Poland's 'Nazi Gold Train' Probably 99 Percent Real

Poland's deputy culture minister said that the train said to be full of valuables plundered by Nazi Germany during WWII is "99 percent" likely to exist, Polish media reported.

The mysterious train said to contain 300 tons of gold as well as artworks plundered by the German army during WWII is very likely real, according to Poland's Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski.

A Pole and a German claim to have found a legendary Nazi gold train in Poland, 70 years after it pulled out of Wroclaw (formerly the German city of Breslau) carrying a trove of gold and other valuable treasures back to Germany ahead of the Red Army's advance.

Instead of arriving at its planned destination of Swiebodzice, it is alleged that the train was lost without trace in the mountains around the town of Walbrzych, the same region in south-west Poland where the two men now claim to have found it.

"The existence of an armored train from WWII is very probable. This is something without precedent," Zuchowski said.

It is estimated that during the course of the Second World War, Nazi Germany plundered approximately $550 million in gold from the governments of the countries it occupied. In addition, the Nazis took gold from individuals, particularly victims of the holocaust, who were searched in concentration camps for gold, including their gold teeth.

The local Walbrzych magistrate confirmed that local authorities had received notification of the discovery, and said the management of the case has been transferred to the Poland's Ministries of Defense, Finance, and Culture and Heritage; if the gold train haul is found, it will become the property of the Polish state.