Home Restoration In Germany Reveals A Hidden Cache Of Nazi Artifacts
Stadtarchiv HagenSome of the artifacts found in Hagen, Germany.
When Sebastian Yurtseven arrived at his aunt’s house in Hagen, Germany, he expected to help her with home repairs following a flood over the summer. Instead, he discovered a shocking trove of Nazi artifacts.
“I got goosebumps,” Yurtseven told a German newspaper, noting that his family bought the house in the 1960s. “I didn’t think it would turn into such a huge discovery.”
The items, which historians called “a time capsule from the Nazi era,” included hundreds of letters, Nazi party eagles, gas masks, a revolver, a brass knuckle duster, a portrait of Adolf Hitler, and a newspaper from 1945.
“It is an incredibly important find,” said Ralf Blank from the museums and archives of the city of Hagen. “It throws a spotlight on the actions and activities of Nazi agencies at the local level.”
Experts suspect that panicking Nazis hid the items as Allied forces marched on Germany. At the time, loyal Nazis hid or destroyed similar objects en masse to avoid being arrested. That makes these artifacts especially valuable — and a rare look into Nazi life.
The items were removed by LWL Archaeology for Westphalia along with the city museum and archive.
Archaeologists Discover Hundreds Of Pre-Columbian Taino Graves In Guadeloupe
INRAPThese skeletons were buried in folded position, which helped preserve them over time.
Government officials examining the ground in preparation for a housing project in Gran-Terre, Guadeloupe, didn’t expect to find much. But to their surprise, they made history news in May when they came across 113 pre-Columbian graves.
“The bodies were buried up on themselves: the arms often bent, on the abdomen or thorax, the legs compressed on the forearms, elbows or thorax,” explained the National Institute for Preventative Archaeology Research. “Ties or bags guarantee this position. Manipulations after burial are noticeable.”
Archeologists believe that the bodies date back to between 750 to 1500 AD and belonged to the Taino people. They were conquered and colonized by the Caribs — a warlike tribe from the northern part of South America — about 100 years before Christopher Columbus started exploring the region.
As such, current knowledge about the Taino is limited. Researchers are hopeful that the skeletons found in Gran-Terre can help paint a larger picture of what the Taino people were like.
One thing seems likely, however — they understood their environment. The skeletons were buried in a peculiar way, in a forced fetal position. This, researchers say, allowed the skeletons to survive centuries in the famously acidic soil of Guadeloupe.
Builders Find A Huge Cache Of Rare Gold Coins In France
Ivoire Auction HouseOne of the coins is so rare that it’s valued at $17,805.
A home restoration turned into a treasure hunt in Plozévet, France, this September when three builders stumbled across a cache of rare gold coins. They later sold for more than €1 million (about $1,132,380.00) at auction.
“I thought it was a joke. But no!” said François Mion, the owner of the property. “As children, we all dream of finding hidden treasure. It was quite emotional.”
The builders found both a metal box filled with coins embedded in the wall and a cloth bag filled with coins hidden over a beam.
On closer inspection, experts found that 23 of the coins date to the reign of Louis XIII (who ruled from 1610 to 1643). The other 216 dates from the reign of Louis XIV (who ruled from 1643 to 1715).
Mion isn’t sure who hid the gold coins in his walls, however.
“The oldest part dates from the 13th century and the main body of the mansion dates from 1723,” he explained. “It is believed to have belonged to wealthy landowners.”
But he’s happy he bought the house when he did. Mion bought the house in 2012 — four years later, the French government passed a law stating that any treasure found in private residences belonged to the state.
