Until now, some people believe in enormous wealth, made up of bars of gold, allegedly hidden by the Boers somewhere in South Africa in the last days of the Transvaal Republic. Due to the remoteness of events, many considered this story to be fiction. However, this legend continues to excite the minds …
On October 11, 1899, the governments of the Transvaal Republic and the Free Orange State declared war on Great Britain. This war, which lasted until 1902, is known as the Anglo-Boer. Despite the fact that the British hoped for the end of hostilities by Christmas, the Boer leaders announced the protracted nature of the war and began to look for funds to finance it. To solve this problem, at the government council, where the state superintendent of the mines was summoned, it was decided to send huge masses of workers to the gold mining industry. Which would lead to an increase in the much needed gold reserve.
Winston Churchill held captive by the Boers (far right).
It was a smart move. Even a year before the start of the war, gold production in the Transvaal increased to such an extent that it blocked the production of Russia, America and Australia combined. Thus, South Africa became the largest gold power in the world. Experts were expecting an increase in the production of gold mines to an amount equal to twenty million pounds.
Work in the mines was progressing well. What could not be said about the successes at the front. The Boer troops retreated, losing cities and territories. By the end of May 1900, the British, who had won a series of victories, were already threatening Pretoria. This forced the government of President Kruger to leave the capital and move to the town of Mashadodorp. There was organized the so-called "government on wheels" - all government agencies were in railway cars. Despite the fact that the gold mines were abandoned in early May, when the British began operations to encircle Pretoria, the mint continued to operate until the British troops entered the city.
Promotional video:
And then truly strange events begin … Here is what Gustav Preller, an artilleryman recalled from the front to serve in the Transvaal administration, tells about this in his article "The Truth About Kruger Millions":
“On May 28, the head of the mining department asked me to provide him with a wagon for some transportation. I agreed. In the evening at 11 o'clock, while walking around the city, I wandered into the station, where, to my surprise, I saw a government official who was managing the loading and dispatch of gold coins and gold bars by rail. For these purposes, the cart was used. Gold was exported from banks, and then - from the city on the train of the auditor general.
Gold was stored in the city in three places: in the Netherlands bank, from where Mr. de Braal, the manager, had already begun to export it, at the mint, and also in the fire-resistant basement of the Palace of Justice. First we emptied the safes of the Netherlands Bank, then the mint, and finally the basements of the Palace of Justice. By the time the deed was done, not an ounce of the gold that belonged to the Transvaal remained in Pretoria. The cost of all the gold, together with that already exported to Mashadodorp, was about one and a half million pounds. Basically, this amount consisted of high-standard gold bars, but there were also coins minted by the Pretoria mint and not very clean, not yet trained for minting, gold, which cost twenty shillings an ounce cheaper, and blanks for coins not yet stamped. laminated gold sheets …"
In August 1900, Colonel Denis Reitz, who arrived from the front in Mashadodorp to visit his father, drew attention to the fact that the yards and warehouses around the railway station were guarded day and night with great diligence. “And suddenly I realized that here, at this station, huge sums were piled up,” Reitz writes in his memoirs. - I remember well my amazement at the realization of the innumerable wealth that lay here. I myself saw how at night carriages drove up to the cars, loaded and drove back into the darkness. I am absolutely sure now that the gold did not leave Mashadodorp, that it was buried somewhere there …"
After the war, South African journalist James Gray, editor of the Pretoria News, conducted a detailed study of the gold balance of the Transvaal Republic during the Boer War. It is known that a week before the outbreak of the war, the Rand mines sent a cargo of gold worth 462,853 pounds to Pretoria. To this must also be added, firstly, the gold mined from November 1899 to May 1900, the value of which, according to government documents, was about two million pounds, and secondly, another 300,000 pounds taken from a Dutch bank (remember Preller's story!) So by the beginning of hostilities, the gold reserve of the Kruger government was at least over three million pounds. If we subtract military expenses, it turns out that by August 1900 there were still about one and a half million unspent money in the treasury! Interesting,that the same amount is mentioned by Preller, who took part in loading the gold on the train leaving Pretoria.
In August 1900, a chronic shortage of money forced the Transvaal government to sell part of the gold reserve. The buyer was found: it was the German company Wilken & Ackermann. And on September 11, 1900, when the British entered Mashadodorp, Kruger crossed the border into Mozambique, taking with him thirty boxes of coins, and went to the sea. Here the gold was loaded onto the German ship Bundesrat and sent to Hamburg at the end of October.
In 1925, the South African Nation (October 10th) published an article stating that by August 1900 the entire gold reserve of the Transvaal was only 20,000 pounds, and that this portion had been exported by Kruger to Mozambique. But where, in that case, have disappeared nearly a half million pounds? After all, gold for such an amount could not fit in thirty boxes, allegedly taken by Kruger to Mozambique!
“Determining exactly how many gold bars remained in the Republic after President Kruger, how much rough gold was sold to Wilcken and Ackermann, and was there anything other than the officially registered amount of gold stored in the treasury cellars? - these are the questions to be answered. answer…"
What is the true fate of the "Kruger Gold" worth one and a half million pounds (in 1900 prices)? Most researchers of this issue are inclined to think that it was buried somewhere on the territory of the Transvaal. Despite the constant government statements about the groundlessness of rumors about the notorious "Kruger millions", this story has become more and more overgrown with gossip and legends …
The first legend - "Dorothea"
While Kruger, who had fled from the Transvaal, was in the capital of Mozambique, Laurenzo Markiche (now Maputo) and negotiated the terms of the sale of gold to Germany, the sailing ship Dorothea departed from the province of Natal for Holland with a cargo of cement on board. There were rumors that it was with this ship that the gold of the Transvaal was taken out. This story would have looked quite plausible if "Dorothea" had not crashed back in … 1898, that is, a year before the start of the war, which makes this story completely incredible.
The second legend - Philip Schwartz
In the book of the famous South African journalist Lawrence Green "Strange Wealth", it is said that a certain Philip Schwartz, a former officer of the Transvaal army, knew the secret of the missing "Kruger millions". In August 1900, he personally participated in their burial, and after the war, together with three of his companions, one of whom was named Van Niekerk, he went to the town of Lowveld in order to find the cache. However, soon after the group arrived at the site, Van Niekerk mysteriously disappeared, and the expedition returned, almost without starting excavations. Schwartz told the widow of Van Nikerk his version of her husband's death, but did not convince her, and the woman went to the police. Soon one of the patrols discovered a corpse gnawed by jackals with a signet ring "CvN". Schwartz was suspected of murder, arrested, but since he was sick with malaria, he was sent to the St. Petersburg hospital.where he spent his last days. In the hospital he was visited by a high-ranking British officer trying to find out the truth about Kruger's gold, but Schwartz did not tell him anything. A few days later, he was convicted by the Johannesburg court for the murder of Van Nickerk and hanged. The secret of gold died with him.
However, Schwartz is said to have told something about Kruger's treasures to the guards assigned to him in the hospital. It is possible that this is just a fiction, but here is the other side of this story: according to the lawyer Schwartz, the deposit for his defense was presented to him in the form of a large sum of gold coins. These coins gave the impression of … lying in the ground for many years!
The third legend - "Winner"
It was rumored that twenty years after the end of the Boer War, some unknown heir to the Transvaal president dug up the "Kruger gold" and took it out of Africa to Europe. Even the name of the ship was called "Winner". This ship was allegedly under the French flag. However, American journalists managed to find out that the winner was not on the Lloyd's Register lists. Such a vessel never existed in nature!
The opinion of skeptics cannot be passed over in silence. Thus, the American historian Joey Cage believes that no treasure exists. According to his calculations, the entire one and a half million was spent by the Boer government on payments to the military and partisans, on the purchase of weapons and provisions. But legends, as you know, do not die quickly …