Several main versions of the Amber Room's disappearance exist. The main debate is between those who believe it was destroyed and those who believe it was hidden somewhere in a secret compartment.

Version one: destroyed

This is the most widespread and, according to some researchers, the most likely version.

According to this version, the Amber Room was burned or destroyed at the end of the war. This could have happened during the British air raids on Königsberg, during the Soviet troops' storming of the city in April 1945, or in the subsequent fires.

Moreover, there is an opinion that the panels could have been destroyed by Soviet soldiers themselves during the storming of the Königsberg Castle, where the room was stored. This theory is based on declassified documents that indicate that Soviet authorities may have known the truth about the destruction since the end of the war but preferred to maintain the legend of the looted Nazi treasures.

Version two: hidden in secret compartments

Many researchers and treasure hunters are convinced that the Nazis hid the panels, and they are still waiting for their time.

• In a mine. A German researcher claimed that the room was hidden in a abandoned silver mine about a hundred kilometers south of Berlin. According to his data, former SS officers living in Brazil told him about the burial of the treasures in April 1945.
• In a bunker in Poland. An historian believes that the boxes with the panels were unloaded into a secret chamber of a Nazi bunker in the area of Mamerki in northeastern Poland. Scanning showed the presence of a hidden room, but the excavations did not give a definitive result.
• Underwater. The mayor of the Lithuanian city of Neringa suggested that the boxes with the Amber Room were hidden on the shore of the lagoon and subsequently hidden by rising water.
• In Kaliningrad. Russian researchers found a metal plaque with an inscription about amber treasures in the undergrounds of the old forts of Königsberg, which, in their opinion, confirms that the room or its parts may still be located under the ruins of the city.

Version three: sunk in the sea

According to this theory, the panels could have been loaded onto the deck of a German military ship, most often mentioned is the liner \"Wilhelm Gustloff,\" for evacuation. The ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea, and the treasures sank to the bottom with it.

Conclusion

Today, only individual elements of the interior have been found, for example, one of the mosaic paintings, but the room itself is considered lost. Since 2003, a reconstructed copy of it can be seen in St. Petersburg.

Permanent link to this publication: