[josh] right now on expedition unknown,
My dark journey into buried nazi secrets continues.
You get a lot of landmines left in this country?
Um, plenty.
[josh] as I prepare to set sail
Through an unexplored and flooded maze of tunnels
Guys, I got something here.
What the hell is that?
Then, a mysterious diary may hold the key
To finding billions in plunder.
I'm sorry, did you say 100 to 300 tonnes of gold?
Finally, in the ruins of an abandoned city
- Wiped off the map by the red army. -[man] oh!
[josh] we find an entrance to the buried chambers of the third reich.
Oh, my word.
-These were used with enigma machines. -[man] mmm.
[josh] and decrypt secrets from the final days of world war ii.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, no. There's writing on this.
-[man] yeah, yeah. Good. -Stop, stop, stop.
Actually, there is something glinting in here. Come here.
Back up! Back up!
My name is josh gates.
Hello!
Explorer,
Adventurer...
Amazing.
Help!
...And a guy who ends up in some very strange situations.
[bleep] whoo! That was exciting.
With a degree in archaeology and a passio for the unexplained...
Yeah!
...I travel to the ends of the earth
Investigating the greatest legends in history.
Yeah, let's punch it.
This is expedition unkno.
[josh] September 1, 1939.
Germany, under the control of chancellor adolf hitler,
Begins its military campaig to conquer europe
By invading its neighbor to the east, poland.
The next five and a half yea see poland turned into a house of horrors.
Amidst the incalculable human loss are other crimes
The theft and plunder of wealth and cultural treasures
From across the continent,
Along with the scientific development of so-called wunderwaffe.
Weapons that were hitler's last desperate chance
To turn the tide of the war in his favor.
These secrets were hidden from allied eyes in massive tunnel systems
And subterranean structures
That the nazis drilled into the polish countryside
My investigation began in the town of luban,
Where a group of researcher uncovered a nazi map
That revealed a network of tunnels
Carved through the heart of an extinct volcano.
Are you kidding me?
We ventured into the darknes
What is behind this wall?
[josh] where we discovered perfectly preserved world war ii era artifacts.
All of this looks like they were just in the middle of construction.
And explored a realm that no one has set foot in for almost 80 years.
Looks like they literally just were here
And then just said, "okay, that's it. We're leaving."
Then, I travel to the royal castle in warsa
Where I met with robert edse of the monuments men foundation.
[robert] when the monuments men arrived in europe,
The works of art are missing
And that, of course, led to the greatest treasure hunt in history.
[josh] he revealed to me nazi documents describing a location
Where underground chambers were used to hide stolen art.
This is about five hours west of warsaw in the german border.
You have to track down every lead,
You have to talk to people.
[josh] to see if treasures could still be hidden there
I drove east and joined up with local investigators pawel piatkiewicz
And robert kubiszewski
At a series of battered gun emplacements.
It's a german heavy machine gun position.
[josh] the mrus are a defensive network of nazi tunnels
Along the edge of germany and poland, that span more than 25 miles underground.
Documents show that the nazis hid
Four chambers of stolen art here.
But when the soviets arrived they could only locate two.
Okay, into the darkness.
We descend into the long, abandoned maze.
I've never seen anything like this.
Our target is a series of distant tunnels
That have been flooded since the war.
But now, due to construction above, the water is draining.
Imagine that both tunnels were completely flooded.
-All the way to the roof? -Up to the roof.
[josh] this is the edge of known history.
What lies ahead is a true unknown.
So how are we exploring this?
We'll jump.
The what?
[groans] okay.
For sane people, this would be the end of the line.
But pawel has been waiting years for this momen
Okay, good.
We inflate our raft
And carefully climb aboard.
Okay, I'm in.
Okay, guys.
Here we go.
We paddle into the void.
Soon, a sense of trepidation sets in.
Okay, slow, slow, slow.
What you are seeing right no
No one has seen this in nearly 80 years.
Everything here is a hazard
The walls are covered in rusted and razor sharp metal.
If our raft so much as touches them, we're sunk
We've got all this sharp stuff.
[robert] yes, we've got a lot of sharp objects on both sides.
[josh] the water beneath us is both frigid and toxic with chemical run off
That seems to glow with a yellow haze.
Let's just say this is not a good place to take a bath.
But with no visitors here in decades,
The sediment is entirely settled on the bottom.
First of all, the water is crystal clear.
-[robert] it's just like venice. -[josh] yeah, sort of.
Can I see the big light?
Let's see what's going on underwater here.
Looks like a can of some kind.
Looks like some wiring.
A piece of wire.
Pawel's ingenuity has gotten us this far,
But it appears the water may yet win in the end.
I can't help but notice that we're getting closer to the ceiling.
[pawel] yeah.
[josh] because the tunnel must be sloping down as you said.
It's getting really tiny here and cramped.
We're gonna run out of head room here.
What do you think is down there?
You think there are additional rooms there?
[robert] nobody knows
-What's in the... -Nobody knows what's there.
Yeah.
The mystery is still in front of us [laughs].
Right in front of us.
[robert] sometimes you have to back off.
It's one of the hardest lessons to learn when exploring,
But sometimes you do have to back off.
[exhales] it's a heartbreaker.
We carefully reverse course
To begin moving back to shallower water.
And then, the game abruptly changes.
Oh! Hey, guys. I got something here.
Do you see it?
Is that a picture frame?
It certainly looks very old. It's covered in silt.
[robert] if it is a picture frame, it would be a quite amazing discovery.
[josh] should we try to hook it?
-[robert] yeah. -Okay.
Here, let me get that pole.
Whatever this is appears to have been
Remarkably well preserved in the cold water.
I'm hesitant to touch it
And bring it to the surface as carefully as possible.
It's wood.
-[pawel] wood? -It's wood for sure.
[pawel] it's a picture frame?
[josh] it's a picture frame.
[josh grunting]
Look at this.
[josh laughs]
-Are you kidding me? -[pawel] in shock?
-Yes! -Yes.
You're damn right. I'm in shock too.
It's period. I mean, this looks like it's been down here for 80 years
And what would this be doing if not holding a piece of art?
The possibilities here boggle the imagination.
If this is world war ii peri or older,
It could be connected to a piece of stolen art.
-Any markings at all? -[pawel] no, no.
[josh] I think this has been down here for a long time, don't you?
Since the war probably.
[robert] might be possibility that when the russians were taking the things away,
They just took the canvas and left the frame here.
-[josh] exactly. -[pawel] yeah.
The glass could certainly be tested, the wood can be analyzed.
-[pawel] mmm-hmm. -I think we should certainly try to haul this
Back to the surface, don't you?
The specialists should have a look at it, definitely.
-Yes. -[pawel] yes, that's right.
There may be more here for sure.
Hopefully, the water gets even lower in the near future.
Forget that, let's swim.
-Can we swim? -[explorers laughing]
-[pawel] yes. -Could be a rembrandt down there.
-[robert] yes. Yes. -Yeah, that's right.
Yes, that's right.
-[josh] amazing. -[robert] amazing, yes.
-[josh] amazing. -[robert] yes.
[josh] ah!
With our delicate prize in hand,
We carefully make the long trek back to the surface.
The discovery of the picture frame
Has pawel and robert now planning a further excavation of the mru tunnel
The frame will be taken to warsaw,
So art historians can estima its age and possible content
And chemical composition testing
Could tell us even more of the frame's story.
While we wait for results, other researchers here in poland
Are chasing even more explosive secrets.
Including one that could rewrite history books and bank books everywhere.
To learn more, I drive 170 miles east
To a land of misty forests and forbidden castles.
And I am headed to such a place.
It's known as izbicko palace, a grand estate,
Where a recently resurfaced document may be a game changer
In the hunt for nazi looted treasure.
Oh, wow.
Unbelievable.
The custodians of this mysterious document
Wait for me inside the imposing palace.
This is roman frumaniak and bart zelaytys
Of the silesian bridge foundation.
A group dedicated to strengthening the relationship
Between germany and poland.
So can we talk about how amazing this building is?
[bart] absolutely, it's a la 17th century palace
That has been restored to this beautiful condition you see here now.
[josh] it's awesome.
[translator] it's nice to have you here.
[josh] and I understand you have something very special
In this palace, a document of some kind?
That's correct. It's a war diary.
-Okay. -[bart] it has been written at the end of the world war ii,
That points 11 locations where nazi gold has been hidden.
And we're talking about anywhere
Between 100 to 300 tonnes of gold.
I'm sorry, did you say 100 to 300 tonnes of gold?
-That's correct. -Yes.
Okay.
I thought a rafting trip through a flooded nazi tunne
Would be the wildest story I'd face this week,
But a war journal that may point at 300 tonne of plundered gold
Raises the bar to a new leve
Any chance it tells you right where it's buried?
In a way, yes.
Can I see this document?
Please.
Lead on.
Oh, wow.
Unbelievable.
Wow. This is amazing.
This moldering journal from world war ii may contain the location
Of hundreds of tonnes of stolen gold.
So this whole thing is the diary down here.
[bart] that's correct.
-Yep. -Okay.
I have a million questions.
To start with, who wrote this?
[josh] the schutzstaffel or were the paramilitary wing of the nazi party
Led by heinrich himmler, one of the chief architects of the holocaust.
The ss was part combat brigade, part state police.
A cadre of true nazi believe who enforced
The genocidal policies of hitler and himmler with religious fervor.
If this diary was written by a high ranking ss officer
He may well have had intimate knowledge of nazi secrets
And the fate of plundered treasures.
[bart] he describes a completion of a mission
Where they hide nazi gold,
Artifacts, archival stuff.
Any doubts about the authenticity of the diary?
We're 100% certain it's authentic.
[josh] according to roman, the journal's age
Has been confirmed as authentic by a german lab.
However, many notable documents from the era,
Like the announcement of hitler's diaries in the early 1980s,
Have proven to be elaborate forgeries.
As to the contents of the diary,
Which was donated to the silesian bridge foundation
By a german cultural society the jury is out.
The only way to be sure is to keep investigating.
So this high ranking nazi officer,
Is he writing this diary as a personal diary?
So this is an official document of establishing a new nation.
Fourth reich.
Correct.
[josh] so the nazis know that the walls are closing in on them
And this is kind of an emergency measure
To say we're gonna hide all this stuff,
So that we can come back for it later.
[bart] absolutely.
[josh] bart offers me a translation
Of a particularly revealing entry.
So the author says,
"we are grateful that providence appointed u
To safeguard the part of germany's cultural and national heritage."
Correct.
[josh] according to roman, the diary mentions 11 different places
Where the nazis were "safeguarding" works of art
Plundered from across the continent.
Looted religious and occult objects
And in this area, a huge stockpile of stolen gold.
Okay, where?
So for that, we have to look in the diary.
We can actually look inside of it?
Yeah.
[josh] to read firsthand from this dark tome,
Roman and bart bring the diary to the palace's ornate ballroom.
Oh, my word. Look at that. It is all handwritten.
[bart] and all in pencil.
-So it's very fragile. -[josh] yeah.
So what do we see on this page?
This is a english translation.
Okay.
So it says, "transports to the estates of von stein and seydlitz."
So who is seydlitz?
[translator] seydlitz was a 19th century german general
Who built a pile of estates nearby.
And the village was named after him.
And today, that village is called minkowskie
And it's 40 kilometers north from here.
[josh] and then, it also says the estate of von stein. So who's that?
Correct, he was the last inhabitant of the palace
And he was also an ss officer.
Seydlitz or minkowskie today, are there many palaces there?
Just one.
[josh] von stein, though, wasn't living at minkowskie by himself.
According to roman, the ss used the palace
As a kind of brothel away from home.
Von stein, it appears, got himself a girlfriend.
Because we have a letter from von stein, the last inhabitant of the palace,
To inga, his mistress.
[josh] long after von stein had been erased from history
His mistress remained at minkowskie palace
And for over 40 years, she held onto a remarkable piece of evidence.
[bart] and the letter is right here.
So this is the letter and a translation.
This is from von stein.
So he writes, "my dear inga.
Some transports were successful.
The remaining 48 heavy reichsbank's chests..."
Meaning chests of gold from the reichsbank?
Very likely, yes.
-Forty eight chests. -[bart] correct.
[josh] as the war turned increasingly against the nazis,
The reichsbank hid the country's gold reserves in a salt mine inside german
To keep it safe from the allies.
Roman and bart don't believe that was all of it.
Not nearly.
"only you know where they're located.
May god help you and help me fulfill my assignment.
Von stein. February, 1945."
You've got an authentic
World war ii diary written by a high ranking ss officer.
You've got a real location and you've got a corroborative letter.
Well, what else can one want?
Proof that it's all true.
That's exactly what we're going to find.
[josh] we pile into the car and take the short ride to minkowskie.
Take a right right here.
[josh] okay.
And this is the place.
Oh, hell yeah it is.
Whoa.
In contrast to izbicko, minkowskie palace appears
To be dangerously unrestored
Yeah, that's a palace.
It's like a ghost.
Absolutely.
I mean, it's really atmospheric.
It's beautiful, though.
Today, minkowskie's empty halls and littered floors
Give this place the feeling of a haunted house.
As if any place in poland needed the help.
So we're in the right place. The diary puts us here.
But this also looks like a huge estate.
We're talking about 48 chests of material.
Where do you think it's deposited?
[speaking in polish]
The diary suggests it was buried under or near the orangery.
An orangery? What's an orangery?
It's a fancy greenhouse...
...With tropical plants, fountains, benches, walkways
It's a very fancy place to hang out.
And tell me this place has an orangery.
It's not standing anymore, however we found it.
You did find it?
Yes.
-[speaking polish] -yes.
[josh gates] we walk around to the back of the palace
To find an active excavation site with heavy drilling equipment.
[josh] ooh, is this the foundation?
Yes.
So the orangery was right here.
Exactly, yeah.
Wow. And all of this was buried? You... You dug all this up?
[bart] that's correct, and there's probably a lot more to be found underneath.
This is insane, wow.
[josh] roman and bart's grou manage to locate and expose
The footprint of the oranger
So that mission is accomplished.
It leaves one important step to go.
Hey, I'm josh.
Mariusz.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on here, are we drilling?
Yeah.
-Yeah. - Tak.
And mariusz is our drilling expert.
So how does this work, mariusz?
[speaking polish]
We've already drilled a hole here, down 25 feet.
And lowered in a metal sleeve to keep it from collapsing.
Now we need to drop the cylinder in.
It'll fill up with material from the bottom,
And then we can bring it back up to see what we've got.
Okay, so, what are you hoping ends up inside this cylinder?
We are definitely gonna find something, it's just a matter of time.
It could be a wooden crate, could be a... A jewelry,
It could be a ring.
Just some sign that you've made it
-Into this deposit layer. -Absolutely.
So how deep down do you need to drill do you think?
[bart] take a look at the diary.
So this is another translation page from the diary.
It says...
"48 chests from the reischsbank, in good condition,
Were hidden, very well cover with earth, and greened with still living plants."
So what does very well covered mean?
How... How far down do you think it is?
We don't know the exact depth.
We'll have to do a search for it.
So that's why you're drilling such a big cross-section.
Yes, exactly.
Okay.
So...
Let's go!
Go dodgers, here we go.
We may be digging 30 feet or more into the ground.
So we're using a technique usually employed in mining.
Which, in a way, is exactly what we're doing
The cylinder needs to be carefully lowered into plac so we can extract a sample..
...Then we simple reel it back in.
It's comin' up.
The cylinder comes back to us, and we empty it onto our platform
To see if there are any diamonds in this rough.
Here we go!
[josh] it's comin' up.
Here we go!
Historical minkowskie palace occupied by the nazis during world war ii,
Is said to be hiding 300 tons of stolen gold.
And I'm hoping some of it..
...Is in this cylinder.
Bart, be careful, I don't want to get those pants dirty.
[laughing]
Okay.
So it's kind of really fine grit...
...Soil, I mean it's almost sand down there.
About how far down are we now?
[bart] about 27 feet.
Okay.
There wasn't anything at 27 feet.
So we lowered the sleeve past 30 and drop in another cylinder...
...This one able to collect a bigger sample.
Here we go.
This is the one.
This is it, I can feel it.
Guys, back up, some gold bars are gonna be coming out of here.
[metal clangs]
[josh] 'kay.
Comin' down.
Zloto , look!
-You got something? -Oh, yeah, yeah.
-[man] gold. -Stop, stop, stop.
There is something glinting in here, c'mere.
There... Wait, is that?
Wait a minute, is this?
[man] gold.
-Roman? -Yes, okay!
Get the [bleep] out of here.
You've all heard of fool's gold,
Well in this case, I am that fool.
[sarcastic] yay.
Who put that in the drill?
You guys are jerks you know that?
You guys are jerks.
[laughing]
Horrible.
It's the most exciting moment of my life.
[whispers] ah, these guys.
All right, for real this time, guys.
Here we go.
Putting roman's hilarious joke behind us,
We lower the sleeve to a depth of 40 feet,
And drop it in one more time
Kind of a different layer we're getting into here.
Some stones.
While we seem to be in a new layer,
Our well is still coming up dry.
So while roman and the drill team continue the dig,
Bart leads me into the wood behind minkowskie.
Since the diary mentions the orangery,
And the palace's expansive grounds,
We're metal detecting to fin anything that could confirm the diary's story.
[metal detector beeping]
[metal detector alarm]
It's something here.
[metal detector alarm]
We put shovel to dirt, to see what the detector has found.
So you got an old nail tied to something.
You got a lotta land mines left in this country?
Um, plenty.
I'm gonna leave this nail right here.
You can pull it, I'll be out of here.
Safely out of the blast radi that exists only in my head
We start to pick up on a wor path through the woods.
So we have this long trail coming through the woods here.
And what was this down here, a creek?
There was a creek run... Running creek about a couple of months ago,
It's dry now.
And we suspect there was a bridge at some point over the creek.
Okay, got it.
Well let's have a look around here on both sides...
...See if we get anything.
[metal detector alarm]
It's a really ferrous hit.
Feels like it could be iron or something?
[metal detector beeping]
Pull tab.
I'm the best in the business, bart.
I'm not sure if you heard.
But my pull tab was covering something much more interesting.
Looks like brick, that's a good sign.
Some piece of construction here.
As I dig, we're joined by archaeologist pawel roslon...
...Who's here to help asses anything we find.
Oh, look, down here.
-[roslon] hmm? -See that?
Oh!
[josh] we carefully expose the bricks to get a full sen of the structure.
[speaking in polish]
It's pretty remarkable.
There's just a piece of construction sitting right here.
You've got this old road coming through here.
What do you think, a part of a wall or a gatehouse, maybe?
[roslon speaking]
Finding it is... Is miraculous.
-Yeah. -You did a fantastic job.
Well, a new piece of history, I like that.
All right, let's keep looking.
[josh] we continue scanning the property.
But as the day latens, neither we, nor the drill team,
Has found anything described in the diary.
Bart and I take stock.
This property...
...Has just such an incredible past.
In terms of the treasure...
...You feel confident it's here?
Yeah, very confident.
So when roman starts screaming from the tent, you're gonna call me, right?
Sure, yeah, on a speed dial.
On a speed dial, I like that. All right, man.
Thanks so much, this was awesome.
Thank you for being a part of it.
Are you kidding, it was amazing.
The story of the ss officer's diary,
Which seemed fantastic to begin with, feels like a longshot.
But hey, you never know.
And by excavating minkowski bart and roman may find something
More nourishing than stolen gold:
A renewed history for this crumbling palace.
As for me, it's time to get back on the road.
Just north of here is another site,
Where new discoveries are changing what we know about the final days
Of world war two.
My next stop is along the oder river,
Which is the modern-day bord between poland and germany.
There's a fortress there.
This was a really critical location during world war ii
As the red army was advancin on berlin.
Today, investigators there are sifting through the ruins,
Trying to find secrets that are literally frozen in time.
At the ruined relic of kostrzyn fortress,
I rushed to meet the directo of the excavation, jerek strozniak.
Nice to meet you.
[speaking polish]
Beautiful place, this is a... A fortress?
Um... Yes, this was a fortress built during the middle ages.
[josh] why did they build a fortress here?
[jerek] it was strategically placed,
Next to the oder and warta rivers.
It's so strategic that the third reich used it to defend berlin.
[josh] as the war becomes increasingly unwinnable...
...Hitler is in denial.
He can't imagine losing.
The fuhrer even orders a nazi general to be locked in an insane asylum
For warning him of the advancing soviet army
Hitler orders scattered forc to rally at kostrzyn fortres a 17th century complex
Less than 50 miles from the outskirts of germany's capital
This was berlin's last defense.
So before the end of world war ii.
This fortress is protecting a city of what size?
25,000 people.
Wow. Can we see the city?
Yes, I'll show you.
Please.
We walk and walk.
And soon I realize we're passing through a gri of empty streets.
Jerek, I don't see a city.
Everything is gone.
Everything.
All of it.
Did the soviets flatten it?
Yes, soviets destroyed the whole city here.
Literally destroyed everything.
I've never seen this before, the place is completely flat.
This was once a thriving cit
Today it's residents are only empty avenues...
...Basements without houses even a church without walls
There was once a soaring castle here,
Today it is simply a set of stairs.
The town has been called "the polish pompeii",
Because preserved in its ashes is a potential bonanza of artifacts
From the very final days of the war.
Every home, shop, and office here
Was repurposed by the nazis for the defense of berlin.
And now jerek has gotten exclusive access to excavat in the ruins.
This is the first time anyone has excavated this part of the town,
And we, you and I, are here to see it.
Also on site is pawel pietkiewicz,
Fresh from working on the mru tunnels nearby.
He's here to support his friend, jerek, in his own excavations.
Good to see you again.
-Yeah. -How are you?
-[speaking polish] okay. -Good.
So what are we working on here?
[speaking in polish]
There was once a building here but this was the cellar entrance.
Where's the entrance? What do you have?
-[speaking polish] -ah, here.
[josh grunts]
Ah, oh.
Ohoho, my word.
So, what's down here?
We found a few interesting things.
Interesting how?
Items that seemed military issued.
This was a command area?
We think it was a place for high command officers.
Can I... Can I see the things that you found?
Tak.
[speaking polish]
-Oh, they're still inside? -Yes.
-[josh] oh. -Josh?
-Me... He first? -Yeah, yes.
Oh, boy.
-[jerek] let's go! -All right, here we go. [whispers] oh, boy.
Come on.
[laughing]
Let's do it.
[whispers] oh, boy.
Oh, there's a lotta...
Lotta spider webs which is good.
[laughs]
Yes, feet first.
[jerek and pawel laughing]
[speaking polish]
Very good.
Okay, I'm in!
Where does this go?
[mocks] no spiders. There's a big [bleep] spider right there.
Holy, there's a whole chamber down here!
Okay, I'm in!
[exhales] I don't know what I'm in, but I'm in.
Between the flattened polish city of kostrzyn,
I'm searching through long sealed cellars
That may contain relics from the final days of world war ii.
Oh, my word, look at this.
Oh!
Yo, it goes way down.
There's a whole chamber down here.
Woah. Look at this place.
Oh, hi josh.
Hi.
So, it's huge.
How old are these chambers?
Uh, this is very old.
This was a medieval cellar.
It would've been used to store food,
But when we opened it up there were items to suggest the military was using it.
And there's one more thing in here I really want to show you.
Yeah, what's here?
[sighs]
Is this electrical?
[jarek] there was no power in kostrzyn.
So the germans would connect their important buildings to generators.
We also found things like this with batteries.
Woah!
We see volts here and a warning not to throw it...
...And to keep it away from... From water.
And these are the battery cells here.
Wow.
Would this have powered lights or was this an emergency backup, you think?
We think it powered a radio.
Are there more rooms like this that were used by the nazis?
There are many, but they've been buried as well.
We need to access them from back outside.
Back up top?
-Sure, yeah, show me. -Okay.
The ruins of this fortress have only begun to speak.
We climb to the surface and head a few feet away
To a sealed chamber that jerek wants to investigate next.
This is not the same chamber. This is another chamber?
Tak , this is near the chamr we were in,
But we haven't been able to open it yet.
Everything is collapsed.
It has been collapsed since 1945.
This looked blocked though, so how... How do we get in here?
You're going to have to dig.
Dig with what?
Koparka!
What's a koparka?
This is a koparka
Since the soviets burned thi entire town down to rubble,
Shovels aren't going to cut it.
This excavator should be ou ticket into the new chamber
Kaparka.
And it doesn't take long to open a door into the past
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!
Whoa, whoa, whoa-y.
[triumphant laugh] look at that.
That's a chamber.
This excavator is pulling up dirt that's fille this cellar for decades
And that dirt may be as valuable as anything inside
[pawel speaking polish]
I thought it was a washer, but it looks stamped.
You see this?
-[pawel] oh, yeah. -[josh] 10g. It's a weight.
As our hole in the ground gets bigger,
Jarek can't wait to start exploring the newly exposed chamber.
-[jarek speaking polish] -got something?
-Let me see? -[jarek speaking polish]
Ornate. This looks like the remains of a tile stove.
This is how they would heat these places back in the day.
Yeah, this is a fired artillery shell.
You can see, this end of it's all deformed.
Holy [bleep].
As the hours pass, our one small excavation
Expands into a massive series of cellars.
-Oh, what is this? -Oh, yes.
-[josh] for switches? -[pawel] yep, yep.
-[josh] this is from a radio, yeah? -[pawel] yes.
-A radio station, station. -A radio station?
The radio part is a good sig that we are in a hub
For the fortress's nazi command.
But that's not all we find.
It's a military desk lamp.
-Part of a lamp? This is great. I love this. -Yes.
"yeah, I love lamp."
Anchorman.
Great find.
Soon, though, the excavator punches through
To a whole new level of excitement.
Got an opening.
It's really strange. It's like...
It's framed off like it's a door.
But then behind it it just kind of narrows out.
We're at the top of the arch, so I think we need to
-Go down more, yeah? -Uh-huh.
[josh] the kaparka keeps digging for victory
While we keep a safe distance away.
Not too safe, though.
Back up, back up!
Good eye.
-[blow raspberry, exclaims] -[josh] you okay?
-Okay. -[josh] okay.
We're way down in the hole, now.
I break out a metal detecto to see what it can see.
[metal detector beeping]
[metal detector changes pitch]
Nail.
Oh, hey, hey, come here! Come here. Look at this.
Come here, come here. Pavel.
-Look, look. Look here. -[pawel] oh, josh.
-[pawel laughs] -[josh] container?
Yeah. Helmet.
[pawel speaking polish]
-Helmet? -[pawel] yeah.
That's a helmet?
Whoa. Whoa.
[all exclaiming]
-Unbelievable. -[laughs]
[josh] the picturesque town of poznan
Is home to a unique polish treat.
[both speaking polish]
[in english] all right, here's the deal. This is a st. Martin's croissant.
This is a government regulated pastry.
First of all, it can only be made here in poznan.
It is protected, under law by the european union.
The recipe must be done to exact specifications.
It has to contain white poppy seeds,
Orange peel, crushed dates or figs, nuts, sugar icing.
It has 81 layers.
Not 80 layers, 81 layers.
And I have never had one until this moment. Here we go.
[blows air]
Ah.
It's great. Yep.
How absolutely chilling is that?
-German helmet. -[pawel] yeah.
[josh] in a destroyed fortress in poland,
I've just found a relic of the nazi occupation here
That was abandoned in the final days of world war ii.
Ugh.
[jarek speaking polish]
This just connects you to this place in such
A primal way, you know? It's like...
A person wore this. A nazi soldier wore this helmet.
It's kind of haunting.
With the red army coming through here,
I can't imagine many germans survived this place.
[pawel] you're holding history in your hands.
Powerful. Powerful stuff.
Okay, here. Keep that safe.
We'll keep looking, see what else is here.
Pawel, this is crazy.
Holy hell. Look at this.
This goes way back.
Okay, so obviously this roof is, uh, no guarantees here, guys.
So, be really, really cautious.
We've got an alcove here on the left.
Oh, my god. We got more chambers down here.
Look at this.
Oh, my god.
We've got bottles, coffee cups, lamps, cooking pots.
You could just imagine a soldier right here.
[jarek] you can see the roof is burned.
[josh] yes. Yeah, you can see burn marks on the ceiling.
Oh, look at this bottle.
[pawel speaking polish]
-[in english] it's vodka. -[josh] brom... Brom-ner-vought?
It sounds like it's a kind of nerve tonic for stress.
Fun fact, brom nervacit was a barbiturate syrup
Prescribed to hitler himsel by his personal physician
To counteract his rampant amphetamine use.
This is still sealed.
[pawel] no, no, drink.
-I'm not going to drink. -[both laugh]
-How crazy do you think I am? -[pawel] josh, no drink.
So far, so amazing.
[pawel] uh, cables.
Uh-huh.
Oh, wow, yes.
What would run off of this high-voltage?
We can't know for sure,
But this would have produced a lot of energy.
Not all rooms had power supplies.
So this room must have been very important.
[josh] but wait, there's mor
Wow, look. Gas mask.
Oh, my god.
We've got a gas mask here
And here's the face piece right here.
[jarek] this is a blue gas mask.
It indicates a non-magnetic mask.
These were issued to people near radio frequencies
As to not interfere.
-Ah, for radio. -Yeah.
You've got high voltage, you've got this.
-Maybe a radio station. -[jarek] yeah.
Yes, it looks like this is the fortresses' radio room.
This would have been one of the most
Crucial places in the whole city to the nazis.
[josh] and it isn't until we explore the back
Of the chamber that we lear exactly how crucial.
[pawel] wow, look over here, josh.
[josh] oh, this is a paper.
All of this is burned, look at this.
So, we've got writing along the top here,
Different columns and rows that are labeled.
What, what is this, exactly?
[jarek] these look like they've been through a decryption.
I'm not 100% sure, but I thi these are from an enigma.
-[josh] enigma? -Yeah.
These were used with enigma machines?
They look to me like they are.
Okay. Wow.
These papers, many now burned and black,
Appear to be products of enigma,
A complex inscription devic used by all branches
Of the german military to se top secret communications.
From the outside, it resembl a humble typewriter,
But looks are deceiving.
Enigma could scramble a message
Into hundreds of millions of possible permutations.
The consequences were catastrophic,
Allowing german forces acros land, sea, and air
To communicate their movemen without fear of compromise.
It was only when british mathematician alan turing
And the team at bletchley park, England cracked the enigma code,
That the tide of the war turned to the side of the allies.
To find out what these communiques were telling the nazis,
I rush back to the surface t find our translator, oliver
What does it say, oliver?
This writing on this, what does it say?
Uh, receiving some devices...
[speaking german]
[in english] at this... At a location.
So they're receiving some sort of devices here?
They should receive some sort of device.
[josh] there's definitely something here,
But it's difficult to make out.
We go to a section of the di shielded from the wind
To try to get a closer look
And here you go. This page.
The pages are frighteningly brittle.
The only way to separate the
Is with a razor sharp edge of a knife.
[oliver] I'm reading "o-k-h. From 14..."
Something on the fourth of... 14th of January
Was coming here.
[speaking german]
[in english] it's about supplies, correspondence about
Prisoners that have been kept here.
You know, I'm reading this on the fly, but
Um, it refers to the "kriegsgefangenenlager stalag alt drewitz."
-A prison camp? -Prison camp.
-At kostrzyn which is close to here. -[josh] here.
-And "okh" is... -Over commander.
Over commander.
So, something to do with the high-ranking commander...
-And... -...And this field post which involves
-A prison camp near here. -[oliver] yes.
[josh] whew.
Well, we'll photograph all the pages we can see
And I think we leave the rest aside.
Somebody may be able to carefully separate the pages later.
I don't want to mess them up.
The paperwork, likely a transfer order for prisoners
Would have been encrypted.
Which means enigma was nearb
More importantly, it confirm that this very spot
Is where orders from berlin would be received,
Decoded, and then relayed to commanders above.
We've made a huge discovery
And jarek has only scratche the surface. Literally.
While he continues to dig even deeper,
I have a surprise engagement
I've been summoned to retur
To the national museum in warsaw.
And it's a big enough deal that I'm actually putting on a tie.
Inside, I rejoin historian robert edsel.
-Robert. -Hey, how you doing?
-[josh] great to see you again. -You too.
-You look great. -Hell, you too.
-Everything okay? -Everything's great.
Come on up. This is going to be quite an event.
[josh] that's just amazing.
I learned that here in warsa art historians have confirme
That the frame we recovered from the mru tunnels
Is likely french and from the 19th century.
Its ornate design wasn't carved,
But molded from something called composition,
Calcium carbonate mixed wit linseed oil and glue.
The glass in the frame indicate that it might have housed a work on paper.
A drawing as opposed to an oil painting.
And speaking of drawings,
It turns out robert has an astounding surprise.
The monuments men foundatio is repatriating two importan
Works of art that their tea recently recovered.
And they're about to be give a heroic welcome home.
...My friend josh gates from the united states.
We're really pleased that you're here.
This is an important day for poland.
And it is also an important day
For the monuments men foundation for the preservation of art.
Our discovery and return of these two drawings
By adolf kozarski to the national museum in warsaw.
And they define the remarkable work
Of the monuments men and women of world war ii.
To the victors, do not belong the spoils of war.
They should be returned to the rightful owners.
[josh] 19th century artist adolf kozarski
Was known for his portrayal architecture and landscapes
The museum in warsaw houses three of his oil paintings
And over a dozen of his drawings,
Including these, which were looted by the nazis.
[robert] they then transferred these objects
And hid them in fischhorn castle in austria.
Residents of s.S. General fegelein,
Brother-in-law to nazi leade adolf hitler.
[josh] in August of 1945,
Monuments man, lieutenant fr hart, reached the castle.
But some of the looted objects had gone missing.
Among them, these two pieces
One in ink and one in graphi
Which showed the villages of lipno and zagorowa.
Irreplaceable depictions of a time that no longer exists
They were located by robert and his team in private hands in america
Today, 77 years after being looted,
These two drawings are now home.
Art connects us to the past
Art lifts our souls.
Art enriches the human spirt
[josh] during this visit to poland, I've spent
Long days and nights digging through the earth
To find artifacts, art, and answers
About the nazi occupation here.
What we've uncovered adds to the ongoing story
And remembrance of world war ii.
But even though a destroyed poland can be rebuilt,
The millions of dead remain
Deeply felt in their absence
As important works of art are repatriated,
Some frames remain empty, with countless masterpieces
Still missing or in disputed hands.
And even though the original nazis have die
Or aged into senescence,
A bold new generation has risen
To embrace their toxic view of the world
And so it is essential to continue the fight.
To try and restore balance in an unbalanced world.
And to never stop unearthin and learning from the past
So that we never walk these dark roads again in the future.