Russia Could Try And Seize Nazi Gold Train From the Poles

[Brasscasing]

This possible find caught my attention at the time as I'm a bit of treasure hunting hobbyist myself.

I should have expected the Russians would try to stick their snouts into the hunt itself or lay claim to the "booty"...

Report: Putin Could Seize Nazi Gold Train for Alleged Soviet Reparations

..."Russian strongman Vladimir Putin may be moving to seize the famed Nazi ghost train laden with gold that has ostensibly been discovered in Poland.

 How could he do it? A Russian lawyer says Kremlin could lay claim to the valuables as compensation for the country’s losses in the Second World War, according to the Independent.

The so-called ‘Nazi gold train’ has been reportedly been found hear the town of Walbrzych, where rumors have been constant for years that a train filled with gold had been abandoned during the Nazi era and was lying undiscovered nearby. Polish government officials say that they are now “more than 99 per cent certain the train exists.”

The train could reveal the long-sought solution to the mystery of the ‘Amber room’ - an ornate chamber made of amber pearls thought to be worth at least $300 million. It was stolen by German troops from a palace near St. Petersburg during the war.

 The Russian lawyer told a Russian news site that “representatives of Russia should undoubtedly be involved in determining the value of the items discovered if the train is located.

“In this case, Poland is obliged to engage international experts to clarify what is in the cargo. If the property has been taken away from territory, including the USSR, then the cargo, in accordance with international law, must be passed to the Russian side," the lawyer said."...

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/nazi-gold-train-russia/2015/08/30/id/672660/

Now I don't think the Polish government is going to think they're "obliged" to do anything if the train and it's contents are found.

If the Polish government was being cautious though they'd move to secure the general area as the Russians are known for raiding across international borders as with Georgia, Ukraine and more recently the hostage taking of an Estonian security official.

If the train is found and the contents do include some property from the Soviet war era, I would hope the Polish government would turn the tables on the Kremlin and cite that the contents should be awarded to the Polish nation as war reparations for the combined Nazi/Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 when the Germans and USSR were working together.

Brass

[alex330]

Invite independent observers in, hold them at a distance with armed men and find no traces of Russian property?

[Darth_Budda]

If the Amber room is on the train.. It should go back to Russia.

The gold they can fight over.. But the Amber room should go back to the palace

[ML]

A German gas firm, Ruhrgas AG of Essen, Germany has already paid for the reconstruction of the Amber Room.

Not the same amber that was taken, but amber nevertheless.  I have seen the room; looks fine to me.

[ML]

 How could he do it? A Russian lawyer says Kremlin could lay claim to the valuables as compensation for the country’s losses in the Second World War, according to the Independent.

It should be used for partial recognition of the over 20,000 Polish military personnel and civilians murdered by Russians in the Katyn massacre.

[Brasscasing]

At least the Poles have secured the area...

Polish authorities seal off area believed to hide lost Nazi gold train

..." On Monday, Lower Silesia Gov. Tomasz Smolarz announced in Wroclaw, the regional capital, that the area around the purported discovery was being sealed off by police. Army munitions experts were to be dispatched to secure the approach to the train's suspected location, he said.

"First and foremost, we have to be sure of people's safety," Smolarz said, announcing the closure of a small wooded area along tracks leading from Wroclaw into the underground tunnel network. "Securing of the area will be continued by police, forest guards and railway security guards."

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-poland-nazi-gold-train-20150831-story.html

This is important for a number of reasons not least of which is the possibility of an incursion by "raiders"  or a "little green men" type unit contracted by the Kremlin.

Further, if this train is recovered and the contents are shown to be artifacts of historical/monetary value from WW2 it'll be an important find on many levels and may answer some questions that have perplexed historians for decades.

Combat Engineers in first if you please, Poland. Both the Wehrmacht and SS were known for setting booby traps.

It should be used for partial recognition of the over 20,000 Polish military personnel and civilians murdered by Russians in the Katyn massacre.

Exactly, the Polish people have a long list of unresolved atrocities perpetrated on their peoples/country by both the Germans and Soviets during WW2.

Regardless of the origin of the contents (if any) on that train. Poland has the first right of salvage and it would be only fitting to allow them first right of disposition of same.

Brass

[mendeleyev]

Escorted by a Russian military historian, I was (at least according to the government) the first Western journalist allowed to tour an area (Modnoe) this past June that may end up rivaling the Katyn massacre. The area is beyond Tver and the Polish government has been allowed in to catalog and memorialize the thousands of Polish intellectuals and civilian leaders who were put on boxcars and sent to Russia for mass executions and burial.

Poland might need to remind Russia of that fact, along with the Katyn affair.

Equally sad, thousands of Russian political prisoners were executed nearby and buried there too.



(Photo: Mendeleyev Journal)

Even more incredible, the great Satan himself (Stalin), had it bulldozed over and then gifted parcels of land to various government and military officials on which to build summer dachas.

[cc3]

It should be used for partial recognition of the over 20,000 Polish military personnel and civilians murdered by Russians in the Katyn massacre.

+1000!

[southernX]

agrre with the above

i hope poland if they find this as fact, that they keep it .

the ex USSR and now russia is quite ok with bending /breaking international law, so no issue there as i see it

live by the sword, die by the sword vlad
SX