Spies, collaborators, stolen Nazi art treasures and sabotage are not images normally associated with rural Northland, but a family's search into their past might reveal New Zealand's part in a wartime secret. The possible discovery of a sunken German U-boat, which supposedly carried secret passengers and a large amount of Naziloot to a Northland shoreline, has excited a group of divers and shipwreck explorers. Dargaville's Noel Hilliam, president of the New Zealand Underwater Heritage Group, which had its second annual meeting at Labour Weekend, believes the submarine, U196, lies in a watery grave off the west coast of the Kaipara. He said that, in 1944, U196 dropped off 13 high-ranking Nazis and three children. Met on the beach, two trucks helped them transport the booty. According to three descendants of this group, the Nazis, helped by collaborators, passed themselves off as Austrians in Northland. He believed U196 sank off the west coast after being sabotaged with timing explosives. Official records show U196 was sunk by the British in the Bay of Biscay. However, the descendants say the secret group was transferred from another submarine to the U196 in the Bay of Biscay, and it was this sub that was sunk. Mr Hilliam said in-group conspiracy and double-crossing meant the treasures, confiscated from Jews, was never recovered and its location lost. "I have been approached by the three surviving grandchildren who want help in locating the loot with the intention to repatriate it back to the German Jewish community," he said. "Members of our group are currently researching defence records both here and overseas to learn more." He said the site of the wreck, which he was keeping secret for now, had been surveyed and the group intended diving the location.
