Discovery of Nazi coins and artefacts

Hundreds of Nazi coins and artifacts have been discovered by a 19-year-old in a small village in the Netherlands using a metal detector. Near the site of the discovery was a military base.

Nineteen-year-old Quinten Maatman used a metal detector to find a collection of Nazi memorabilia in the small village of Schalkhaar in the Netherlands. It is the most important discovery to date for this young man and search enthusiast. Specifically, he found coins, some of which are marked with a swastika.

In addition, Maatman also discovered a dagger carried by members of the Hitler Youth. He also found a Nazi buckle, bullets, a bayonet, badges, scissors and a shaving brush. According to archaeologist Bart Vermeulen, a find like this only happens "once" in a lifetime. "Many people spend their whole lives searching, but they never find anything like this. This is a dream find for any treasure hunter," he thinks.

According to Vermeulen, the coins were deliberately hoarded and later attempted to be hidden. "My legs were shaking. I pulled one coin after another out of the ground. Unbelievable. I dreamed of something like this and it really happened," said Quinten Maatman, the finder of the depot.

Experts do not believe the artefacts are of significant value, but they will represent another important part of modern history. The Nazis began minting coins as early as 1933, when Adolf Hitler took power and became Reich Chancellor. Production took place in Berlin and the swastika appeared on the following coins: 1 Reichspfennig, 2 Reichspfennig, 5 Reichspfennig, 10 Reichspfennig, 50 Reichspfennig and 5 Reichsmark.

It is believed that the Nazi treasure ended up in the Netherlands after Germany invaded its neighbours at the outbreak of World War II. The Netherlands, although neutral in the conflict, was attacked by Germany on 10 May 1940. The Netherlands surrendered five days later after the bombing of Rotterdam.

Schalkhaar was the location of the military base that was occupied by the German army in 1941. As far as German gold reserves were concerned, they were stored in the Reichsbank in Berlin. But as the war progressed, the gold was sent to a number of branches of the bank from 1943 onwards.

A large depot of Nazi coins was also found last year in the Czech Republic. It was discovered by construction workers during the reconstruction of a former mortuary in Ludgerovice in the Opava region. The phoenixes date from the period between 1940 and 1944. The "treasure" was located about half a meter below the floor of the former morgue.

Source: www.express.co.uk