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WORLD NEWS Thursday 26 January 2023

World War II-era map sparks treasure hunt in Dutch village

By ALEKSANDAR FURTULA — as it does every January
Associated Press — thousands of documents
OMMEREN, Netherlands for historians to pore over.
(AP) — A hand-drawn Most of them went largely
map with a red letter X unnoticed. But the map,
purportedly showing the which includes a sketch of
location of a buried stash a cross section of a coun-
of precious jewelry looted try road and another with
by Nazis from a blown-up a red X at the base of one
bank vault has sparked a of three trees, was an unex-
modern-day treasure hunt pected viral hit that briefly
in a tiny Dutch village more shattered the mid-winter
than three quarters of a calm of Ommeren.
century later. “We’re quite astonished
Wielding metal detectors, about the story itself. But
shovels and copies of the the attention it’s getting Detail of the map showing where the Nazi loot was reportedly
map on cellphones, pros- is as well,” National Ar- buried in Ommeren, near Arnhem, is seen at the National
pectors have descended chive researcher Annet Archive of the Netherlands in The Hague, Monday, Jan. 23, 2023.
on Ommeren — population Waalkens said as she care- Associated Press
715 — about 80 kilometers fully showed off the map. The story starts, Waalkens folded in. And they buried
(50 miles) southeast of Am- Photos on social media said, in the summer of 1944 it right there,” she said, cit-
sterdam to try to dig up a in early January showed in the Nazi-occupied city of ing an account by a Ger-
potential World War II trove people digging holes more Arnhem — made famous man soldier who was inter-
based on the drawing first than a meter (three feet) by the star-studded movie viewed after the war by
published on Jan. 3. deep, sometimes on pri- “A Bridge Too Far” — when Dutch military authorities
“Yes, it is of course spec- vate property, in the hope a bomb hit a bank, pierced in Berlin and who was re-
tacular news that has en- of unearthing a fortune. its vault and scattered its sponsible for the map. The
thralled the whole village,” Buren, the municipality contents — including gold archive doesn’t know if
local resident Marco Rood- Ommeren falls under, pub- jewelry and cash — across the soldier is still alive and
veldt said. “But not only our lished a statement on its the street. hasn’t released his name,
village, also people who website pointing out that German soldiers stationed citing European Union pri-
do not come from here.” a ban on metal detection nearby “pocket what they vacy regulations.
He said that “all kinds of is in place for the munici- can get and they keep Dutch authorities using the
people have been sponta- pality and warned that the it in ammunition boxes,” map and the soldier’s ac-
neously digging in places area was a World War II Waalkens said. As World count went hunting for the
where they think that trea- front line. War II nears its end in 1945, loot in 1947. The first time,
sure is buried — with a met- “Searching there is danger- the Netherlands’ German the ground was frozen solid
al detector.” ous because of possible occupiers were pushed and they made no head-
It wasn’t immediately clear unexploded bombs, land back by Allied advances. way. When they went back
if authorities could claim mines and shells,” the mu- The soldiers who had been after the thaw, they found
the loot if it was found, or if nicipality said in a state- in Arnhem found them- nothing, Waalkens said.
a prospector could keep it. ment. “We advise against selves in Ommeren and de- After the unsuccesful at-
So far, nobody has report- going to look for the Nazi cided to bury the loot. tempts, the German sol-
ed finding anything. The treasure.” “Four ammunition boxes dier said “he believed that
treasure hunt began this The latest treasure hunters and then just some jewelry someone else has already
year when the Dutch Na- aren’t the first to leave the that was kept in handker- excavated the treasure,”
tional Archive published village empty handed. chiefs or even cash money she added.q

Malawi cholera outbreak death toll rises above 1,000

has claimed more than hours, she said.
1,000 lives, according to Frustration and suspicion
the country’s health minis- over the rising cases result-
ter, who warned that some ed in weekend violence.
cultural beliefs and hostil- Angry villagers beat up
ity toward health workers health workers and dam-
were slowing efforts to curb aged a facility at the Nan-
infections. dumbo Health Centre in
Cholera had killed 1,002 the Southern Region’s Bala-
people as of Tuesday, while ka district.
1,115 people were hospi- Residents accused health
talized from the outbreak workers of denying them
that started in March 2022, an opportunity to con-
Minister of Health Khumbize duct dignified burials. They
Kandodo Chiponda said. forced some health work-
Health workers treat cholera patients at the Bwaila Hospital in It’s the country’s worst out- ers to vacate the facility,
Lilongwe central Health workers treat cholera patients at the break of the waterborne ill- stoned a cholera isolation
Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe central ness in two decades. ward and forced the dis-
Associated Press The country of 20 million charge of 22 cholera pa-
By GREGORY GONDWE BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — people recorded 12 deaths tients. q
Associated Press Malawi’s cholera outbreak from 626 new cases in 24