszczyna urged skepticism. “Until someone puts a camera in the passage, this remains folklore,” he told Lenta.ru, recalling the false alarms of the past decade.
Under Polish law, artifacts recovered from the site would become state property, though finders may petition for a reward of up to ten percent of the haul’s assessed value. For now, the letter—and the promise of bullion beneath Wałbrzych—sits in the city archive, awaiting a decision that could turn legend into a dig, or consign it once more to myth.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.