The Story of the Amber Room

The study of Frederick I study at Königsberg Castle in East Prussia was completed in 1711. It consisted of hand-crafted panels made of 6 tons of amber, backed in gold leaf and decorated with diamonds, emeralds and rubies. With its elaborate carvings and decorations, the room was the greatest work of art ever created in amber and has become known as the "eighth wonder of the world".

In 1716 Frederick's son, Frederick-William, presented the room, as an exravagant gift, to Peter the Great of Russia. It found its perfect setting when it was eventually installed in Catherine's Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, where it remained as the jewel in the crown until the Nazis came on the scene.

In the winter of 1941, Hitler's troops were within sight of Leningrad. In their path lay Tsarskoye Selo. Catherine Palace was a victim of their advance. A German art protection officer had the Amber Room taken apart by six men, in 36 hours. The room filled approximately 28 crates, and was removed from the Catherine Palace .

Reconstruction

Today, craftsmen are hard at work in the Palace, and hope to have a complete reconstruction of the room ready by April, 2003, in time for celebrations of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. Ironically, major funding for the work is coming from a German company.

But the search for the genuine Amber Room continues!

It has become one of the greatest treasure hunts of all time.
Once you have seen the reconstruction in progress you will understand why!

To get some idea of the excitement generated by this mystery, just search for "The Amber Room" on your browzer - and you will find 11,516,235 entries!

For every theory there is a counter-theory.
Here are some examples.

• One version states that it was moved to Königsberg, where it was placed in the museum. The museum was bombed (along with the city) and Amber Room melted during the fire.

• Another version states that it was evacuated by sea, and went down when the ship was sunk by Soviet submarine. If it was lost at sea, it may not have changed very much, and it could be recovered in all its glory.German salvage expert Olaf Luhring is "sure" that the wreck of the Wilhelm Gustloff is in the Baltic and has vowed to keep hunting these waters until he finds it.
  It sounds like an updated version of The Flying Dutchman!!

• Yet another version states that the crates were evacuated by sea and unloaded in a number of ports (Danzig, Stettin and Hamburg) with different sections of the room finally being hidden in Southern Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
  Some of it was hidden at a mansion in in Wolfschanze, which was blown by the Germans when retreating. After the war, the Russians, hot on the trail, dug up the entire mansion of von Schwerin family. They did not find anything.
  To this day 2 rival German and Czech teams are convinced that the Amber Room, along with other loot including gold bullion, lies hidden in the 800-year-old Nicolai Stollen mine on the Czech side of the border.
  Mr Helmut Gaensel, who heads the Czech mission, began his search a decade ago. Mr Peter Haustein, mayor of the nearby Saxon town of Deutschneudorf, organised a rival mission. He has been assisted by survivors of an SS unit who "confirmed" that, in a secret mission, they had hidden sealed boxes of valuables there.
  The two teams are still digging towards each other in a race to find the reputed hiding place

• The version that most gets people talking states that Hitler ordered his invading forces in Russia to retrieve the panels which were taken to Königsberg. In 1945 Erich Koch, the governor of East Prussia ordered them to be placed in concrete boxes and hidden somewhere near his villa in the Königsberg area.
  With the Russians approaching the last German strongholds, the room could have been transported out of Königsberg by rail. There is evidence to show that at least half of Koch's treasures left Königsberg by train, headed for Weimar.
  In 1956 Koch, who is usually described as a "fanatical Nazi" was put on trial for killing more than 300,000 people, and given the death sentence - but he was not executed. The official version is that he was spared on "humanitarian grounds" because of his supposed poor health.
  This does not ring true, given that he lived on for another 30 years in the prison in Poland. Some believe that he was spared in the hopes that he would reveal the location of the Amber Room.
  That does not ring true, either. In any self-respecting Polish prison he would have been tortured until he was dead, incapacitated, or had told them what they wanted to know . He died without ever revealing anything to anyone. According to some witnesses, his last words were "where lies my treasure, also lies the Amber Room."
  
  Now comes the conspiracy plot!
  Many believe that Koch was actually a Soviet agent!
  As governor in charge of civilian laborers in East Prussia in 1944, he refused to allow them to dig anti-tank trenches in the areas recommended by the Wehrmacht. Instead, the trenches near Königsberg were dug in such a way that they did not provide any obstacle to Soviet occupation.
  After this, despite the known intentions of the Red Army, Koch refused to allow the evacuation of the civilian population of East Prussia. This led to hundreds of thousands of civilians (at the least) suffering rape and murder. Koch himself fled, but ended up in Polish custody.

Happy Browzing!

If you would like to discuss this matter, there are 11,516,235 people out there who would like to take it up with you!