Treasures of the Commonwealth Season 2

[ManBear]

“On this season of Treasures of the Commonwealth we will have to travel back in time to when the world itself was on fire with war and conflict.”

Screens around the world would show the impressive Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia that used to house the former empress of Russia during the 18th century. Its impressive halls would inspire awe and excitement as the camera travelled through the halls before eventually coming to a room that was truly remarkable. While it was a recreation of what was formerly there, the Amber and gold that adorned the room was truly breathtaking and could inspire the next generation of artists.

“This is the Amber Room located in Catherine’s Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. Well, this is a mere recreation of what was formerly here, one can only stand in awe such a sight. Even if it is a recreation of the original masterpiece, it’s still a masterpiece by its own right. But this is only the beginning location of our tale through time. The year? 1945. Germany, having recently taken over St. Petersburg moved to capture and steal culturally significant artifacts like they had done to every other nation they had invaded for the past six years. They dismantled the room over a period of days and packed the room into twenty-two crates before shipping them via train to the castle in Kaliningrad, formerly known as Koenigsberg by the Germans. From there they would openly display the Amber Room to the German elite until the Allies bombed the castle to ruins later in the war. From the non the true fate of the Amber Room has been lost. Many theorize that it was destroyed by the bombing but there are some who believe that the room had been removed prior to this event due to the lack of evidence of the Amber Room within the ruins of the castle. I am here today with the curator of the Koenigsberg Castle and he has explained that, while they haven’t advanced far into the exploration of the underground ruins, they still have yet to find any evidence of the Amber Room within the rubble. Not even the bronze fasteners that would have been used to attach the pieces of amber, gold, and precious stones to the walls,”

The screens of the world would show the rough outline of the former site of the Koenigsberg Castle, showing the true devastation of the Allied powers bombing prowess.

“Now, while we haven’t fully excavated the underground chambers of the Castle, we have received information from a former spy that could point us in the right direction.”

The screen would change to show b-film of the lead explorer visiting various shops and talking to people as they moved through Kaliningrad. He even made it a point to stop and look at all the open air shops that were selling delicately carved pieces of amber that the craftsmen were creating for the area.

The footage would show a man with a blurred face discussing documents he had uncovered through a friend in German intelligence back during the end stages of the Cold War. The documents would be described as letters from an enlisted German soldier detailing the transportation of 22 crates from Koenigsberg Castle to a mine in Poland. And that was where our intrepid explorers would be heading next.

 

[ManBear]

I would like to apologize on behalf of all the viewers regarding a statement from our previous episode that stated the mine was in Poland. There was a misunderstanding with our translator and the location of the mine is actually in Germany, approximately eight kilometers from Deutschneudorf

In the picturesque town of Deutschneudorf set in the valley of the Schweinitz river. Permanently settled roughly in the early 1500’s, Deutschneudorf was an important dispersed town for the copper mining activities of the region. During World War II Wehrmacht units established a depot for Stolen Art and it is here that many believe the Amber Room was moved. Placed and hidden inside one of the old mining tunnels that are at least three kilometers in length, but believed to be more

“Today I am outside Deutschneudorf and as you can see behind me,” Dr. ZlasiłAw Skrok would turn to show the camera the excavator digging into the ground, “the people of Deutschneudorf are hard at work excavating the area in search of lost treasures stolen by the Nazis. Today, I will be meeting with the mayor of the town, Hans-Peter Haustein, who is pioneering the search for lost treasure in the area.”

The screen would change to the lead explorer and the mayor of the town conversing outside a rustic wooden building bearing a wheel on one side and electrical generators and pumps towards the rear of the building.

“Unfortunately, our producers are telling us we cannot go into the mine ourselves due to the risk of flooding and cave-ins but we have convinced them to allow our resident cave diver and mountain climber, Jerzy. We know he is a fan favorite and we are confident to report he has fully recovered from his wounds.”

The camera would pan over to a young, bearded man wearing an orange hard hat and sporting a well-abused blue hiking bag. His lucky backpack would once again make an appearance in Treasures of the Commonwealth. He would wave his gloved hand with a smile at the camera before the camera would pan back to Dr. Skrok.

“As the most experienced explorer among us, he is the only natural choice for the endeavor. He will also be sporting some new tech such as the GoPro Digital HERO5. With a five megapixel camera and a two gigabyte memory card. We will be mounting it to his wrist to capture the trek as its too narrow and dangerous for our camera crew.”

The rest of the crew, all nine of them, took turns smacking the luck Jerzy on his helmet as he set his backpack down at the door of the building before the camera would witness a prayer said over a rosary before it was placed back into the bag. With a loving pat, he would stand up from his pack and descend into the cavern with two other gentlemen from the dig.

At first the low quality gopro footage was too dark to see anything before a high intensity flashlight was flicked on and the narrow passageways were illuminated. The wrist-mounted camera did not do the narrow confines of the tunnel system justice as the man proceeded through the tunnel as he talked with his guides. The raw, uncut footage would show the men descending into the caverns for an hour before coming to a hole in the ground leading to a lower, but flooded, level they believed could house the stolen treasures. The footage that was released would show various conversations between the men, with subtitles, and the conversation about how Jerzy was not keen on exploring the flood depths below them. Rather than exploring the flooded cavern the group of men proceeded further into the cavern where they had yet to explore fully. That’s when the camera captured the earth groaning and the clattering of rocks as the tunnel began to shift above them. After beating a hasty retreat, showcased on the published footage, the camera would change back to the normal HD Camera the camera crew was using on the surface. It would show the now dirty and sweaty trio of men emerging from the mineshaft and begin conversing amongst each other.

“It was exciting, Skrok. Definitely was a good call by the producers to not allow everyone to go down there. There was a cave-in in the back end of the cave and there’s a flooded section of the cave we couldn’t explore. Definitely shouldn’t have inexperienced cavers down there. We nearly got bottlenecked towards the middle but we made it out. No sign of the treasure though.”

“Well there you have it ladies and gentleman. As of right now we still don’t know where the Amber Room is located but it is certainly worth a shot to come back in the future once the mine has been further renovated and secured. It may very well be down in the depths of the mine. It wouldn’t surprise me that the Wehrmacht would put something as valuable as the Amber Room so deep.”

The camera would fade to black and show the credits.

“Next time on Treasures of the Commonwealth we go back to Kaliningrad to explore some old bunkers that may house some mysteries of their own.