The European castle with a dark Nazi secret and buried gold mystery

Książ, Poland
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The street to Książ Castle feels nearly too peaceable. Forested hills roll off into the space, yew timber so far as the attention can see. And then a colossal constructing rears up over the panorama of Lower Silesia — dramatic and unimaginable to disregard.

Part Baroque palace, half Renaissance fortress, Poland’s third largest castle appears to be like like one thing lifted from a fairytale.

But beneath the lavish structure lies a darker story. Here, deep in Poland’s Owl Mountains, lies a huge underground Nazi complicated tied to one of many Third Reich’s most mysterious building tasks and, legend has it, a misplaced practice crammed with stolen gold.

Książ’s historical past stretches again to the Middle Ages, when Silesian duke Bolko I the Strict constructed a fortress on this hilltop. Over time it expanded into a grander residence.

In 1466, Hans von Schellendorf acquired the castle and named it Schloss Fürstenstein — a title it will hold till the top of World War II. As Lower Silesia was a a part of Prussia till the twentieth century, the castle turned certainly one of Germany’s most important aristocratic residences.

That legacy continues to be seen right now. Visitors enter by way of manicured gardens earlier than stepping by way of big entrance doorways into ornate rooms that wouldn’t be misplaced within the palaces of Vienna or Paris.

Maximilian Hall — crammed with grand chandeliers, marble fireplaces and partitions of wealthy stucco — displays the castle’s heyday, when it was frequented by royalty from throughout Europe. Another spotlight are rooms that belonged to British-born Princess Daisy, spouse of Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg, the castle’s final proprietor. These are embellished in playful pink, with giant mirrors and a plush couch.

A tour of the castle passes by way of many extra decorously appointed rooms, lined by oil work and vintage furnishings. But then, the scene out of the blue shifts.

Tucked away in what initially seems like simply one other regal chamber, are two dreary-looking elevator shafts — an abrupt distinction to the ornate environment.

“These lifts were built by the Nazis in 1944,” says Mateusz Mykytyszyn, Książ’s head of public relations. “The shaft goes 50 meters below the castle, to the bunkers and serves as a quick evacuation route.”

The transition from lavish salons to utilitarian equipment is jarring. It marks the start of a darker chapter — one tied to Project Riese, one of many Third Reich’s most secretive building efforts.

In 1944, with World War II raging, the Nazis seized management of the castle from Count Hans Heinrich XVII, who had already relocated to England. Książ and the Owl Mountains then turned a hub for Project Riese — German for “Giant.”

The mission aimed to create a community of large underground amenities throughout Lower Silesia. Seven main subterranean complexes have been found to this point, however the true objective of the tunnels stays unsure. Many paperwork have been destroyed or hidden by the Nazis because the struggle ended.

The tunnels at Książ lie away from the guts of many of the Project Riese buildings, deepening the mystery right here. According to Mykytyszyn, it’s broadly assumed it’s because the castle was supposed to develop into Adolf Hitler’s Headquarters — although definitive proof has by no means emerged.

What is thought is the human price.

More than 13,000 prisoners have been delivered to the area to excavate tunnels and assemble underground infrastructure. Organisation Todt, Nazi Germany’s civil and army engineering physique, oversaw the work, relying closely on inmates transferred from Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen focus camps — a lot of them Jewish prisoners.

Workers confronted brutal circumstances and relentless stress. Disease outbreaks, together with typhus, have been frequent. Researchers estimate that round 5,000 individuals died throughout building.

Today, that historical past is a central a part of the customer expertise — particularly underground.

The tunnels beneath Książ stretch almost a mile. Some passages are constructed from bolstered concrete, made clean and exact. Measuring 5 meters excessive, or roughly 16.5 toes, they’re broad sufficient to drive a automobile down.

Some sections are simply naked rock. In one tunnel, the stays of a narrow-gauge railway used throughout excavation may be seen.

There are trendy exhibitions right here that use projections and audio to inform the story of Project Riese. Screens illuminate dark chambers with archival photographs and historic context. The impact is immersive and — notably due to the human price of making the house they’re in — typically unsettling.

Many guests say it’s the size that leaves the deepest impression.

Despite the documented historical past, myths proceed to swirl round Lower Silesia — particularly the story of a hidden practice loaded with stolen Nazi gold.

“Even today, many people are looking for the treasures and hidden tunnels here,” says Michał Miszczuk, a native information at Underground City Osówka, one other main Project Riese complicated close by.

The legend suggests that in their retreat from Wrocław — then Breslau — in 1945, Nazi forces hid a practice crammed with valuables someplace within the Owl Mountains. In 2015, treasure hunters obtained permission to excavate a suspected website close to Wałbrzych generally known as Zone 65, however discovered nothing.

But the mystery persists, fueled by lacking paperwork and the numerous undiscovered tunnels believed to stay sealed. When the Nazis retreated because the Red Army approached in 1945, they destroyed or hid entrances to many underground passageways.

“Lower Silesia has been German for centuries,” explains Miszczuk. “Even if they knew the war was lost, they were sure that they would get this land back.”

Believing in a buried treasure is less complicated when standing within the dark tunnels of Osówka, that are tough and rocky, in distinction to the largely clean concrete of Książ.

The complicated spans roughly two kilometers, or simply over a mile, with towering chambers and a 48-meter vertical shaft. Some researchers speculate that it might have been supposed as a central hub linked to different Riese websites.

Here, guests stroll by way of dim corridors that finish abruptly in rubble. A subterranean stream even permits for small boat excursions by way of pitch-black sections of the tunnels.

Abandoned tools stays scattered all through the complicated, underscoring the tough circumstances endured by employees. Exhibitions right here focus closely on the human toll — an intentional effort to make sure the positioning serves as a place of remembrance in addition to tourism.