Dowsing for Nazi gold

[Grahame]

Hunting for Nazi gold in a Dutch village
Exasperated residents have appealed to treasure-hunters to stay away after they descended on the Dutch village of Ommeren searching for riches potentially worth millions, allegedly hidden by Nazi soldiers during World War Two.

The hunt was triggered by an old map, believed to reveal where German soldiers may have buried ammunition boxes crammed full of looted diamonds, rubies, gold and silver. The hand-drawn diagram complete with a red X to mark the spot is part of a case file made public by the Dutch National Archive only last week.

When the documents were released at the end of a 75-year confidentiality period, the declassified map made clear that Ommeren, in the eastern province of Gelderland, was where the treasure appeared to lie.

Now this is a bit of a map dowsing challenge if ever there was one! Helpfully, the BBC have provided a copy of the map with the article. The only problem is that the terrain has changed a lot since the war, so your first challenge is to find the actual location...

CLICK HERE for the full article and map.

[mike]

Yes I saw this report and believe the buried treasure is still there but not at the point on the map marked with a Red Cross, while I wish the locals a quiet time, buried treasure is exciting and gets the blood pumping !!.

Divide the map into squares Grahame and see what members pick, that would be of interest Im sure.

[Grahame]

As you wish...



Of course, we don't know how accurate that sketch map is, or whether it's to any scale. It would be more useful to find the area location in Google maps and post a What3Words coordinate. I've had a brief search, but the whole area is so built up now it's hard to pinpoint where the 'X' is.

[Grahame]

Just had another quick look, and I think the area in question is around here: https://what3words.com/weds.kickers.sequenced.
The road layout is a bit different, but the town names are correct.

[mike]

Thanks Grahame the Whatsthreewords map does look different as you say, and looking at the old map and giving it some thought my idea of what happened all that time ago has now changed. I believe it’s a story that has a strong feeling of truth, very possible four German soldiers who might not have been Nazi, as many hated those people but fought for their country anyway. They could very easy been part of a team looking for any enemy troops and come across this bombed bank, and found all the broken safe deposit boxes inside, and helped empty them of anything of value. This they would stuff in their pockets first of all, then if more boxes had valuable contents they might have put this into a ammunition box, the need to keep this all hidden must have when they moved prompted them to each bury their own loot in a safe place intending to return after the war at Ommeren.
This I believe happened during these war years, with each of the four soldiers picking a site near Ommeren to bury their loot for safety, to recover in time if they got home safe. And so looking and dowsing again I find three places where mixed loot is hidden, the Red Cross site does not contain anything here in my opinion, so it might have already been dug up.
I have dowsed again with this thought of what happened all that time ago, and the fact three sites still remain those soldiers who buried their loot never returned to dig it up, which means they could well have been killed. But today I have three targets around Ommeren, and it’s mixed loot both Gold and Silver items plus jewels and coins, so the more I study this report the more I believe it’s true, and while I wish peace and quiet for those who live in Ommeren I think the truth as you dowse it should be heard/posted.

[mike]

Having had time to study the report and reaction on the web site here I think the best thing to do is everyone do their own thing, with very little interest to post anything from members is it right to disclose where possible treasure from WW2 can be found ?? It will just have people in Holland digging all over what is now private land around the village looking for the Gold coins and jewels, better if enough people show interest to conduct with permission the same sort of thing but hiding perhaps an item with the map hand draw and squares here in the Uk and have our local contest….it might be possible to hide some coins or item in a place where anyone can offer an opinion to the web master of its numbered square, so that each dowsed position can be checked for how accurate the dowsed position was…..no hoards of people walking over private land upsetting the locals, and any open field anywhere could be used as the target location ??

Not chickened out, I just don’t see how dowsing in Holland promotes our dowsing web site here, better to have our own show, with anyone who wants to take part world wide having some dowsing fun. What do folks feel about this ??

[Grahame]

... hiding perhaps an item with the map hand draw and squares here in the Uk and have our local contest….it might be possible to hide some coins or item in a place where anyone can offer an opinion to the web master of its numbered square, so that each dowsed position can be checked for how accurate the dowsed position was….. better to have our own show

Well, this is exactly the story behind the BSD award, the Pogson Cup, where (if memory serves) major Pogson filled the cup with gold guineas and concealed it in Chislehurst caves, to be awarded to whoever located it using map and site dowsing. I don't know the exact methodology involved, but it would be a fun thing to do. It would need to be organised by head office really, or maybe a consortium of local groups?

[mike]

Sounds fun Grahame, I’m in if anyone wants to do this with his or her dowsing group, perhaps when the weather warms anyone can place a target out in a field or moors which is common ground we can map dowse the target, and send any reports to one member email address to see how good or bad the results.
A picture of a box or bottle or what ever and some coins inside is enough to go looking for out in the fields, map dowsing only in this case, no metal detectors allowed friends, and no peeking or cheating walking the field after dark !!

[Grahame]

The authorities have called off the search in Ommeren after investigations revealed no trace of buried loot, concluding that it had been removed after the war.

Nothing to see here: Dutch village calls off search for Nazi loot
A Dutch village that became the focus of a frenzied treasure hunt after a map allegedly showed Nazi loot buried there during the second world war has declared the search over – and said nothing was found.
The small hamlet of Ommeren did conclude that there had indeed been treasure buried there, but that it was removed after the war.
Ommeren became a hive of activity after the Dutch National Archive in January revealed a hand-drawn map featuring a tell-tale red “X” believed to mark the spot where German soldiers stashed their hoard, triggering an invasion of gold-diggers trying their luck.
“We have concluded that there is no Nazi treasure in Ommeren,” said Birgit van Aken-Quint, spokesperson for the nearby city of Buren.

“We do assume that the treasure was once buried in Ommeren, but that it has been removed at some stage.”

Click Here for full report.

[Merlinonline]

I have to say I'm very sceptical about the story, In 1940 there was an operation mounted by the Royal Navy in Rotterdam to recover Dutch diamonds before the Nazis could get hold of them, it was a subject of a film after the war. The Nazis would have checked any banks in occupied territory and would have looted the bank and sent any gold or diamonds to Germany.

There was also the story of German troops burying gold in the hills above certain towns in Austria, however, nothing has ever been found. The only likely place that Nazi Gold and Diamonds are likely to be found is under the streets of Zurich and Geneva sitting in a vault,