1 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,320 Tonight, one of World War II's most enduring mysteries. 2 00:00:08,940 --> 00:00:12,320 A stunning treasure worth half a billion dollars. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:15,600 Lost without a trace. 4 00:00:15,900 --> 00:00:19,540 It might be the most expensive and beautiful work of art ever made. 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:21,180 It's like it's just vanished. 6 00:00:21,860 --> 00:00:26,860 Now we uncover the top theories surrounding the disappearance of a work 7 00:00:26,860 --> 00:00:31,740 so remarkable that it's known as the eighth wonder of the world. 8 00:00:33,740 --> 00:00:35,800 The castle suffered tremendous damage. 9 00:00:37,340 --> 00:00:40,540 We have to wonder, was the Amber Room destroyed as well? 10 00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:44,860 Stens and Mederer are convinced that the Amber Room is hidden behind the 11 00:00:44,860 --> 00:00:49,840 castle's wall, just waiting to be explored and waiting to produce 12 00:00:50,340 --> 00:00:53,980 Can a new expedition finally reveal its location? 13 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,700 It's a treasure trove of material. 14 00:00:56,940 --> 00:01:02,600 Will we ever be able to find the incomparable Amber Room? 15 00:01:23,150 --> 00:01:24,590 It's September, 1941. 16 00:01:26,470 --> 00:01:28,350 Leningrad, USSR. 17 00:01:31,610 --> 00:01:37,270 Nazi forces invade Russia, moving relentlessly east in a vicious sweep of 18 00:01:37,270 --> 00:01:42,170 destruction. As his troops advance, Hitler gives one important order. 19 00:01:44,170 --> 00:01:49,710 Preserve the priceless works of art in Leningrad's Catherine Palace at all 20 00:01:49,710 --> 00:01:50,710 costs. 21 00:01:54,220 --> 00:01:59,060 Hitler wants to gut Russia, and he wants to steal every work of art he can en 22 00:01:59,060 --> 00:02:01,020 route to conquering the entire country. 23 00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:05,700 The Catherine Palace supposedly houses the most valuable work of art in the 24 00:02:05,700 --> 00:02:06,700 world. 25 00:02:07,940 --> 00:02:12,240 The artwork in question is known as the Amber Room. 26 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:17,380 It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a room covered in beautiful amber panels. 27 00:02:17,620 --> 00:02:20,880 Some people estimate it to be worth over half a billion dollars. 28 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,180 making it one of the most expensive and beautiful rooms ever created. 29 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:32,220 During World War II, the German military stole over 600 ,000 pieces of art from 30 00:02:32,220 --> 00:02:36,700 across Europe, ransacking billions of dollars worth of priceless cultural 31 00:02:36,700 --> 00:02:42,540 artifacts. And some say Hitler wants the Amber Room above all else. 32 00:02:42,910 --> 00:02:48,210 Not only does Hitler love art, but he's also a nationalist, and it infuriates 33 00:02:48,210 --> 00:02:52,070 him that there are works of German art outside of German territory. 34 00:02:52,710 --> 00:02:56,930 And the Amber Room is a German work of art that he desperately wants back. 35 00:02:58,150 --> 00:03:03,250 Work began on the room in 1701 in Berlin, which then was part of Prussia. 36 00:03:03,670 --> 00:03:08,390 Frederick I, who rules over the powerful empire in what's now Germany, 37 00:03:08,570 --> 00:03:10,750 originally commissioned the Amber Room. 38 00:03:11,410 --> 00:03:17,370 designed by a sculptor named Andreas Schluter, and it's lavish, and it's 39 00:03:17,370 --> 00:03:20,030 resplendent, and it's expensive, and it's valuable. 40 00:03:22,650 --> 00:03:26,730 Andreas Schluter starts by melting the amber to the point where it is a thick 41 00:03:26,730 --> 00:03:27,649 kind of liquid. 42 00:03:27,650 --> 00:03:31,850 At the time, amber wasn't really used like this, so in addition to being a 43 00:03:31,850 --> 00:03:34,250 beautiful work of art, it's also enormously innovative. 44 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,280 As if that isn't impressive enough, then these 18th century craftspeople encrust 45 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,560 them with jewels and then cover it with gold and silver leaf. 46 00:03:44,220 --> 00:03:48,620 It's also adorned with these four Italian mosaics, making them works of 47 00:03:48,620 --> 00:03:49,900 within a work of art. 48 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:54,500 King Frederick wants a palace that will outshine France's Versailles, and he 49 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:56,500 decides that this is going to be the centerpiece. 50 00:03:57,020 --> 00:04:03,260 In 1701, the Amber Room is installed in the Berlin City Palace, but it won't be 51 00:04:03,260 --> 00:04:04,260 there for long. 52 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,940 The Amber Room, unsurprisingly, attracts the attention of another European 53 00:04:09,940 --> 00:04:13,200 royal, Russia's famous czar, Peter the Great. 54 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:18,899 Peter the Great visits the Berlin City Palace in 1716, and he gets a tour of 55 00:04:18,899 --> 00:04:23,120 Amber Room. King Frederick is trying to forge an alliance with Russia at the 56 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,840 time, and he basically says, if you want the Amber Room, you can have it. 57 00:04:29,260 --> 00:04:33,820 Around the time of Empress Catherine the Great, it's installed in the Catherine 58 00:04:33,820 --> 00:04:34,820 Palace. 59 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,740 And that's where it stays, undisturbed and unmoved for about two centuries. 60 00:04:40,060 --> 00:04:45,520 And even after Russia becomes the USSR and St. Petersburg becomes Leningrad, 61 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,540 Amber Room is just there pretty peacefully until the Nazis arrive. 62 00:04:58,540 --> 00:05:00,400 And here's where the mystery starts. 63 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:05,260 Because after the Nazi siege of Leningrad, the Amber Room goes missing. 64 00:05:05,780 --> 00:05:07,900 We know that it was in the Catherine Palace. 65 00:05:08,500 --> 00:05:13,200 We know that Hitler sends Nazi troops to go recover it. But that's the last 66 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,220 thing we know. Everything else is just theory. 67 00:05:19,310 --> 00:05:23,870 We think that the Nazis do, in fact, steal the Amber Room from Leningrad. The 68 00:05:23,870 --> 00:05:27,650 most valuable cultural institutions at the time are the old palaces of the 69 00:05:27,650 --> 00:05:32,130 Tsars. And so Hitler sets his sights on those. He's going to tear them apart. 70 00:05:32,310 --> 00:05:35,350 He's going to loot. He's going to pillage. He's going to burn them. He's 71 00:05:35,350 --> 00:05:36,350 to destroy them. 72 00:05:39,370 --> 00:05:44,750 Hitler gives specific instructions not to destroy the Catherine Palace, at 73 00:05:44,750 --> 00:05:47,470 not until the Amber Room is found. 74 00:05:49,100 --> 00:05:53,240 But apparently finding the Amber Room is easier said than done, because when the 75 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:54,940 Nazis arrive, they don't see it. 76 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,940 There's this one room, pretty nondescript, and the soldiers notice a 77 00:06:01,940 --> 00:06:03,640 of plaster on the floor. 78 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:07,400 They also notice a little bubbling in the wallpaper right near the seam. 79 00:06:09,020 --> 00:06:13,440 One of the soldiers just slides the fingernail right under the wallpaper, 80 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,960 there's a little bit of sheepskin or some other covering right behind that. 81 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,150 just beyond that... There's the glow. 82 00:06:21,850 --> 00:06:24,410 We start shouting, it's here, it's here. 83 00:06:24,810 --> 00:06:27,090 And his comrades come charging down the hall. 84 00:06:28,950 --> 00:06:32,270 They rip off the wallpaper and there it is, the Amber Room. 85 00:06:32,590 --> 00:06:38,310 The room had been hidden by head Soviet art curator Anatoly Kuchimov. 86 00:06:40,430 --> 00:06:44,470 The original plan is for Kuchimov to pack up as many works of art as possible 87 00:06:44,470 --> 00:06:47,370 for safekeeping and bring them deeper into Russia. 88 00:06:47,870 --> 00:06:49,090 and away from Nazi hands. 89 00:06:49,450 --> 00:06:53,690 Kuchimov does an analysis of the Amber Room, and he realizes that these panels 90 00:06:53,690 --> 00:06:58,610 are very delicate, and they've become brittle over time, so there's really 91 00:06:58,610 --> 00:06:59,830 one move left to make. 92 00:07:01,830 --> 00:07:07,510 Kuchimov covers the Amber Room from floor to ceiling in thick wallpaper, 93 00:07:07,510 --> 00:07:09,630 the Nazis won't look too closely. 94 00:07:11,190 --> 00:07:15,130 But in this last -ditch effort, the Germans uncover the ruse. 95 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,860 And unlike Kuchumov, they have all the hands and time that they need to pack 96 00:07:19,860 --> 00:07:24,620 this thing up very carefully and slowly. They spend about two days dismantling 97 00:07:24,620 --> 00:07:26,660 the Amber Room and packing it into crates. 98 00:07:28,100 --> 00:07:30,860 But where does the Amber Room go from here? 99 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:37,560 The Germans take the Amber Room, along with a number of other important Russian 100 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:42,160 cultural artifacts, and transport them to Konigsberg Castle. 101 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,020 Hitler's ultimate plan is to build a museum, the greatest museum in the 102 00:07:49,020 --> 00:07:52,080 world, and it was going to be in his hometown of Linz, Austria. 103 00:07:53,220 --> 00:07:56,680 Eventually, the Amber Room would go there, but while the museum was being 104 00:07:56,900 --> 00:07:59,960 the Amber Room would wait in Konigsberg Castle. 105 00:08:02,420 --> 00:08:09,020 On November 13, 1941, a local newspaper announces an exhibition featuring 106 00:08:09,020 --> 00:08:10,900 the Amber Room at the castle. 107 00:08:11,850 --> 00:08:15,930 So that's the best evidence we have that the Amber Room ever actually went to 108 00:08:15,930 --> 00:08:19,770 Konigsberg. But we don't have any photographic evidence of that, and so 109 00:08:19,770 --> 00:08:21,270 not really even sure if that ever happened. 110 00:08:22,110 --> 00:08:25,410 Now here's the really unfortunate part. While we don't know what happened to the 111 00:08:25,410 --> 00:08:30,110 Amber Room, we do know what happened to Konigsberg Castle, and it's not good. 112 00:08:31,470 --> 00:08:37,770 In August of 1944, Britain's Royal Air Force heavily firebombs Konigsberg. 113 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,580 After that, the Soviets march in and take Königsberg. 114 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:52,420 But as part of the operation, they bring in a large quantity of heavy artillery 115 00:08:52,420 --> 00:08:53,460 and they shell the city. 116 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:59,040 By the time of their final occupation of Königsberg on April 9, 1945, 90 % of 117 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:00,600 the city lies in ruin. 118 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:03,700 The castle suffers tremendous damage. 119 00:09:03,940 --> 00:09:07,420 So we have to wonder, the Amber Room destroyed as well? 120 00:09:13,070 --> 00:09:17,370 This would be so embarrassing if the Soviets had actually destroyed the Amber 121 00:09:17,370 --> 00:09:18,370 Room. 122 00:09:18,790 --> 00:09:23,010 So they send a team to Konigsberg Castle, led by Professor Alexander 123 00:09:23,130 --> 00:09:24,310 because they have to be sure. 124 00:09:24,910 --> 00:09:28,730 He's able to make it into the castle cellar, where he discovers the charred 125 00:09:28,730 --> 00:09:32,650 remains of three out of the four Italian mosaics that were part of the Amber 126 00:09:32,650 --> 00:09:37,450 Room. Brusov thinks the room is toast, and he says as much in a report. He 127 00:09:37,450 --> 00:09:41,670 writes, summarizing all the facts, We can say that the Amber Room was 128 00:09:41,670 --> 00:09:44,590 between the 9th and the 11th of April, 1945. 129 00:09:48,590 --> 00:09:52,350 Brusov's report won't be the last word on this mystery. 130 00:09:56,730 --> 00:10:02,350 When the Nazis steal the famed Amber Room from Russia, where do they take it? 131 00:10:04,490 --> 00:10:07,790 According to some, it's moved to the Konigsberg Castle. 132 00:10:08,300 --> 00:10:09,960 where it's ultimately this drawer. 133 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,220 But there at the castle, among the wreckage, there's only a small 134 00:10:19,220 --> 00:10:20,300 the amber room that's found. 135 00:10:21,460 --> 00:10:23,840 This leaves some to wonder, really? 136 00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:29,120 A whole room, and this is all that's left? A room that took crates and crates 137 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:29,859 pack away? 138 00:10:29,860 --> 00:10:33,480 This has many theorists thinking, there's got to be another explanation. 139 00:10:34,890 --> 00:10:40,390 What if the Germans moved the Amber Room before the Soviet invasion of 1945? 140 00:10:41,230 --> 00:10:47,850 We have orders given by Adolf Hitler himself on January 21st and 141 00:10:47,850 --> 00:10:49,810 January 24th, 1945. 142 00:10:54,130 --> 00:10:55,810 The tide of war has changed. 143 00:10:56,010 --> 00:11:01,590 He knows that Allied forces are moving in, so he issues orders that all looted 144 00:11:01,590 --> 00:11:04,010 material in Königsberg Castle be moved. 145 00:11:05,550 --> 00:11:11,730 Some speculate that a high -ranking Nazi commander named Erich Koch follows 146 00:11:11,730 --> 00:11:12,730 these orders. 147 00:11:13,530 --> 00:11:17,630 He was in charge of all civil administration, including police and 148 00:11:17,630 --> 00:11:20,670 operations in East Prussia, Ukraine, and Belarus. 149 00:11:21,530 --> 00:11:25,510 This is a territory that includes Konigsberg, so anything that happens at 150 00:11:25,510 --> 00:11:28,150 Konigsberg Castle is happening under his authority. 151 00:11:28,570 --> 00:11:33,010 Then, in January 1945, Koch flees. 152 00:11:35,660 --> 00:11:39,080 Koch manages to stay on the run for four years until he's captured by the 153 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:43,960 British. In 1950, he's returned to Poland, where he's forced to stand trial 154 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,920 war crimes, at the end of which he is sentenced to death. 155 00:11:47,340 --> 00:11:48,860 But here's the strange thing. 156 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:54,120 His death sentence is pretty quickly commuted to life imprisonment. Plenty of 157 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:58,520 Nazis are executed for their war crimes. There's no real reason for Koch to be 158 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:04,160 spared. His crimes are just as bad as any other Nazi, and he's unrepentant 159 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:06,200 it. He's truly a vile person. 160 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,640 Is Koch spared because he has valuable information? 161 00:12:11,900 --> 00:12:18,040 Koch's sentence is commuted after a long period of interrogation by Soviet 162 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:23,520 authorities. And we think that during this interrogation, Koch reveals that 163 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:24,620 Amber Room has survived. 164 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:27,300 And he knows where it is. 165 00:12:30,660 --> 00:12:35,340 According to Eric Koch, Adolf Hitler ordered that the Amber Room be packed up 166 00:12:35,340 --> 00:12:36,940 and moved in January 1945. 167 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:42,860 He reveals that they packed it up into 24 wooden crates and trucked it 60 miles 168 00:12:42,860 --> 00:12:47,520 from Königsberg to a more fortified Nazi stronghold at Lomeriki, Poland. 169 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,660 Keep in mind that throughout this interrogation, he continues to badmouth 170 00:12:51,660 --> 00:12:56,120 Jews and the Soviets, and he's also singing the praises of Hitler and the 171 00:12:56,590 --> 00:13:00,450 It's not like he was trying to tell the Soviets what they wanted to hear. That 172 00:13:00,450 --> 00:13:04,350 lends a credibility. That makes this more of a believable possibility. 173 00:13:06,430 --> 00:13:10,730 This is also a testament to just how important the Amber Room is to the 174 00:13:10,810 --> 00:13:16,130 that they're going to spare a top Nazi in exchange for a tip, basically, just 175 00:13:16,130 --> 00:13:18,430 keep the hope alive of recovering the Amber Room. 176 00:13:19,690 --> 00:13:25,250 But when the Red Army arrives in Murky in the 1950s, they meet an incredible 177 00:13:25,250 --> 00:13:26,250 challenge. 178 00:13:28,620 --> 00:13:32,000 Mimerki was the center of the German command on the eastern front, and it was 179 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,040 massive complex. 180 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:35,940 And Mimerki hides a few secrets itself. 181 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:43,900 Above ground, the Germans build about 200 buildings, and the entire fort 182 00:13:43,900 --> 00:13:45,500 about 600 acres. 183 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:47,360 But guess what? 184 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,660 Underneath the ground, it's even more impressive. 185 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:56,060 There are miles and miles of underground bunkers and tunnels. 186 00:14:00,890 --> 00:14:04,690 It's a hidden maze, and that's because of the fact that during the course of 187 00:14:04,690 --> 00:14:08,430 war, the Nazis backfill. They fill in some of the tunnels that they had built 188 00:14:08,430 --> 00:14:09,430 earlier in the conflict. 189 00:14:09,830 --> 00:14:14,910 Then, with the passage of time, Mother Nature works her magic, making this 190 00:14:14,910 --> 00:14:18,430 underground complex an extraordinarily difficult place to search. 191 00:14:19,790 --> 00:14:23,530 The Russians spend years searching Mamurki with no results. 192 00:14:24,990 --> 00:14:27,070 So after two decades of searching... 193 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:33,000 The Soviets are so desperate, they take Koch out of prison in 1970 and bring him 194 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,320 to Murky to try to find the Amber Room. 195 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:41,440 He points at a particular bunker where he thinks the Amber Room was taken, but 196 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:42,440 it's not there. 197 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:48,380 To that you could say that maybe Eric Koch's memory had lapsed, or he's just 198 00:14:48,380 --> 00:14:51,700 trying to survive. Because after all, if the Soviets do find the Amber Room, 199 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,180 they have no more reason to keep Eric Koch alive. 200 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,900 Playing the Soviets the way that he did, Eric Koch manages to stay alive for 201 00:14:59,900 --> 00:15:05,040 almost another 20 years until he dies of natural causes in 1986 at age 90. 202 00:15:06,300 --> 00:15:09,720 Even so, the search for the Amber Room continues. 203 00:15:11,500 --> 00:15:16,540 These days, Mimerki is overgrown and falling apart, but parts of it are run 204 00:15:16,540 --> 00:15:22,120 museum by a Polish man named Bartek Labanczyk, and he fully believes that 205 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:23,120 Amber Room is still there. 206 00:15:24,170 --> 00:15:27,470 They even have a replica of the Amber Room inside of the museum. 207 00:15:27,710 --> 00:15:32,250 And every year, Bartek excavates a different bunker in Mimerki. 208 00:15:32,530 --> 00:15:36,890 It's all he can afford to do, one a year, but he's going to keep going until 209 00:15:36,890 --> 00:15:37,890 finds the Amber Room. 210 00:15:38,650 --> 00:15:44,570 So far, they have found tons of Nazi and Soviet artifacts, but it's estimated 211 00:15:44,570 --> 00:15:49,570 that only 1 % of the entire compound has been searched. That means that there 212 00:15:49,570 --> 00:15:51,950 could be tunnels and bunkers. 213 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:56,980 Still in that complex, just waiting to be explored and waiting to produce 214 00:15:56,980 --> 00:16:01,980 discoveries. These tunnels and chambers have been unexplored in over 70 years. 215 00:16:02,260 --> 00:16:06,420 So each dig could be the one that turns up the Amber Room. 216 00:16:12,180 --> 00:16:18,960 For decades after World War II, a global army of treasure hunters searched for 217 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:20,140 the lost Amber Room. 218 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:26,480 It's become the obsession of thousands of people across Europe, across the 219 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,300 Americas. People have even gone looking for the Amber Room in Japan. 220 00:16:30,180 --> 00:16:36,600 While some believe it could be in Poland, two German historians think they 221 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:37,600 the truth. 222 00:16:42,260 --> 00:16:46,260 Eric Stenz and George Mederer see this news story coming out of the Czech 223 00:16:46,260 --> 00:16:47,260 Republic in 2007. 224 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:49,360 A former cook. 225 00:16:49,790 --> 00:16:53,290 who used to work in Czechoslovakia's Friedland Castle when it was under Nazi 226 00:16:53,290 --> 00:16:55,610 rule, tells a fascinating tale. 227 00:16:56,970 --> 00:17:01,150 Back near the end of the war, the cook says that she sees hundreds of SS 228 00:17:01,150 --> 00:17:04,150 soldiers arriving at the castle, bringing in crates. 229 00:17:04,770 --> 00:17:08,349 Every night for two weeks, they carry these crates into the cellar of the 230 00:17:08,349 --> 00:17:10,010 castle, and then they're gone. 231 00:17:11,890 --> 00:17:15,950 Denzen Mederer immediately thinks that these are the crates that could hold the 232 00:17:15,950 --> 00:17:16,950 Amber Room. 233 00:17:17,349 --> 00:17:21,130 When Adolf Hitler orders the Amber Room's evacuation from Konigsberg, if it 234 00:17:21,130 --> 00:17:25,030 moved to Mameriki, it's still dangerously close to the front lines. It 235 00:17:25,030 --> 00:17:29,550 make sense for it to be moved to Friedland Castle, which is much deeper 236 00:17:29,550 --> 00:17:30,550 German territory. 237 00:17:33,570 --> 00:17:36,590 So they go to Friedland Castle, down into the cellar. 238 00:17:37,530 --> 00:17:42,970 They see these two large areas that have been walled off with modern bricks and 239 00:17:42,970 --> 00:17:43,970 cement. 240 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:46,820 They think this seems suspicious. 241 00:17:47,220 --> 00:17:51,860 They go to the Czech authorities, who tell them initially that the cellar in 242 00:17:51,860 --> 00:17:53,000 castle doesn't even exist. 243 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:57,060 But of course, they were just there. So this feels like a ridiculous bluff. 244 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:00,560 At this point, Denz and Mederer feel like they're getting the runaround from 245 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:01,560 Czech authorities. 246 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:06,040 But they press on, and they have photographs of the cellar and the walled 247 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:10,160 areas. So they go back to the Czech authorities, who basically have to say, 248 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:11,200 you mean that cellar? 249 00:18:11,790 --> 00:18:15,590 Nothing to see there. There's just books from a Berlin library behind there. 250 00:18:17,690 --> 00:18:22,290 Unsatisfied with this response, Stens and Mederer ask permission to keep 251 00:18:22,290 --> 00:18:23,570 searching Friedland Castle. 252 00:18:25,410 --> 00:18:29,550 Surprisingly, the authorities say yes, and they allow them to continue their 253 00:18:29,550 --> 00:18:34,070 investigation. However, they forbid them from bringing in any kind of special 254 00:18:34,070 --> 00:18:38,130 equipment that would allow them to see past these modern walls in this old 255 00:18:38,130 --> 00:18:39,130 cellar. 256 00:18:40,590 --> 00:18:44,570 Is it possible the Czech authorities have something to hide? 257 00:18:45,690 --> 00:18:50,010 There is one incident that suggests that the Czechs are trying to keep a secret 258 00:18:50,010 --> 00:18:53,130 from the rest of Europe, and it dates back to before the war. 259 00:18:54,330 --> 00:19:01,110 In 1938, as part of a notorious treaty called the Munich Agreement, this region 260 00:19:01,110 --> 00:19:06,210 of Czechoslovakia was ceded to Hitler by Britain, France, and Italy to avoid 261 00:19:06,210 --> 00:19:07,210 war. 262 00:19:07,470 --> 00:19:09,990 It's considered one of the greatest betrayals in history. 263 00:19:11,470 --> 00:19:16,670 Six months later, Hitler violates the pact and invades the rest of 264 00:19:16,670 --> 00:19:17,670 Czechoslovakia. 265 00:19:19,350 --> 00:19:24,890 The Nazis and the Munich Agreement are still a sore subject in all of the Czech 266 00:19:24,890 --> 00:19:29,250 Republic, but particularly in the region where Friedland Castle is located. 267 00:19:31,990 --> 00:19:35,870 Stens and Mederer are convinced that the Amber Room is hidden behind the 268 00:19:35,870 --> 00:19:36,870 castle's walls. 269 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,980 And their theory is that the Czechs are hiding it because of the Munich 270 00:19:39,980 --> 00:19:41,100 Agreement back in 1938. 271 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,860 The Germans betrayed them, and all of Europe was in on it. 272 00:19:46,100 --> 00:19:50,300 After the Nazis are kicked out, the Czechs decide not to give the loot back. 273 00:19:50,940 --> 00:19:55,460 They wall it up and hide it, sitting on these national treasures as an act of 274 00:19:55,460 --> 00:19:56,460 revenge. 275 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:02,060 Stens and Mederer continue to pressure the Czech authorities to reveal what's 276 00:20:02,060 --> 00:20:03,060 behind those walls. 277 00:20:03,100 --> 00:20:05,560 And the Czech authorities continue to resist. 278 00:20:08,330 --> 00:20:12,230 While they still haven't revealed what's behind those walls, they insist it is 279 00:20:12,230 --> 00:20:17,030 not the Amber Room. And they say Stens and Mederer are just a couple of deluded 280 00:20:17,030 --> 00:20:19,710 treasure hunters trying to spin fantasies. 281 00:20:22,630 --> 00:20:27,050 But what if the Amber Room is not behind any walls? 282 00:20:27,750 --> 00:20:28,750 Once again. 283 00:20:28,860 --> 00:20:33,200 Let's assume that the Nazis did pack up the Amber Room into 24 crates and remove 284 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,580 it from Konigsberg Castle under Adolf Hitler's orders. The thing is that at 285 00:20:37,580 --> 00:20:41,400 point in the war, in January 1945, when Hitler gives that order, the Nazis are 286 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,800 expecting to lose a lot of territory in East Prussia. 287 00:20:44,140 --> 00:20:48,020 And so they're not going to just move back a few miles. They need to trigger 288 00:20:48,020 --> 00:20:49,620 overall broader evacuation. 289 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,060 And that becomes Operation Hannibal. 290 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,640 So Operation Hannibal. 291 00:20:57,110 --> 00:21:03,290 is an attempt to evacuate all of East Prussia via the Baltic. We're talking 292 00:21:03,290 --> 00:21:06,670 German army, civilians, anything they can evacuate. 293 00:21:07,450 --> 00:21:12,630 And some eyewitnesses think they also attempt to rescue the Amber Room. 294 00:21:12,890 --> 00:21:17,850 Thousands of people descend on the harbor of Gottenhaben, where the 295 00:21:17,850 --> 00:21:22,370 luxury liner Wilhelm Gustloff is standing by to provide an evacuation. 296 00:21:24,140 --> 00:21:27,620 People are just cramming into this area. They're desperate. There's no turning 297 00:21:27,620 --> 00:21:28,620 them back. 298 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:33,980 They eventually get on the Wilhelm Gustloff. I'm talking about 10 ,000 299 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:38,880 and they think this is Noah's Ark. This is their salvation. This is going to get 300 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:39,880 them to safety. 301 00:21:41,460 --> 00:21:45,180 The boat departs on January 30, 1945. 302 00:21:48,300 --> 00:21:52,840 But the Soviet Navy is waiting for any transport moving back and forth on the 303 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:58,750 Baltic. And within hours of departure, the Wilhelm Gustloff is torpedoed and 304 00:21:58,750 --> 00:21:59,750 sunk. 305 00:22:00,010 --> 00:22:03,830 So we wonder, what's the amber room inside of it? 306 00:22:07,350 --> 00:22:13,190 With a death toll of more than 9 ,000 killed, the thinking of the Wilhelm 307 00:22:13,190 --> 00:22:17,990 Gustloff is the greatest maritime disaster in history, greater than the 308 00:22:17,990 --> 00:22:19,610 and the Lusitania combined. 309 00:22:20,810 --> 00:22:24,190 But was the Amber Room actually on board? 310 00:22:26,090 --> 00:22:30,150 Evacuees there report seeing the 24 crates containing the Amber Room being 311 00:22:30,150 --> 00:22:31,150 loaded aboard the ship. 312 00:22:32,050 --> 00:22:37,130 The Russians believe any number of valuable stolen goods are on the Wilhelm 313 00:22:37,130 --> 00:22:41,270 Fuslav, including the most valuable one of all, the Amber Room. 314 00:22:43,870 --> 00:22:46,650 Several months later, the Russians conduct a dive. 315 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:53,300 They find bodies, equipment, and crates, but no Amber Room. 316 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:55,320 But they find something suspicious. 317 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:01,180 It looks like someone has gotten there first, because there's this large panel 318 00:23:01,180 --> 00:23:05,480 that's been removed from the hull of the ship, and behind that is this big cargo 319 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:10,480 hold that could have held the two dozen or so crates holding the Amber Room, and 320 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:11,480 it's been emptied out. 321 00:23:12,260 --> 00:23:17,180 They think a theft has taken place, because most of the wreckage is pretty 322 00:23:17,180 --> 00:23:21,100 undisturbed. So it really looks like someone who knew what they were doing 323 00:23:21,100 --> 00:23:23,120 in and looted this specific area. 324 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:28,440 For the dive team, this discovery is bittersweet. Because on the one hand, it 325 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:30,660 means that the torpedo didn't destroy the Amber Room. 326 00:23:31,380 --> 00:23:32,400 But where is it? 327 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:39,840 The Wilhelm Gustloff is now classified as a war grave, making future 328 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:40,840 illegal. 329 00:23:42,140 --> 00:23:46,460 If the shipwreck contains more clues to the Amber Room's whereabouts... 330 00:23:46,910 --> 00:23:49,270 They will remain hidden forever. 331 00:23:53,570 --> 00:23:58,190 For over 50 years, the search for the Amber Room started with one question. 332 00:23:58,590 --> 00:24:03,530 Where did it go after the Nazis stole it? There was no reason to challenge the 333 00:24:03,530 --> 00:24:08,230 belief that Hitler's army took the artwork to Konigsberg Castle for display 334 00:24:08,230 --> 00:24:12,730 until a radical new theory emerged with a shocking twist. 335 00:24:13,290 --> 00:24:16,410 What if the Nazis stole the wrong Amber Room? 336 00:24:19,330 --> 00:24:25,950 In 1995, a Russian historian named Vladimir Latsky reveals this new 337 00:24:25,950 --> 00:24:29,170 research that he's done and potentially a new finding. 338 00:24:31,230 --> 00:24:36,830 Latsky claims to have uncovered proof that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin created 339 00:24:36,830 --> 00:24:38,590 ruse to trick the Germans. 340 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,980 According to Lapsky, it starts out not as a trick at all. It starts out as an 341 00:24:43,980 --> 00:24:48,880 act of goodwill, because in 1939, the Germans and the Russians aren't enemies 342 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,980 yet. They're close neighbors, and they actually have really good reason to try 343 00:24:52,980 --> 00:24:56,000 to keep the peace after the devastation of World War I. 344 00:24:59,180 --> 00:25:03,580 They signed the Molotov -Ribbentrop Non -Aggression Pact, which has also been 345 00:25:03,580 --> 00:25:05,220 called the Hitler -Stalin Pact. 346 00:25:05,700 --> 00:25:09,020 It's technically a partition of Poland by the two countries. 347 00:25:09,390 --> 00:25:12,890 but it serves to try and slow Germany's rapid progression toward war. 348 00:25:13,590 --> 00:25:19,010 To commemorate signing the pact, Stalin orders a copy of the Amber Room to be 349 00:25:19,010 --> 00:25:20,150 made for Hitler. 350 00:25:21,490 --> 00:25:24,990 Stalin intends to give it to Hitler when he finally visits the Soviet Union. 351 00:25:25,150 --> 00:25:29,310 It'll be a nice version. It just won't have all of the precious metals and gems 352 00:25:29,310 --> 00:25:34,190 as the original. It won't be worth a half a billion dollars. It'll be worth 353 00:25:34,190 --> 00:25:35,570 like 10 to 12 million. 354 00:25:37,100 --> 00:25:43,520 Stalin commissions Anatoly Baranovsky, Russia's most famous amber craftsman, to 355 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:44,520 make the copy. 356 00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:49,580 So Baranovsky actually makes a copy, and in addition to that, his apprentices 357 00:25:49,580 --> 00:25:50,580 make another copy. 358 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,080 But Hitler never receives the gift. 359 00:25:54,520 --> 00:26:00,540 Instead, he breaks the non -aggression pact and invades Russia. 360 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:05,020 Of course, Stalin knew the reputation that Hitler had. 361 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:09,660 the reputation for stealing art and treasures and taking them back to 362 00:26:09,860 --> 00:26:12,540 And he knows that Hitler wants the Amber Room. 363 00:26:13,420 --> 00:26:18,100 So according to this theory, Stalin plays a brilliant trick on his former 364 00:26:21,020 --> 00:26:22,360 The theory goes like this. 365 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,060 Before the Nazis were able to get to the Catherine Palace, the Russians were 366 00:26:27,060 --> 00:26:31,100 able to swap the original Amber Room for the reproduction. And that's what the 367 00:26:31,100 --> 00:26:32,620 Nazis steal, the wrong room. 368 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,820 The copies of the Amber Room were made in May 1941, but the Germans don't get 369 00:26:37,820 --> 00:26:42,560 Leningrad until September, and it was during that time that the switch is 370 00:26:43,540 --> 00:26:48,300 Vladimir Latsky says that the Soviets do actually pack up the Amber Room panels 371 00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:52,040 and hide them away, and they leave the Apprentice copy in its place. 372 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,620 So, it's a bait -and -switch, the eighth wonder of the world. 373 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,600 The Nazis were duped. The Amber Room that they took back to Konigsberg. 374 00:27:03,020 --> 00:27:04,240 is the fake Amber Room. 375 00:27:04,460 --> 00:27:08,900 So all of these people who are chasing theories from there, they are chasing 376 00:27:08,900 --> 00:27:10,780 copy, not the original Amber Room. 377 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:16,140 From the Russian perspective, this story is a phenomenal bombshell because it 378 00:27:16,140 --> 00:27:20,780 would provide relief for Russian authorities because it would be proof 379 00:27:20,780 --> 00:27:23,000 did not lose or destroy the Amber Room. 380 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:28,760 But if this is true, where's the real Amber Room? 381 00:27:29,290 --> 00:27:34,950 So some believe that in November of 1941, the original Amber Room was packed 382 00:27:34,950 --> 00:27:39,950 and sent to a pro -Soviet billionaire in the United States named Armand Hammer. 383 00:27:42,190 --> 00:27:46,490 Armand Hammer was a pharmaceutical and oil magnate, and he was the son of 384 00:27:46,490 --> 00:27:50,650 Russian immigrants who were big supporters of Lenin. So Hammer's strong 385 00:27:50,650 --> 00:27:54,870 ties lead to this nickname, Lenin's Chosen Capitalist. 386 00:27:57,130 --> 00:28:01,650 Hammer has this world -famous art collection, and it's alleged that the 387 00:28:01,650 --> 00:28:02,930 Room became part of it. 388 00:28:03,190 --> 00:28:06,770 Maybe it's some sort of collateral in his business deals with Russia. 389 00:28:07,490 --> 00:28:10,570 Others think it ended up back where it started. 390 00:28:10,950 --> 00:28:14,610 In 1979, the Soviet government orders yet another copy of the room. 391 00:28:15,170 --> 00:28:19,110 24 years later, this new copy of the Amber Room is completed. 392 00:28:19,610 --> 00:28:22,790 partly paid for by the Germans for a total cost of $11 million. 393 00:28:23,370 --> 00:28:27,470 It is ultimately installed in the Catherine Palace, and that's where it is 394 00:28:27,470 --> 00:28:28,470 display to this day. 395 00:28:28,830 --> 00:28:33,150 There are some who believe that this is actually the real original Amber Room, 396 00:28:33,230 --> 00:28:37,210 that it was pulled out of storage and reinstalled by the Russian government 397 00:28:37,210 --> 00:28:38,450 decades later. 398 00:28:40,010 --> 00:28:43,010 That would be an incredible story if it were true. 399 00:28:43,690 --> 00:28:48,710 But unless there was a confession by somebody who truly knows, we will never 400 00:28:48,710 --> 00:28:49,710 know. 401 00:28:53,480 --> 00:29:00,280 For 75 years, some experts believe the Amber Room was lost at sea when a German 402 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,720 ship called the Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed. 403 00:29:04,220 --> 00:29:07,000 But early searches of that turned up nothing. 404 00:29:07,300 --> 00:29:11,700 And there's another ship that the Nazis used during the evacuation, and that 405 00:29:11,700 --> 00:29:14,260 ship was thought to be lost until now. 406 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:20,520 Could the Amber Room actually be on that long -lost vessel, the SS 407 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:21,800 Karlsruhe? 408 00:29:24,140 --> 00:29:31,140 The Karlsruhe was made in 1905 as a ship with a 218 -foot overall length and 409 00:29:31,140 --> 00:29:32,540 a beam of 33 feet. 410 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,740 It was a part of Operation Hannibal in 1945, which was the seaborne evacuation 411 00:29:37,740 --> 00:29:42,300 of German military personnel and civilians as the Soviet military 412 00:29:43,660 --> 00:29:47,960 And here's the thing. The Karlsruhe departed from Konigsberg. 413 00:29:48,410 --> 00:29:52,210 A lot of people have focused on the Wilhelm Gustloff, which was a much 414 00:29:52,210 --> 00:29:56,150 ship, and that left from Gotenhofen, which was about 100 miles away. 415 00:29:57,430 --> 00:30:01,690 The Karlsruhe was practically within walking distance of Konigsberg Castle. 416 00:30:04,230 --> 00:30:09,970 The ship departs at nearly the same time the Allies destroy Konigsberg Castle in 417 00:30:09,970 --> 00:30:10,970 air raids. 418 00:30:11,530 --> 00:30:16,450 The wreckage of the Karlsruhe has never been found. So in 2020, this Polish 419 00:30:16,450 --> 00:30:17,850 diving team decides... 420 00:30:18,110 --> 00:30:21,910 they're going to go for it because there could be the most interesting story 421 00:30:21,910 --> 00:30:23,950 sitting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. 422 00:30:26,110 --> 00:30:30,330 The team is led by salvage diver Tomek Stetura. 423 00:30:31,070 --> 00:30:37,810 SS Karlsruhe was one of the 247 ships which sank during the Hannibal operation 424 00:30:37,810 --> 00:30:38,870 in 1945. 425 00:30:41,050 --> 00:30:43,130 We were looking for this wreck. 426 00:30:43,450 --> 00:30:47,910 A few months when we realized that maybe on the deck of this wreck is something 427 00:30:47,910 --> 00:30:54,730 important. We didn't want to be too excited, but we had to admit that maybe 428 00:30:54,730 --> 00:30:59,270 Amber Room over there. Because if the Germans want to send something valuable 429 00:30:59,270 --> 00:31:04,090 something important to them, to the West, the cartouche was the last chance 430 00:31:04,090 --> 00:31:05,090 them. 431 00:31:05,730 --> 00:31:09,410 So the ship departs Konigsberg on April 11, 1945. 432 00:31:10,670 --> 00:31:15,010 It was part of a convoy that was headed to the German port of Swinemunde, which 433 00:31:15,010 --> 00:31:16,330 is now part of modern -day Poland. 434 00:31:17,610 --> 00:31:24,370 According to Nazi Navy reports, the ship is carrying 1 ,083 people, mostly 435 00:31:24,370 --> 00:31:25,770 German civilians. 436 00:31:26,630 --> 00:31:32,110 The Karlsruhe also appears to be carrying about 360 tons of other goods 437 00:31:32,110 --> 00:31:33,110 crates. 438 00:31:33,550 --> 00:31:37,850 So the diving team thinks there's a good chance that the Amber Room is among 439 00:31:37,850 --> 00:31:38,850 those crates. 440 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:45,420 So the reports say that the ship was overloaded, which means it probably fell 441 00:31:45,420 --> 00:31:49,600 behind the rest of the convoy, making it a perfect target for the Soviet Navy. 442 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,880 It's going to meet the same fate as the Wilhelm Gustav. 443 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,760 It's going to be torpedoed. It's going to go underwater. 444 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,520 Everyone on board, everything inside of it goes down with it. 445 00:32:08,620 --> 00:32:10,080 Now, Statura's job. 446 00:32:10,590 --> 00:32:12,430 is to figure out where that happened. 447 00:32:13,570 --> 00:32:17,530 The Baltic is an incredibly challenging place to conduct any kind of an 448 00:32:17,530 --> 00:32:18,530 underwater expedition. 449 00:32:18,730 --> 00:32:22,470 It's because of the fact that you have very difficult temperatures during the 450 00:32:22,470 --> 00:32:27,110 winter months, howling winds, and the howling winds churn up extremely heavy 451 00:32:27,110 --> 00:32:32,570 surf. And these are all things that are enemies of conducting any kind of an 452 00:32:32,570 --> 00:32:33,570 underwater surf. 453 00:32:34,990 --> 00:32:40,070 We had access to the Russian archive, which said that 13th of April 1945, 454 00:32:40,390 --> 00:32:44,190 Russian aircraft tank SS Karlsruhe. 455 00:32:44,410 --> 00:32:50,890 But the problem was that they show five different positions, and the distance 456 00:32:50,890 --> 00:32:54,010 between each other was between 10 to 50 miles. 457 00:32:55,710 --> 00:33:01,430 The problem here is this ship may have actually engaged in evasive maneuvers, 458 00:33:01,430 --> 00:33:02,750 it could basically turn up anywhere. 459 00:33:04,490 --> 00:33:07,630 But the search team had some original documents, and that's because when the 460 00:33:07,630 --> 00:33:12,550 ship sank, the Germans were able to rescue 113 survivors from the wreck. 461 00:33:14,190 --> 00:33:19,690 In addition to that, the British intercepted and decoded transmissions 462 00:33:19,690 --> 00:33:23,770 to the sinking, and the British intercepted a German telegram about the 463 00:33:23,770 --> 00:33:24,770 as well. 464 00:33:25,710 --> 00:33:30,810 All of the evidence points to an area a few dozen miles north of the Polish town 465 00:33:30,810 --> 00:33:32,070 of Ustka. 466 00:33:33,390 --> 00:33:38,410 The ship is about 300 feet down. So this is a dangerous mission. It's an 467 00:33:38,410 --> 00:33:43,310 expensive and resource -intense mission. And it's going to take perfect weather 468 00:33:43,310 --> 00:33:44,750 and a whole lot of luck. 469 00:33:46,590 --> 00:33:52,830 In June 2020, the Baltic team finally launches their expedition from Gdansk. 470 00:33:54,250 --> 00:33:59,330 We have 300 feet of water, cold, dark water. 471 00:34:00,010 --> 00:34:04,850 This dive is very demanding, and we don't need only to dive. We have to work 472 00:34:04,850 --> 00:34:05,850 underwater. 473 00:34:06,110 --> 00:34:07,990 We have a lot of good equipment. 474 00:34:08,370 --> 00:34:15,310 We have underwater drone. We have multi -beam. We have sonar. And we have 10 475 00:34:15,310 --> 00:34:17,449 very well -trained divers. 476 00:34:18,790 --> 00:34:21,830 This is like amazing moment in the history. 477 00:34:22,969 --> 00:34:26,610 You know, this is the kind of expedition that truly just... 478 00:34:26,830 --> 00:34:32,210 lights up the imagination because there's so much history down at the 479 00:34:32,210 --> 00:34:34,770 the Baltic Sea and potentially the Amber Room. 480 00:34:36,850 --> 00:34:41,190 And it could all resurface for the first time in 75 years. 481 00:34:50,949 --> 00:34:52,350 It's June 2020. 482 00:34:53,150 --> 00:34:58,290 and an expedition led by Tomek Stetura is heading into the Baltic Sea on a 483 00:34:58,290 --> 00:34:59,290 treasure hunt. 484 00:35:00,470 --> 00:35:01,530 Its mission? 485 00:35:01,870 --> 00:35:08,690 Locate the wreck of the torpedoed Nazi steamer SS Karlsruhe and see if the 486 00:35:08,690 --> 00:35:09,890 Room's on board. 487 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,820 We don't know exactly what we can expect on the bottom. Maybe the current will 488 00:35:18,820 --> 00:35:24,960 be huge. Maybe the visibility will be close to zero or the wreck will be 489 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:25,960 by net. 490 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:31,360 All of them are very dangerous, so we must be prepared for all conditions. 491 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:43,340 For 75 years, no one has seen this ship. It's just been lost. 492 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,420 But we know that it carried hundreds of tons of Nazi goods. 493 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,120 So could the Amber Room be among them? 494 00:35:50,700 --> 00:35:56,560 As the divers descend to 288 feet, the search conditions grow more challenging. 495 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:07,220 In a safe way, we have to use a lot of equipment. We have to use very high 496 00:36:07,220 --> 00:36:11,380 -quality dry tools, special underwater heating systems. 497 00:36:12,140 --> 00:36:16,360 We have to survive more like three hours underwater. 498 00:36:17,020 --> 00:36:23,880 We have 300 feet of cold, dark water. It's not easy dive. And we 499 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,000 have to do it in a very, very safe way. 500 00:36:28,580 --> 00:36:35,000 After a careful 20 -minute descent, the divers pinpoint 501 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,160 the SS Karlsruhe. 502 00:36:43,050 --> 00:36:49,890 This is the first time the ship has been seen since 1945 So 503 00:36:49,890 --> 00:36:55,410 this is the moment after 75 years we salvage cars away from the dark 504 00:36:55,410 --> 00:37:01,930 We saw that the 505 00:37:01,930 --> 00:37:08,670 beautiful wreck if you can say about the break beautiful I have never seen so 506 00:37:08,670 --> 00:37:13,920 many artifacts so many crates so many things on the wreck on the bottom. This 507 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:14,920 amazing. 508 00:37:17,700 --> 00:37:22,400 It's a treasure trove of material. They find China plates that are in great 509 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:27,240 shape. They find military vehicles still intact with the rubber still on the 510 00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:28,240 tires. 511 00:37:31,780 --> 00:37:33,940 But what about the Amber Room? 512 00:37:35,700 --> 00:37:40,480 Beneath a large pile of debris, the divers make out what appears to be... 513 00:37:40,750 --> 00:37:42,130 Dozens of field crates. 514 00:37:48,610 --> 00:37:52,470 Now that's the most interesting thing, of course. Here we have crates that 515 00:37:52,470 --> 00:37:53,950 the description of the Amber Room. 516 00:37:54,510 --> 00:37:58,130 Of course, they might just contain ammunition or silverware or sundries. 517 00:37:58,530 --> 00:38:05,310 But what if... Unfortunately, the team is unable to safely transport the 518 00:38:05,310 --> 00:38:06,310 crates. 519 00:38:06,670 --> 00:38:09,290 They'll have to return with additional equipment. 520 00:38:12,140 --> 00:38:17,060 So unfortunately, they can't search the crates on this trip. At those depths, 521 00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:21,440 you really only have about 30 minutes max down there. The last thing they want 522 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,240 to do is potentially damage the Amber Room in the process. 523 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:31,840 This expedition is step number one, to identify the wreck, to check what is 524 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:38,180 this. But definitely we need expedition number two, when we can check exactly 525 00:38:38,180 --> 00:38:39,460 what car contains. 526 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:45,600 Plans are moving forward for a salvage and recovery mission in the next few 527 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:46,600 months. 528 00:38:47,820 --> 00:38:54,000 To check cargo on the Karstruhe we need to do it on the proper way. On the 529 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:59,660 proper way that means that we have to spend days or even weeks on the position 530 00:38:59,660 --> 00:39:05,640 that we have to anchor permanently the boat with special equipment for the 531 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:06,640 divers. 532 00:39:09,100 --> 00:39:12,060 This time they'll be bringing many more resources to the effort. 533 00:39:12,420 --> 00:39:16,600 They'll have divers that can work on a rotating basis. They'll have equipment 534 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:18,520 that can float large objects. 535 00:39:19,980 --> 00:39:23,560 If they find a crate, they'll need to leave it sealed until they get it to the 536 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,440 surface. The dive team is also going to be bringing a representative from the 537 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:31,100 National Maritime Museum in Gdansk, Poland, as an advisor. 538 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:37,280 It's a once -in -a -lifetime opportunity to bring something as rare and as 539 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,900 valuable a cultural resource as the Amber Room to the surface. 540 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:49,740 This is a mystery on par with the Dead Sea Scrolls and the discovery of King 541 00:39:49,740 --> 00:39:50,740 Tut's tomb. 542 00:39:51,140 --> 00:39:52,860 Is it down there? I don't know. 543 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:57,420 But I certainly hope it is, because I would love to see this thing finally 544 00:39:57,420 --> 00:39:59,420 revealed. I would love to see this mystery solved. 545 00:40:02,540 --> 00:40:09,060 I couldn't imagine how would we feel when we find hard proof on the 546 00:40:09,060 --> 00:40:14,740 castaway ship that we find Ambaron. This is absolutely out of my imagination, 547 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:21,580 but perhaps it will be something special and unique, and maybe I remember this 548 00:40:21,580 --> 00:40:23,900 moment until the end of my life. 549 00:40:30,410 --> 00:40:33,930 Could the Amber Room lie in crates at the bottom of the Baltic Sea? 550 00:40:34,330 --> 00:40:39,710 If the dive team is successful and can salvage what's aboard the SS Karlsruhe, 551 00:40:39,850 --> 00:40:43,850 we may soon know the answer to this enduring mystery. 552 00:40:44,650 --> 00:40:49,890 I'm Lawrence Fishburne. Thank you for watching History's Greatest Mysteries.