Amber Room

For other uses, see Amber Room (disambiguation).

File:Oldamberroom.jpg

The Amber Room before WWII

Reconstructed Amber Room

Reconstructed Amber Room

The original Amber Room (English sometimes Amber Chamber, [Янтарная комната] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), German: Bernsteinzimmer, Polish: Bursztynowa komnata) in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near [[Saintgsgauyfgyayfugayugafghaghjgauygyuaguygajghjdgdhgfsdajgewy6tryjwaghsdgfagfrytgfwuygerry7eeeeeeeeeeeeee The amber Room is also known as the worst place on earth you could never find it but one day some stupid person killed a person and killed the Amber Room so nobody nows where it is until2006 when they found everything and everyone was so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Recently, British investigative journalists Catherine Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy, conducted lengthy research on the fate of the Amber Room, including extensive archival research in Russia. In 2004 their book, The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure, concluded that the Amber Room was most likely destroyed when Königsberg Castle was burned down, shortly after Königsberg surrendered to occupying Soviet forces.

Documents from the archives showed that that was also the conclusion of the report of Alexander Brusov, chief of the first formal mission sent by the Soviet government to find the Amber Room, who wrote in June, 1945: "Summarizing all the facts, we can say that the Amber Room was destroyed between 9 and 11 April 1945". Some years later, Brusov gave a contrary opinion; the book authors insinuate that this change of opinion was likely due to pressure from other Soviet officials, who did not want to be seen as responsible for the loss of the Amber Room.

Among other information from the archives was the revelation that the remains of the rest of the set of Italian stone mosaics were found in the burned debris of the castle. The authors' reasoning as to why the Soviets conducted extensive searches for the Amber Room in the years after WWII, even though their own experts had concluded that it was destroyed, is that it served the differing motives of several elements in the Soviet government: some wished to obscure (even from other branches of the Soviet government) the fact that Soviet soldiers may have been responsible for its destruction; others found the theft of the Amber Room a useful Cold War propaganda tool, and did not want to let go of a grievance that could be aired advantageously; still others did not want to share the blame for its destruction (through their failure to evacuate the Amber Room to safety at the start of the war).

Russian officials have denied the book's conclusions - angrily, in some cases. According to Adelaida Yolkina, senior researcher at the Pavlovsk Museum Estate: "It is impossible to see the Red Army being so careless that they let the Amber Room be destroyed." Other Russian experts were less sceptical, and had a different emphasis in their responses. Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum, was very cautious in his comments, and said: "Most importantly, the destruction of the Amber Room during the Second World War is fault of the people who started the war". In reply, Catherine Scott-Clark, one of the authors, indicated that they only came to their conclusions with reluctance: "when we started working on this issue we were hoping to be able to find the Amber Room."

Since the book came out, a Russian veteran has given an interview in which he confirmed their basic conclusion as to the fate of the Amber Room, although he denies that the fires were deliberate. "I probably was one of the last people who saw the Amber Room", said Leonid Arinshtein, a literature expert with the nongovernmental Russian Culture Foundation, who was a Red Army lieutenant in charge of a rifle platoon in Königsberg in 1945. "The Red Army didn't burn anything", he said.

A variation of this theory is common currency amongst present-day residents of Kaliningrad. This is that part at least of the room was found in the cellars after WWII by the Red Army, in relatively good condition. This was not admitted at the time in order that blame should continue to rest upon the Germans. To preserve this story access to the ruins of the castle, which were substantial after WWII, was restricted, even to historical/archaeological surveys. During the 1960s, access to the site was suddenly withheld and the ruins were blown up by the Army, sealing any access to the underground area. The Dom Sovetov was built over the central area. The remains of the room may still be sited underground; however, as mentioned above, amber which is not cared for will crumble into dust. It is presumed that this is what has happened and that the Russian authorities, even after Communism, have been unwilling to admit this.

Reconstructions

Reconstruction-workshop of the Amber Room

File:Amberroomdetail.jpg

Detail of the reconstructed Amber Room.

• In Kleinmachnow, near Berlin, there is a miniature Amber Room, fabricated after the original. The Berlin miniature collector Ulla Klingbeil had this copy made of original East Prussian amber. The exhibit fee at Europarc Dreilinden is donated to the Arilex-Verein Foundation to aid handicapped children.

• In 1979 a reconstruction effort began at Tsarskoye Selo, based largely on black and white photographs of the original Amber Room. Financial difficulties to the project were solved with USD $3.5 million donated by the German company Ruhrgas AG. By 2003 the titanic work of the Russian craftsmen was mostly completed. The new room was dedicated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder at the 300-year anniversary of the city of Saint Petersburg.

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Possible 2008 discovery

The latest discovery, as reported in February 2008, is of a 20-metre pit in Deutschneudorf, a small town near the German-Czech border. The site reportedly matches intelligence from survivors who helped loot the fabled room, and initial probe reports are said to indicate the presence of a large quantity of gold or silver. Hans-Peter Haustein, mayor of the town, said "We're confident it's part of the Amber Room".

On 20 February 2008, German treasure hunters claimed to have found the Amber room.[1] The discovery of an estimated two tons of gold or silver was made at the weekend when electromagnetic pulse measurements located the man-made cavern 20 meters underground near the village of Deutschneudorf on Germany's border with the Czech Republic.[2]

Opening the cavern to get into the chamber can not be completed until approximately Easter because it may contain booby traps and has to be secured by explosives experts and engineers.[3]

According to a recent article in Der Spiegel, Heinz-Peter Haustein - who has been leading the most recent searches into the "Ore Mountains" region of Germany - believes that he has found the Amber Room. Digging resumed February 26, 2008 at a site in the southeastern German town of Deutschneudorf, where treasure hunters believe there are close to two tons of Nazi gold and possibly clues to the whereabouts of the legendary Amber Room.Treasure hunter Christian Hanisch said on 28 February 2008 that the hunt for Nazi Gold and possibly the legendary Amber Room will end 29 February 2008 after the two men leading the expedition disagreed.

Another recent discovery was made by the Amber Room Organization in the mountains about 30 miles east of Weimar. Henry Hatt, the German spokesman told the media that he knows where the Amber Room is hidden. According to him, it was brought to Weimar together with a treasure of the Hohenzollern and Prussian Crown Insignia. From Weimar, it was transported to the county of Saalfeld and hidden in an old underground mining chamber. Currently, the group is searching for a production company to make a movie about the discovery. The ARO claims to have solved the "biggest mystery of WWII".

Appearances in fiction

The mystery of the Amber Room has been the basis for the plot of several films, books and art exhibitions.

• The Amber Room, by T. Davis Bunn
• The Amber Room, by Steve Berry
• The Amber Room, Novelette by Ian Watson
• Amber Beach, by Elizabeth Lowell
• The Black Sun, by James Twinning
• The Devil Dances for Gold by Regina Ross
• Mosaic, by Gayle Lynds
• "Cold Hit", by Linda Fairstein

References

Citations

• Der Spiegel interview of Heinz-Peter Haustein

Other sources

• Bruhn, Peter (2004). Das Bernsteinzimmer in Zarskoje Selo bei Sankt Petersburg : Bibliographie mit über 3800 Literaturnachweisen aus den Jahren 1790 bis 2003 : von der Schenkung des Bernsteinzimmers durch den König von Preussen an den Zar, über das ungeklärte Verschwinden des Bernsteinzimmers im Zweiten Weltkrieg, bis zur Vollendung der Rekonstruktion des Bernsteinzimmers im Jahre 2003 (in German). Berlin: Bock & Kübler. ISBN 3-86155-109-8. OCLC 63196950. (International bibliography of publications about the Amber Room)
• Massie, Suzanne (1990). Pavlovsk: The Life Of A Russian Palace. Boston: Little Brown. ISBN 0316549703. OCLC 21443818.
• Scott-Clark, Catherine (2004). The Amber Room: The Untold Story of the Greatest Hoax of the Twentieth Century. London: Atlantic Books. ISBN 1-84354-340-0. OCLC 56452462. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

See also

• The Amber Room (novel)
• Štěchovice Treasure (believed by some to contain the room)

External links

• Bibliographical Database of the International literature about the Amber Room by Peter Bruhn
• AmberRoom.Org: History, Photographs and Research
• The Amber Room: Tears of the Gods
• Mysteries of the Lost Amber Room
• On the Trail of The Amber Room - BBC, August 1, 1998
• Peter the Great's amber room reborn - BBC, 14 May, 2003
• New theory on Russian art riddle BBC, 24 May, 2004
• What to do with a German treasure - APM Market Place 21 Feb, 2008
• Outrage At Amber Room Book Saint Petersburg Times
• Mystery of the Amber Room resurfaces MSNBC
• The Amber Room on the Web
• PHOTOS OF AMBER ROOM GOOD MORNING AMERICA
• Kinzer, Stephen (1992-05-27). "Weimar Journal; Amber-Tinted Rumors Whisper of Buried Booty". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-24.