TREASURE hunters believe they are one step closer to finding the £250million Amber Room stolen by the Nazis in World War Two.

The room was built for Russian Tsar Peter the Great in the 1700s and was filled with precious jewels, gold and amber before it was looted by the Nazis in 1941.

8 Treasure hunters in Poland believe this hatch could lead to the Amber Room

8 This is a graphic reproduction of what the treasure hunters believe is the entrance to the Amber Room

8 This is the only colour photo of the Amber Room before World War Two Credit: Rex Features

Its contents disappeared at the end of WWII and for decades treasure hunters have searched throughout Europe without any luck.

But treasure hunters bosses claim a hidden entrance to a secret bunker where the treasure may be stashed could have been found near the north-eastern Polish town of Wegorzewo.

Bartlomiej Plebanczyk from the Mamerki Bunker museum said: “We can categorically say we've made a breakthrough in the search.

“Thanks to the use of a professional geo-radar, we were able to determine the location of an underground tunnel.

“After digging up the place indicated by the device, we actually found a hatch, which has almost certainly not been opened since the war.”

He continued: "Several dozen years have passed since the entrance was buried. At that time, on the original 1.5m x 1.5m plate, which closes the entrance, a tree has grown.

“Until the tree is cut down, there is no physical possibility of opening the entrance.

“The presence of a trunk proves that no one has opened the manhole for the last several decades.”

SITTING ON A GOLD MINE

The group will also need government permission before they can start digging, but they are optimistic they will be given it by the end of this month.

The site used to be the eastern headquarters of the German Army and was close to Hitler’s first Eastern Front military headquarters – the infamous Wolf’s Lair.

It was said to be home to Hitler’s looted treasures, including the Amber Room.

The Nazis stole the items from the room during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

When they arrived at Catherine the Great’s White Palace near St Petersburg, they took the precious contents to Koienigberg Castle, in what was then East Prussia and now just two hours away from the bunker.

The contents disappeared in January 1945 after air raids and an assault on the city.

Some claimed it was destroyed by the bombs and other suggested the Nazis moved it to safety.

8

History of the Amber Room The Amber Room was a gift from Friedrich-Wilhelm I of Prussia to Peter the Great in 1716 It was made up of six tonnes of amber resin and took 10 years to completeI In 1755, it was moved to the Catherine Palace - 17miles south of of St Petersburg In 1941, Nazis surrounded the city, which was known as Leningrad during the Soviet era Nazis looted the room and took the precious contents ot the Prussian city of Koenigsberg Castle The contents of the room have not bene seen since 1945



NEVER BEEN FOUND

The search for the Amber Room has been on since the end of the war.

It is not the first time searches around the Mamerki Museum have taken place.

Searches in 2016 for the amber panel near the former German bunkers in Mamerki village, Mamerki Museum, Poland, failed.

In 2017, amateur treasure-hunters believe they have discovered the fabled room in a cave used by the Nazis in the Hartenstein hills near Dresden, Germany, but nothing was found.

Last summer, The Sun reported how Red Army veteran Ivan Tikhonov believed the Amber Room was under the England’s World Cup fan zone.

The dad-of-two told The Sun: “It was the last place it was seen. It could still be down there.”

He was there when the castle was stormed and continued: “The fighting was very heavy.

“The Nazis were very experienced soldiers and Königsberg was surrounded by minefields, trenches and barbed wire.

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“When we entered the city it was a complete ruin. On April 9, 1945, we took the castle and for the next two nights I slept inside the ruins.

“We didn’t hear about the Amber Room at that time, it was much later. The cellars had been hit by bombs and had caved in so we didn’t go down there.

“I don’t believe the Amber Room was destroyed by our missiles. The Germans would have moved it to a safe place.”

8 Experts say the hatch has almost certainly not been opened since the war

Mystery of the Amber Room: Nazi plan explained

8 This is what the Amber Room looked at the Catherine the Great Palace in St Petersburg after it was looted by the Nazis Credit: Rex Features

8 The Amber Room is said to be worth £250million Credit: Rex Features

8 A portrait of Peter the Great, who the room was gifted to Credit: Alamy

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