'Find' of Nazi loot train in Poland could lead to further discoveries

The World Jewish Congress says any gold, precious stones or other valuables that might be found could have been looted from Polish Jews by the Nazis. Photo / File

The apparent discovery in Poland of a Nazi train thought to be packed with looted treasures could be the first of many, experts have said, suggesting just a fraction of Hitler's tunnel complex has so far been discovered.

Walbrzych in western Poland has been gripped by the decades-old mystery of missing Nazi gold since officials said last week they were "99 per cent certain" that a hidden train has been discovered by treasure hunters.

Piotr Zuchowski, head of conservation at Poland's Culture Ministry, said: "The train is 100m long and is protected. The fact that it is armoured indicates it has a special cargo. We do not know what is inside the train. Probably military equipment but also possibly jewellery, works of art and archive documents."

Specialists at Ksiaz castle, the nearby fortress which Hitler intended to become his base of operations in Eastern Europe, believe there are at least two further undiscovered Nazi trains in the area.

Magdalena Woch, director of culture at Ksiaz castle, said: "There is a story that in 1945 there were three trains which came into the town and have never been found.

"The gold may not be in the train that has been found but in one of these better secured military trains. It is possible there are more trains in Walbrzych.

"There are discrepancies between maps of the area from the 1920s and the 1940s which suggests there are tunnels under the town which have never been found. Up to 1947, the Soviets were here and we do not know what they found."

Ksiaz castle, Schloss Furstenstein in German, was being prepared for Hitler's arrival right up to the end of World War II, with a study and en-suite toilet installed.

A comprehensive bunker complex based on the blueprint of the dictator's Berlin wartime base was also under construction when the fortress was over-run by Soviet troops in 1945.

Local politician Lukasz Kazek claims that just one-third of the vast tunnel network built by the Germans during World War II, dubbed the Riese project - German for "giant" - have been discovered, raising the possibility that several more trains could yet be unearthed.

Kazek, 37, who also works as a tour guide at the town's Wlodarz tunnels, part of the Riese network, said: "In this region there are a lot of treasures, because when the Soviet army arrived, the Germans had to flee but they thought they would be coming back."