The Mystery of the Amber Room

nivek

As Above So Below
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Newly discovered Nazi shipwreck may solve hidden treasure mystery

Polish divers have uncovered the wreckage of a German World War Two ship which may help to solve the mystery of the Amber Room - a stolen tsarist Russian chamber that has not been seen since 1945.


The room, built in 18th century Prussia as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great, was considered an eighth wonder of the world for the amber and gold leaf panels it was adorned with.
However the chamber was looted by Nazi troops during World War Two - with the panels removed for reassembly. It was last spotted towards the end of the conflict in the former German port city of Koenigsberg, now Kaliningrad, Russia. It was around that time that the Karlsruhe steamer set sail in 1945 with a heavy cargo - but what lay aboard the ship has remained a mystery after Soviet warplanes sunk the vessel off the Polish coast.

Now divers from the Baltictech group say they have found the wreckage of the Karlsruhe - with a number of unopened crates still to be explored. "We have been looking for the wreckage since last year when we realised there could be the most interesting, undiscovered story lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea," diver Tomasz Stachura said in a statement. "It is practically intact. In its holds, we discovered military vehicles, porcelain and many crates with contents still unknown."

The ship had been part of Operation Hannibal, a mass sea evacuation designed to help more than one million German troops and civilians from East Prussia escape the Soviet advance towards the conclusion of the war.

Documentation from the time suggests the boat left Koenigsberg in a hurry, with a large cargo and 1,083 people on board. "All this, put together, stimulates the human imagination”, said diver Tomasz Zwara. “Finding the German steamer and the crates with contents as yet unknown resting on the bottom of the Baltic Sea may be significant for the whole story,"


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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
75 years underwater there might not be much left to find.

I'm thankful for something cool and old almost right out of Argosy magazine. Welcome distraction.
I'd love to know what's there. Hell, even some of the vehicles could be worth a small fortune.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
even some of the vehicles could be worth a small fortune

This is why I mentioned it:
Real military geekery there but when he starts talking about $$ it's notable. There are people out there willing to hand over fortunes for rusted out piles of steel. Very, very rare rusted out piles. There's another story about a Panther recovered from a Polish river - can't remember where I saw it.

I had the Revell model, but I think most kids did at some point.
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nivek

As Above So Below
75 years underwater there might not be much left to find.

Amber can survive underwater and it floats in saltwater, I think if the crates do contain the amber room and have not been damaged from the wreck itself, then the amber components are likely to be in great shape...

...
 

Area201

cold fusion
This is why I mentioned it:
Real military geekery there but when he starts talking about $$ it's notable. There are people out there willing to hand over fortunes for rusted out piles of steel. Very, very rare rusted out piles. There's another story about a Panther recovered from a Polish river - can't remember where I saw it.

I had the Revell model, but I think most kids did at some point.
169022-15582-49-pristine.jpg


Funny, I joined 3 RC tank FB groups this past month with the intention of buying a quality tank. idk know yet, these people are nuts about this stuff and re-create small villages even with tank battles.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Funny, I joined 3 RC tank FB groups this past month with the intention of buying a quality tank. idk know yet, these people are nuts about this stuff and re-create small villages even with tank battles.

I haven't drilled through this too much as I only just found it, but bet you would get a kick out of it.
Surviving Restored WW2 Tank Photos

I'm a thread hijacker, I know. Nothing is cooler than lost Nazi loot. I wonder what, if anything, if they will be able to recover.
 

Area201

cold fusion
I haven't drilled through this too much as I only just found it, but bet you would get a kick out of it.
Surviving Restored WW2 Tank Photos

I'm a thread hijacker, I know. Nothing is cooler than lost Nazi loot. I wonder what, if anything, if they will be able to recover.

I don't know if I mentioned this here, but I once (as a child) discovered old rusty helmets on my grandparents farm. I proceeded to clean one up, put on my head and ran around playing soldier, thinking it was the coolest thing. Then when my grandmother saw me she swiped the helmet and I never seen it gain. They were Nazi helmets.

The farm was built pre-WW2 and they lived through invasion by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. I then asked about this when visiting and there's a story about 2 Nazi soldiers either "found" dead in the attic (or hiding).
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I have been a military geek since I was a kid and had never heard of Operation Hannibal.
Russian operations in the Baltic. Something new to pick through
 
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