Mystery of painting stolen by Nazis - and it's still missing 75 years later

30 December 2023 , 08:56

1167     0

Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man was stolen during World War II

It's almost 75 years since a masterpiece was seized by the Nazis, and despite some clues to its whereabouts the portrait is still no closer to be recovered.

Ever since the historically-important Portrait of a Young Man was taken from the Prince Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, Poland in 1939, the hunt has been on to find revered Italian Renaissance artist Raphael's artwork. There have been some hints over the past few years, but as yet nobody has come close to pin-pointing its location.

The biggest clue perhaps came in 2022. Experts searching for Adolf Hitler 's hidden gold last year claimed that Nazi descendants may have handed over an important letter - which they believe could uncover another lost treasure. A team from an organisation in Opole, Poland, have been searching for £200million of Hitler's gold in the grounds of an 18th-century palace in Poland.

The letter offered some clues but there's still no sign of the artwork (Silesian Bridge Foundation)

The group from the Silesian Bridge Foundation say Nazi descendants have now produced a diary belonging to a member of the Third Reich's feared political paramilitary force, the Schutzstaffel. Written by a former Waffen-SS officer using the pseudonym "Michaelis", the journal was in the possession of a secret society for decades after the end of World War II.

A fragment of an ageing letter - which could have been recovered from inside the diary - could go on to reveal the mystery behind theSecond World War's most valuable pieces. Reportedly, the letter - which was apparently addressed to a friend - gives reference to thre long-lost 16th-century painting.

Give Ukraine western fighter jets to fight Russians, urges Boris Johnson

The famous painters artwork was then taken by Gestapo secret police officers following Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939. In the letter dated back to 1947, "Michaelis" wrote that he had hidden the incredible painting somewhere - along with a hoard of other valuables.

He also went on to mention someone called 'Hanke' - who is thought to be Karl Hanke, the Gauleiter of Lower Silesia and later the last Reichsführer-SS after Heinrich Himmler was arrested near the war's end. In the letter "Michaelis" wrote: "Yes, Hanke was right, the boxes contained cultural goods from Krakow.

"When I think back it was once a collection [belonging to] Flämming. You know, my dear friend, I adore culture, but this was too much for me. Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man with old stamps on the back, oval and square, signed 1514." Interestingly, this letter was also written by the same SS officer who kept a diary listing the 11 sites where Nazis concealed looted gold, jewels, priceless paintings and religious objects.

One of those locations is an 18th-century palace in the village of Minkowskie, Poland, where the Foundation is currently digging up an old orangery in a small area of the 14-hectare palace park. It is believed that the treasures are buried there - which were stolen on the orders of SS head Himmler and done so to set up a Fourth Reich.

Sam Elliott-Gibbs