When it comes to the irretrievably lost treasures of the Second World War, the Amber Room immediately comes to mind. However, the amber miracle was only a small fraction of the missing. According to historians, the losses were significant: about 1 million ancient books, priceless museum exhibits and a huge number of manuscripts. The fate of most of the missing treasures is still shrouded in mystery. For example, few people know that before the war in the Kerch Museum of Antiquities there were valuable exhibits - gold items from the burials of the Goths, coins of the Pontic king Mithridates the Great, Scythian jewelry and a large number of jewelry dating from later periods.
In September 1941, the Kerch Museum was preparing its exhibits for evacuation. It was at this time that the chief of the SS Heinrich Himmler created a special Sonderkommando, which was instructed to find these treasures by any means and bring them to Germany. Specialists of the most mysterious mystical fascist organization "Annenerbe" were involved in the search for the jewels. This organization headed the study of ancient Germanic history and actively searched for items - the "heritage of the ancestors." It was created immediately after Hitler came to power in 1933. The best university scholars with Nazi views were recruited to work in Annenerbe. With the help of these specialists, numerous excavations were carried out in different parts of the world: Novregia, the Middle East, Tibet. The Nazis stubbornly searched for their "roots"to justify the right of the German nation to world domination. Since 1937, Annenerbe came under the complete subordination of Himmler. When the Nazis occupied Ukraine, Annenerbe began researching all the ancient burial mounds and settlements in the Northern Black Sea region. They were interested in the heritage of one of the groups of ancient Germanic tribes - the Goths, who during the III century AD. had their own developed culture.
Historians believe that the Goths came to Crimea from the territory located in the lower reaches of the Vistula. The Greek historian Posedonius called the Goths "Germans", and Cornelius Tacitus described this tribe as follows: "hard blue eyes, light brown hair, tall bodies." The Goths came to Crimea with swords, partially destroying the indigenous inhabitants of the Crimea, and assimilating the other part in their midst. Over time, they became the most important force in Crimea. The Goths lived on the Crimean peninsula longer than all other ethnic groups. The Nazis, during the Second World War, used this fact to declare the Crimea a part of Germany. They even came up with the name of their "new territory" - Gotengau and planned to resettle 5 million Germans to the peninsula by 1960.
The Martha treasure, kept in the Kerch Museum, consisted of items found in a rich Gothic burial. In German museums, at that time, there was not a single thing related to the Ostrogothic culture. The collection was especially proud of the large golden diadem, previously owned by the Goth Queen Fedya, who ruled in the 1st century AD. Finding and picking up this collection from the Russians was the task that Himmler's most notorious thugs received …
In preparation for the evacuation of museum valuables from the Kerch museum, all the exhibits were neatly packed in 19 boxes. In addition, the most valuable collection was put into a large plywood suitcase ("golden suitcase"). The suitcase contained:
- coins of the Mithridates time, Bosporan, Pontic from the so-called Taritak treasure found in 1935;
- a diadem from the Martha treasure, gold, decorated with pomegranates and carnelians, thin gold earrings and buckles;
- gold plates, decorated with images of ancient Scythians, precious plaques with images of young warriors and a sphinx;
Promotional video:
- a medieval collection of bracelets, rings, rings, buckles, medallions depicting ancient Greek gods, masks, gold plates, petals and needles;
- coins from Panticapaeum made of pure gold, coins of the Roman and Greek times, Byzantine, Russian, Genoese, Turkish coins, icons, medals and much more.
In the last days of September, all the boxes and the "golden suitcase" were safely delivered to the port of Taman, located on the Kuban coast of the Kerch Strait. The Kerch jewelry was transported first to the city of Krasnodar, and then to Armavir. In the summer of 1942, German bombers began bombing the cities of the Kuban. During the raid, a bomb hit the building where 19 boxes with exhibits were kept. A fire started. All the contents of the boxes burned to the ground, but the "golden suitcase" survived, since it was stored in another building - the city executive committee's premises. When the values of the Kerch museum were brought to Armavir, the suitcase was opened in the building of the city executive committee and all contents were checked against the inventory in the presence of a special commission - everything was in place. The suitcase was sealed and placed in the guarded special storage of the city executive committee.
In August 1942, the Germans entered Armavir. An employee of the Armavir City Executive Committee, Anna Avdeikina, managed to take the “golden suitcase” out of the city at the last moment. This is what a brave woman said about saving the "golden suitcase".
When Soviet troops withdrew from Armavir, the city became ominously deserted. In the city executive committee, the doors were wide open, the wind was blowing along the empty corridors. Despite the fact that many documents were taken out, there was a "golden suitcase" in the room. Perhaps, in the bustle and haste, everyone forgot about him. And his appearance was unprofitable. Anna Avdeykina, with the help of her nephew, in spite of the most severe bombing, pulled out a suitcase from the collapsing building of the city executive committee. A thin, weak woman and a child dragged an 80-kilogram suitcase with valuables to the evacuation assembly point, hoping to have time to send it out of the city. Only a lucky chance allowed them to find in the turmoil the chairman of the city executive committee, who was able to load the “golden suitcase” together with his savior, practically, into the last truck leaving the city. On the way, the car was fired upon,but despite this, she reached the village of Spokoinaya. There Anna handed over the precious suitcase to the head of the State Bank branch. After which she herself mingled with the crowd of refugees who were trying to get away from the city. But the people did not go far, they were detained by German machine gunners. Anna destroyed her documents so that the Germans would not find out that she was an employee of the Armavir City Executive Committee and an inventory of jewelry from the “golden suitcase”. She managed to escape from the filtration camp and until the liberation of Armavir she worked in the rear.that she is an employee of the Armavir City Executive Committee and an inventory of jewelry from the "golden suitcase". She managed to escape from the filtration camp and until the liberation of Armavir she worked in the rear.that she is an employee of the Armavir City Executive Committee and an inventory of jewelry from the "golden suitcase". She managed to escape from the filtration camp and until the liberation of Armavir she worked in the rear.
After returning home, she was told about the news that had to do with the "golden suitcase." It turned out that during the occupation of the city, the Nazis came for her, who carefully searched the entire house and the area adjacent to the house. They asked everyone where Anna had gone, who helped her and, most importantly, what things she had taken with her. They were especially interested in a certain suitcase, which could be among the things. Most likely, there was a traitor in the city who reported to the Germans that Anna was leaving the City Council with a suitcase. The Gestapo immediately realized that it was exactly the "golden suitcase" that the special Sonderkommando was looking for.
Unfortunately, the Germans soon came to the village Spokoinaya. The director of the State Bank of the village Spokoinaya, Yakov Loboda, went to the partisans and took away the “golden suitcase”. The art critic E. Konchin, who had been searching for a "golden suitcase" for a long time, wrote that in the partisan detachment only the leaders knew about the stored jewelry and were aware of the full responsibility for the safety of national property.
In December, the partisan detachment suffered huge losses and the command decided to disband the detachment. It was decided to bury personal weapons, equipment, documents in different places. Only two people knew about each cache. Unfortunately, it is not known who hid the "golden suitcase", maybe Loboda himself did it.
Yakov Loboda, leaving their environment, was ambushed and captured by the Germans. He was sentenced to be shot, but allowed to see his wife. Perhaps he said something about the place where the suitcase is, but the woman, heartbroken, could not even understand what was at stake.
Yakov Loboda and his comrades were shot, and the traces of the "golden suitcase" were lost. After the expulsion of the Germans from the Kuban in 1943, it turned out that the "golden suitcase" itself was found in the parking lot of the partisan detachment, but it had only a few decorations. About 700 jewels are missing and the famous tiara of the queen is ready! A special commission was engaged in searches, since suspicion immediately fell on the fighters of the partisan detachment. But interrogations and arrests did not give anything - the treasures disappeared irrevocably.
The real shock was the news that after the war, in one of the German castles, Soviet soldiers found part of the valuables from the Kerch museum. And more recently, in 2006, on the territory of the federal state of Hesse, the police found 500 coins of the era of Panticapaeum and the Bosporus kingdom. For two years the museum workers of Crimea have been proving the “Kerch” origin of the precious coins. In 2009, the coins were returned to the Kerch Museum, and now the museum's numismatic exposition is the most valuable in the world. But these coins were not included in the collection of the "golden suitcase" …
In 1946, boys from the village of Spokoinaya found a gold buckle, which, judging by the description, was included in the list of treasures of the “golden suitcase”. Her fate is not known - she is gone! And this is very suspicious, although it is quite possible that despite the end of the war, Annenerbe went underground and her employees still operate on the territories of different countries. It cost them nothing immediately after the war to continue searching for the "golden suitcase", using the enormous financial resources and agents in the USSR.
In the Soviet Union, the state did not search for the values of the Kerch museum. Everything that is known about the "golden suitcase" today is the result of the work of enthusiasts.
It is possible that Annenerbe's agents achieved results in their search for the Goths' treasures from the "Kerch" collection, and then the priceless antiquities were forever lost to Russian historical science.
Today, the most valuable items from the "golden suitcase", which are a unique cultural monument of the ancient peoples of the world, are officially considered irretrievably lost. We can only hope that someday they will be found.