A 20th-century treasure chest of books, letters, photographs, documents, and a handful of other relics from the Nazi regime has been discovered in a time capsule in Poland.
The mysterious copper tube was unearthed on September 6 in the Polish town of Złocieniec, which was known as Falkenburg when it was under German control until 1945. Archaeologists, led by Dr Marcin Peterleitner, found the capsule among the foundations of a water tower on the former site of “Ordensburg Krössinsee". This was one of the three training colleges used to prepare the next generation of Nazi military elite between 1933 and 1945. The capsule is believed to have been sealed since April 22, 1934.
Once it was recovered, it took a team of researchers half an hour to crack into the copper tube using a small circular saw. The lid of the tube was soldered shut to ensure its contents remained sealed over the years.
The first relic removed from the tube was a wax-sealed and hand-written note celebrating the construction of the Nazi training camp. Among the other finds were numerous photographs of Adolf Hitler, copies of his book and manifesto Mein Kampf, local newspapers from 1934, multiple signed envelopes, German history books, silver coins, photographs of the town, and a map of Złocieniec at the turn of 14th to 15th century.
The researchers are most intrigued by a four-page letter addressed to Nazi-party politician Otto Gohdes. However, the contents of the letter remain unknown for the meantime, since it's scrawled in nearly illegible handwriting and written in a Germanic language that is no longer widely understood.
The letters and documents have been taken to Poland's National Museum in Szczecin for further research, with the hopes of eventually putting them on public display.
The capsule has even got its own Facebook Fan Page called "Mysterious Time Capsule of Ordensburg near Złocieniec” that features images and regular updates from the researchers as they curate and inventory the findings.
