A treasure hunt has been underway in the Netherlands this week after Dutch officials published an old map, believed to reveal where invading Nazi soldiers hid millions of dollars in riches that they had looted during World War II, CBS News reported on Wednesday.
The map had been kept hidden for 75 years under the Netherlands' official secrets act until the Dutch National Archive revealed the news and posted the map online.
Archives adviser Annet Waalkens said that "red crosses show where four boxes of treasure are buried," explaining that the map covers an area in and around the village of Ommeren.
"There are brooches, necklaces, silver and gold coins, rubies, diamonds, lots of valuables," Waalkens said of the buried treasure, which is estimated to be worth millions of dollars.
Officials have watched the treasure hunt with interest, but there have been concerns raised about the scale of the amateur scavenging as hordes of people have descended on the Dutch town.
Klaas Tammes, former mayor of the town, told CBS News that "I have already seen people from all over the Netherlands. Yesterday somebody from Drenthe with a divining stick said he had found the spot, but it was under the asphalt, so that was inconvenient ... I really think it will be hard to find."
Tammes, who is also the president of the foundation that owns the land, added, "I am also a bit afraid, knowing that people will start digging haphazardly. I hope it won't get out of hand."
Some experts caution that there might not be a treasure to be found at all, because Dutch officials already unsuccessfully tried twice to find the riches in 1947, after they got the map from a German soldier shortly after World War II.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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