A Dutch Quest for Buried Nazi Treasure Comes Up Empty

Joke Honders had been up since 2:10 a.m. After months of ready for approval from native Dutch officers, in addition to for higher climate, the time had come on Monday: An official staff of specialists would take its first, final and greatest shot at excavating a trove of treasures hidden by the Nazis.

Ms. Honders, a longtime resident and native historian, was accountable for the complicated early-morning operation, which concerned metallic detectors, an excavator and a staff of archaeologists, and she or he couldn’t assist however marvel at what was unfolding earlier than her.

“This is exciting!” she stated, coordinating the real-life treasure hunt in a grassy space subsequent to an apple orchard in Ommeren, a sleepy village with about 750 residents that’s 40 miles southeast of Amsterdam.

What it was not, it turned out, was profitable.

Despite digging three separate holes inside toes of one another — in an space that Ms. Honders had recognized by overlaying historic maps, fashionable maps and a hand-drawn map from a German soldier, and marked by little crimson flags — they’d come up empty.

The fruitless morning introduced an finish to a monthslong pursuit that had enticed dozens of individuals with shovels and metallic detectors to the tiny Dutch village within the hopes of unearthing 4 ammunition packing containers loaded with stolen jewels, gold and watches.

The modern-day gold rush was touched off in January when a scheduled launch of 1000’s of declassified paperwork from the Dutch National Archives dropped at mild the Nazi soldier’s map, drawn in 1945 and purportedly marking the placement of an precise treasure.

Nazi troopers had snatched the property, that are reputed to be price tens of millions, off the road after an explosion blew them out of a financial institution vault throughout within the metropolis of Arnhem within the late summer time of 1944, paperwork from the archives present.

A few weeks earlier than the tip of the battle, 5 German troopers buried the treasure, however one other, Helmut Sonder, watched them whereas mendacity within the bushes with a battle harm.

He drew a map from reminiscence, presumably with the concept of coming again for the spoils, in keeping with the paperwork. The map prompted a hunt for the gold and jewels, to the dismay of some locals, and elevated the profile of Ommeren.

The map urged a level of precision — the treasure, it stated, was buried about 1.7 to 2.3 toes deep, subsequent to 3 poplar timber. But the timber are lengthy gone, and the placement has remained as mysterious as ever.

The search led by Ms. Honders, who additionally works at a regional museum, represented the one formal effort to seek out what had been left behind. The Buren municipality, which incorporates Ommeren, turned away a number of requests for comparable endeavors, in keeping with Pieter Neven, an official there. Ms. Honders’s foray was permitted, he stated, as a result of “We wanted to handle it professionally.”

Mr. Neven stated that the municipality had backed Ms. Honders’s search with 2,000 euros, about $2,200, to assist pay for the archaeologists {and professional} metal-detector operators.

On Monday morning, Ms. Honders and the opposite searchers had been cautious to not set expectations too excessive. “It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack,” stated Jan van Renswoude, a archaeologist who helped seek for the treasure.

Still, the anticipation was nearly palpable because the sound of a beeping metallic detector and the low hum of an excavator had been heard. As the beeps grew louder, the gathering grew quieter.

With the prospects for glory dwindling, Ms. Honders declared, “I still have hope.”

But the dearth of treasure wasn’t a lot of a shock. “I didn’t expect anything,” stated Arie Krijgsman, who has lived in Ommeren for 15 years, as he was strolling his canine. He stated that the search was, if nothing else, entertaining. “It has made me laugh,” Mr. Krijgsman stated. “It was a little bit like a gold rush.”

No treasure got here out of the bottom, however the archaeologists unearthed just a few issues for his or her hassle: An unused 9 millimeter World War II-era bullet, some scrap metallic and iron wire.

“It’s a meager harvest,” stated Klaas Tammes, a neighborhood resident and a former mayor of the municipality that features Ommeren. “The mystery of the treasure will stay intact,” he added.

The village has been the positioning of archaeological buzz earlier than. In 2016, three searchers discovered a trove of 31 golden Roman cash. But the possibilities of discovering the Nazi treasure had been infinitesimal, specialists agreed; it might nicely have been dug up a long time in the past.

After roughly 4 hours of looking and digging, the solar broke by means of the clouds and the archaeologists turned off the excavator, ending the seek for good. Mr. Neven stated this is able to be the final time the municipality would approve a request to seek for the Nazi treasure, though it’s not clear whether or not the novice treasure hunters who discovered Ommeren an inviting goal will probably be dissuaded.

Ms. Honders appeared at peace with the end result. “It’s not here,” she stated, however one factor had come out of the expertise. “Tonight I’ll be able to sleep again.”