The period of Otto Skorzeny's career from the beginning of his career to the end of February is quite clear and transparent and does not seem to conceal any material facts. The period of three years, from 20 May 1945 to 27 July 1948, is also clear; he was in Allied prison camps. The 80 or so days between these dates, however, conceal many uncertainties. We shall try to deal with this phase in more detail and critically evaluate the information and testimony obtained.
What we're putting together is a puzzle where we only have a few pieces, and even those are often not completely reliable. If we want to create a story or a picture that is close to reality, we have to fill in the missing pieces based on guesswork and knowledge of the mentality of the people involved. The key person here is Otto Skorzeny, but we must not forget Hitler, who apparently gave the orders that Skorzeny carried out...
The Nazis (apart from war operations) looted valuables from all occupied territories. It was not only Jewish property that was arized, but private and public property and valuables were systematically looted....
It is one thing to go out into a field with a detector and hope for a nice find, it is quite another to hunt for a specific historical treasure. I have described and dissected two famous Nazi treasures here already, and in both cases I was forced to conclude that the treasure was most likely not there, or that it had already been selected. This is unfortunately the case with the vast majority of all treasures that are spoken or written about. Fortunately, not all...
It is generally known that the Nazis bought up huge amounts of valuables, art objects and especially gold in occupied Europe. They tried to take this loot to the safety of Germany during the retreat, or hid it in times of need. This created many treasures that are still being sought today. The problem with prospectors is that they usually lack critical thinking, focus on one (often dubious) piece of information that they believe, and fanatically embark on a search. One of these great and legendary Nazi treasures is the "Golden Train", which is thegold, art and valuables from the advancing Red Army from the city of Breslau (nowadays Wroclaw in Czech).