At the beginning of World War II he deposited a valuable treasure, 80 years later his grandson went to find it

In September 1939, Adam and his four Glazewski sons buried their family valuables and fled their ownfrom the advancing Soviet army on one side of the country and the Nazi army on the other. 80 years later, his grandson Jan decided to dig up the treasure full of precious silver objects and coins.

After fleeing the country, each of the four sons had to start a new life in different parts of the world. Only his father Adam remained on the estate near Lvov to face the Russians, who almost executed him if not for the intercession of his former servants. So in the end, the soldiers "only" tore down the house and forbade Adam to return. He settled in a modest basement apartment in Lvov, where he remained until his death in 1961, without ever seeing his sons again. But the story of the treasure's deposition continued in the family.

Adam's grandson John also knew it from childhood. Over the years, he asked his father Gustaw for a map showing the location of the treasure: "My father was getting older and I kept asking him to draw me the map, thinking that one day I might I could go to our former estate and find the treasure," said Jan, now 69. "He finally gave me the map in 1989, along with various instructions. He drew it from memory 50 years after he was forced to leave home."

The last line read: On the left side of the pencil-drawn map you will see a dashed line going from the stone wall towards the woods (oaks), it's there at the tree line, but already among the trees where our silver and my hunting guns lie. "When I read it, it sounded like instructions. I was very excited, I realized I had to fulfill this dream," Jan said, adding that he was in his 30s at the time and it was impossible to go to the then-communist country. In addition, he had a promising academic career, but also suffered from haemophilia, to which other complications were later added. So he didn't start his research until after his retirement in 2019.

"It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. On the map, my father drew where the original manor house stood - it was destroyed by the Russians, by the way, but we found the foundations. But back then, there was a dotted line across a cropped field. Today it's just bushes. It was about 100 metres and then down the slope," said Jan Glazewski, a former professor at the University of Cape Town, adding that further instructions on the map said: "where the forest begins, you must dig for our silver". But of course, 80 years later, you don't know if the forest has receded or moved up the slope. There was also the possibility that the treasure had already been discovered by someone else.

With the help of his niece Layla and two Ukrainian detectorists, they began to search. The first two days unsuccessfully. On the third day, John tried to empathize with his father, uncles and grandfather. It occurred to him that they probably hadn't gone down the slope much, which was steeper and more overgrown below. He sat down, taking in the rays of sunlight between the leaves and mentally asking his ancestors for directions. He heard the chirping of a robin. "Maybe it's a sign," Layla smiled.

John called out to the detectorists to try that particular spot. When after a moment a strong detector beep sounded, Jan came alive, "I was very, very excited," he said. In a few moments, he was touching things, some of which had been packed by Jan's mother, who had died when he was only seven years old: "One of the things we pulled out was a jewelry box, and inside were all kinds of small jewelry. And my niece said, "these are your mother's jewels."

"So I was touching things that she had packed 80 years ago. It was a very emotional thing for me," Jan described his first impressions. There was even a spoon engraved with his father's name and numerous artifacts with the initials AR - Adela Romer - his grandmother, who died of the Spanish flu in 1918.

They ended up uncovering the treasure for over an hour. They found many valuable silver objects such as candlesticks, cups, saucers, cutlery, cups, and a jewelry box in mahogany wood. All bearing the family markings of John's ancestors. Also rare coins in an interesting collection ranging from Roman mintages to 17th century oriental coins to more recent pieces from the pre-war period. And finally, the rusted firearms and hunting fangs they left on the site. They took several bags of family valuables to the car.

Experts told John the treasure was worth many thousands of dollars. But for him, it's priceless - and above all, he hopes some of the pieces of the treasure will one day be displayed in Ivano-Frankivsk, the city closest to the old family farm: "It's extremely meaningful. It's a kind of fulfillment of a lifelong dream, like a little boy's dream of finding treasure. But more importantly, it is the fulfillment of my father's last wish. And it's given me a great sense of satisfaction; I walk straighter, I'm more confident."

The Glazewski brothers never saw their father again, who died in Lviv in 1961. The last time the four of them met was in France in 1967, and never again after that. Gradually they died. Jan, too, almost died before he could achieve his dream. He was diagnosed with AIDS when he was infected with a contaminated blood transfusion while being treated for haemophilia. Jan wrote his story in a book entitled: "Jan Glazewski's Blood and Silver: A Life Well Lived".

Roman Nemec
Sources: time.news, express.co.uk, emptymirrorbooks.com, mg.co.za

The Jewel Box

part of the treasure

detail of markings

The family home before it was demolished by the Soviet occupiers

All that remains of the estate - a half-filled cellar

hand-drawn map

Adam Glazewski

Jan Glazewski

brothers at a meeting in France in 1967