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February 4 2023 - the true story You can read this article for free. If you want to support Droog Magazine, please press this button: Introduction | Origins | Why the story was taken seriously (1) | Why the story (2) / Sonder's sketch | Comments on Sonder | Unit not involved in Battle of Arnhem | Highly unlikely | More questions | More comments | CVO - a corrupted service National Archives' statements | The real value | National Archives on the fuss Attachments: Transcription of the National Archives' files Newspaper articles about CVO, 1946-1952 Press reports on this case Go to index-page of this online dossier Translation of De vermeende nazischat van Ommeren: waarom het hoogstwaarschijnlijk onzin is, The Post Online, 06-02-2023. Introduction This time the fuse was lit by the Dutch
National Archives' annual Open Access Day. In the
process, a file from 1947 was released
about an alleged Nazi treasure. And just before liberation, these valuables
were allegedly buried by German soldiers near
Ommeren.
In the Netherlands, the Centrale Vermogensopsporingsdienst (CVO, Central Assets Tracking Service), a subdivision of the Ministry of Finance, is charged with investigating the alleged treasure. This service brings Sonder to the Netherlands in June 1947 to assist in the search. However, nothing is found but traces of digging by unknown third parties and other treasure hunters: officers of the US Army. At the end of 1947, the file is closed, after a senior official had already concluded in July 1947 that there were three possibilities: "a. Sonders' story is based on fantasy.
The Germans completely looted Arnhem after the battle. Loe de Jong, the historian commissioned by the government to write the history of the kingdom of the Netherlands in the Second World War reports on this in Volume 10b (1981) of this standard work that consists of 30 books. Page 79: "Not only goods from factories, offices and warehouses, almost everything disappeared to Germany but the same happened to shop inventories and household effects from private homes. That disposal was easier from Arnhem than elsewhere: the cities of the Ruhr region that had been badly hit by Allied bombing were close by and thus good, relatively short connections by land and water existed." De Jong describes how both German agencies and individual soldiers started looting and transferring their loot to Germany. The agencies use trains and trucks to do this, the individuals do it themselves, when they go on leave, or send the loot via post to the Heimat. De Jong, pp 84-85: "From Arnhem, moreover,
from the vault of the Amsterdam Bank, which had been
broken open by the German engineers, over 18,000
carats of diamonds were transported to Berlin, where
over 11,000 carats, originally Jewish property, were
held and later split up for sale (the non-Jewish
owners got their diamonds back); furthermore, gold
worth f5 mln was looted from the Nederlandsche Bank
(the remainder, which had been transferred to Meppel
and was worth approx. f2 min disappeared in
February) and finally the vaults of other bank
branches were also opened with dynamite during which
many more millions were stolen - a robbery that
turned out to have been committed by the head of the
Bergungskommando from the Gau Essen." (...) No city
had been looted as much as Arnhem at the time of
liberation: the pure contents damage due to looting
alone (i.e. not counting damage caused by combat
operations) was estimated at f30 mln, goods worth
f30 mln had disappeared from smaller businesses." To top of page
Sonder declared to the German police on 2 December 1946 that, as a member of the 4th Company of the paratrooper regiment "Witzig", he was deployed with his comrades in defence during the airborne landing at Arnhem, August 1944. Two of them, sergeants Kastel and Bräuer, are said to have looted "music boxes, rings, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, earrings made of gold or other valuable gems (brilliants, diamonds)" from a bank building on Velperstraat damaged by a direct hit at the time. Sometime later, they are said to have put the loot in four zinc boxes (in which detonators of grenades were normally kept), which Bräuer took with him in the company's troop, until the boxes are said to have been buried near Ommeren in April 1945 by the two sergeants and four soldiers, including Sonder. On 24 June 1947, however, he declared
something completely different to the investigators
of the CVO. Sonder states that four of his army
comrades had looted the valuables long before he was
assigned to their unit, and that while he was lying
wounded on the roadside, these four would have
buried the boxes near a tree near Ommeren. Very
shortly afterwards, he was reportedly taken away in
an armoured car to a hospital.
He also says then that he last served with
the 4th company of the Fallschirm-Pionier-Bataillon 2,
a unit certainly not involved in the Battle of
Arnhem, as it was part of the surrounded German
garrison of the French port of Brest until September
1944 and was destroyed there. It was not until
December 1944 that the unit was re-established, in
the Netherlands. At his earlier interrogation in Germany, Sonder told only that he had served in the 4th company of the (Fallschirmjäger) Regiment Witzig – by which he probably meant the unit led by Major Rudolf Witzig - but that too was not involved in the Battle of Arnhem. Given the sketch drawn by Sonder, which
indeed shows a specific country road with trees near
Ommeren, it can only be concluded that Sonder was at
Ommeren in April 1945, and that something happened
there, making him remember that spot. It is possible
that he saw fellow soldiers burying four boxes at
that spot, but whether the contents of those
actually came from an Arnhem bank building is highly
questionable. Given his description of the valuables and from what historian De Jong reported about the looting of Arnhem, it is highly unlikely that German soldiers carried gold and jewellery with them for seven months, when they could also have sent the loot by post to Germany or taken it there on leave. There was massive looting, by both German and Allied soldiers. Not to mention by the Dutch - think of the houses of Jewish families, which, if they had not already been looted by the Germans, were plundered by local residents. But given the timing of the alleged burial
of the boxes, it is more likely that the contents
had been looted from houses in the Betuwe. The area
was largely no man's land between the battle of
Arnhem and liberation, where looters had free rein. In his June 1947 statement, Sonder lists the names of the soldiers involved. They were all pioneers (engineer), who were forced to clear landmines in the Netherlands after the German surrender. Two of them - Brauer and Schwaniger - allegedly died in the process. As did over 200 other German POWs - but this aside. In his earlier statement, December 1946, he states that Bräuer, and Biebert died defusing mines, and that Graf was killed before capitulation. But only one of them (if the Schwaniger mentioned by Sonder is Erich Schwaninger) is traceable in the database of killed German soldiers of the Volksbund, the German sister organisation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. And only Schwaninger is buried at the German military cemetery Ysselsteyn, where all German servicemen killed in and after World War II in the Netherlands ended up. What is certain is that the Oberfeldwebel
Edward Kastel mentioned by Sonder, the highest in
rank of the soldiers he mentioned, survived the war
and Dutch captivity. The CVO makes enquiries with
the Allies - but to no avail. On 19 December 1946, the Dutch military
mission in Germany informs the Central Assets
Tracking Service (CVO) of the findings of the
Baden-Baden investigation. On 23 June 1947 another search is carried
out, this time in the presence of Helmut Sonder. All
that is found then are traces of digging by unknown
third parties and... two American officers who are
also treasure hunting. How the Americans know about
the alleged treasure is a mystery - it is not clear
from the documents. "There are three possibilities: In other words: if a treasure buried by
German soldiers near Ommeren existed at all, it was
dug up with a probability bordering on certainty
before 23 June 1947. Haasse's remark about the CVO's staff deserves some explanation. Shortly before, a senior CVO official had been arrested for embezzling 157,000 guilders from the CVO treasurys. Afterwards, more CVO employees turned out not to be particularly trustworthy, the daily De Telegraaf reported in 1952. Since employees of this corrupt organisation knew about Helmut Sonder's statement and his "treasure map" as early as the end of December 1946, Haasse's suspicion is not exactly unfounded. For more on the criminal activities of CVO employees, see these newspaper reports from 1946-1952 (pdf, in Dutch). To top of page National Archives' statements, 2023 The spokeswoman for the National Archives proclaimed that the treasure would have come from the vaults of the Rotterdamsche Bank branch in Arnhem. But nowhere in the released documents does it say so. At his first interrogation in 1946, Sonder says the valuables would have been looted from a bank building on Velperstraat (Velper Street). But there was no Velperstraat in Arnhem at the time. Velperplein (Velper Square) and Velperweg (Velper Way) did exist, however. Velperplein in 1944 housed branches of the Nederlandsche Bank, the Rotterdamsche Bank (then called Robaver), the Incasso-Bank and the Twentsche Bank. At his second interrogation Sonder reveals however that he was not present at the robbery. He was not even present at the Battle of Arnhem. The spokesman for the National Archives
also stated, "It [the treasure] is worth several
millions". A rather vague estimate, which was
inflated to 2 to 3 million guilders in the British
press, with The Guardian even reporting that it
would be worth "over 15.8 million pounds sterling
(almost 18 million euros)" today.” Would this treasure, had it really existed, have had a value of nearly 18 million euros? According to Sonder, the four crates each measured 35 x 20 x 10 cm. In terms of content, that is 7 dm³ or 7 litres each. Four times 7 litres makes 28 litres. However, this refers to the outer dimensions, including packaging material - so for the sake of convenience, let's set the contents at 6 litres per box. Now suppose the alleged treasure had consisted of pure gold. One litre of gold weighs 19.32 kilograms. Six litres would weigh almost 116 kilograms. Times four makes 464 kg. Gold costs around 57,000 euros per kg these days. In other words: had the treasure consisted of pure gold, it would be worth over 26 million euros today. But... the alleged treasure consisted, according to Sonder in his first statements, of music boxes, rings, earrings, chains, whether or not set with precious stones, gold and silver pieces. He also stated that since the Battle of Arnhem (which is probably nonsense) the soldiers initially carried the valuables with them on their bodies (in bread and hand grenade bags). Now they had to carry guns or submachine guns and further pieces of equipment in addition to the looting goods. Sonder said four to six men would have
carried the loot. Which means that each could have
carried at most a few kilos of it with them - and
that implies that the real value of the treasure, if
it existed at all - is considerably lower than the
millions proclaimed by the National Archives
spokeswoman. The 'news' about the alleged Nazi treasure of Ommeren does not stand alone. Time after time, 'news' about treasures hidden by Nazis in the ground or caves turns up. And time and again, the 'news' turns out to come from the quivers of fantasists - think of the alleged "Nazi train" in a secret cave in Poland, the "crypt in Fulmes" in Austria, where, according to the book Hitler's diamonds Hitler and Eva Braun are said to be buried amidst huge treasures, or the "Nazi treasure" of Mittenwald in Germany. Invariably resulting in large-scale and years-long nuisance from treasure hunters and sensationalist TV crews. We therefore asked the National Archives why it chose to emphatically publicise the existence of the "treasure map". Spokeswoman Anne-Marieke Samson: "The file with the treasure map was part of our press release for the annual disclosure day. With openness day, we commemorate the fact that thousands of documents become public because the deadline of the openness restriction (Archives Act) has expired. The treasure map file was mentioned in the preselection of topics we offer to press and other researchers, as we do every year, as potentially interesting. We didn't think it would attract so much attention." But were the National Archives unaware of the implications of previous "news" about alleged Nazi treasures? Samson: "We are indeed unfamiliar with that
fact." To top of page January 2023 | February 2023 |
[€] Marouscha van de Groep. Ommeren
overlopen door schatgravers: 'Ik heb het kaartje
compleet uitgeplozen.' De Telegraaf,
Amsterdam, 04-01-2023 Jesper Nijkamp. Je graaft miljoenenschat in Ommeren op, mag je hem dan houden? Omroep Gelderland, Arnhem, 04-01-2023. https://www.gld.nl/nieuws/7832971/je-graaft-miljoenenschat-in-ommeren-op-mag-je-hem-dan-houdenIsabel Ferer / El Pais. Sale a la luz el
mapa de un tesoro robado por los nazis nunca
encontrado. La Nacion, (Argentina), 05-01-2023. ANP. Gemeente raadt af te zoeken naar vermeende schat bij Ommeren. Nederlands Dagblad, Amersfoort. 06-01-2023. [NB: Site op zondag ontoegankelijk wegens zondagsrust] https://www.nd.nl/varia/varia/1157950/gemeente-raadt-af-te-zoeken-naar-vermeende-schat-bij-ommeren[Editors]. Old Nazi map sparks treasure
hunt in the Netherlands. Reuters, London,
06-01-2023. Redaktion. Alte Nazi-Schatzkarte lockt
Goldgräber nach Ommeren. NTV, Köln,
06-01-2023. Redactie. Schatgravers in Ommeren hebben
lak aan verbod. Omroep Gelderland/NOS,
Arnhem/Hilversum, 07-01-2023. Jolina van Alfen. Schatzoekers graven op
privéterrein: 'Dat vinden we uiteraard niet oké', Omroep
Gelderland, Arnhem, 07-01-2023. [€] Thijs Niemandsverdriet. Goudkoorts in
Ommeren: 'Het is al dagen een gekkenhuis hier'. NRC,
Amsterdam, 07-01-2023.
Jennifer Rankin. X marks the spot: newly
released treasure map sparks hunt for £15m Nazi
hoard. The Guardian, London, 07-01-2023. [€] Guy Walters, My Netherlands day trip to dig for Nazi gold, Sunday Times, London, 07-01-2023. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/my-dutch-day-trip-to-dig-for-nazi-gold-r9gxm5drrThomas Messias. Une carte récemment mise en
ligne permettra-t-elle de trouver un trésor nazi?
Slate, [France], 08-01-2023. [Robin Pascoe]. X does not mark the Nazi
treasure spot at Ommeren. Dutch News.nl,
[s.l.], 09-02-2023. Staff. Town with secret Nazi gold begs
treasure hunters to stop looking. Jersusalem
Post, Jerusalem, 11-01-2023. Redacción. El mapa de la II Guerra Mundial que desató la búsqueda frenética de un tesoro nazi en Países Bajos. BBC World News, London, 12-01-2023. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-64249430[€] Elena Oberholzer. Sie wollen unbedingt
Nazi-Gold finden: weshalb ein Dorf in den
Niederlanden von Schatzsuchern überrannt wird. Neue Zürcher
Zeitung, Zürich, 13-01-2023 Anna Holigan. Hunting for Nazi gold in a
Dutch village. BBC News, London, 13-01-2023. Jesper Nijkamp. Hoe de 'nazi-schat van
Ommeren' wereldnieuws werd. Omroep Gelderland,
Arnhem, 14-01-3023. Eric Wijnacker. Streekmuseum Ommeren wil op
zoek naar schat. AD, Rotterdam, 16-01-2023. Thomas Bywater. Treasure map leads hordes
of Nazi gold hunters to Dutch village. NZ Herald [New
Zealand], 16-01-2023. Ján Ďurčo. S lopatou strateným zlatom: Mapa
s nacistickým pokladom spôsobila ošial'v holandskej
dedine. PLUS 7 DNÍ, Bratislava [Slowakia],
19-01-2023. Fabian Hillebrand. Der Goldrausch von
Ommeren. Der Spiegel, Hamburg, 19-01-2023. Aleksandar Furtula / Associated Press.
World War II-era map sparks treasure hunt in Dutch
village. ABC News, New York, 24-01-2023. Gibt es ihn wirklich? Ommeren sucht den
Weltkriegsschatz. Euronews, Lyon,
25-01-2023. [€] The hunt for the Nazi-buried treasure.
Nearly 80 years later, the search goes on. New York Times, New York,
29-01-2023. Ommeren is klaar met schatzoekers: 'Ze
graven tot een meter diep'. RTL Nieuws,
Hilversum, 31-01-2023 To top of page Joost Dijkgraaf. Nog geen schop in de grond
om verborgen nazi-schat, ondanks 'gouden tip' van
Hengeloër Bert. Tubantia, Enschede,
01-02-2023. Elmer van Hest. Graven naar 'nazi-schat'
loopt uit op flater. Omroep Gelderland,
Arnhem, 02-02-2023. Redactie. Schatzoeker in Ommeren stuit op
landmijn, maar de EOD zegt dat het iets heel anders
is. De Gelderlander, Arnhem, 02-02-2023. To top of page
¹ Original: “Het Nationaal Archief viert de jaarlijkse Openbaarheidsdag op dinsdag 3januari 2023. Met het nieuwe kalenderjaar worden weer duizenden archiefstukken openbaar, die tot dan toe alleen onder voorwaarden in te zien waren. (...) Er zitten ook weer veel stukken bij die gaan over de (nasleep van de) Tweede Wereldoorlog in Nederland. Ook een heuse schatkaart dit keer, uit het archief van het Nederlands Beheersinstituut, met daarin de aanwijzingen voor een nooit gevonden nazi-schat die begraven zou liggen in de buurt van Ommeren. Er is al verschillende keren tevergeefs naar gezocht.”
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