CROWN JEWELS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LX, Issue 88, 7 November 1939, Page 2

CROWN JEWELS

: -+* SENT BY RUSSIA TO POLAND WILL HITLER CLAIM THEM? (From The Guardian's London Correspondent) LONDON, October 7. Will Hitler, as conqueror of Poland, claim possession of the Russian crown jewels, which were deposited in the Polish State Bank? Many believe that he is anxious to secure these valuable articles. The jewels include the gold crown of the Tsar Nicholas I, the crown of the last Tsar's wife and two pearl necklaces belonging to the late Tsarina. All of them were deposited with Poland by the Bolshevik Government after the Polish-Russian treaty in 1920, and they were left with Poland as a deposit for a large number of Polish art treasures such as paintings, rare books and historic documents which the Tsarist Government took out of Poland to Russia during the evacuation in fhe last war of 1914. Unable to return all these treasures to Poland immediately, the Soviet Government agreed to hand over the Russian crown jewels as a deposit with the condition that they would be redeemed at the end of 1938. The jewels were never redeemed and became the property of the Polish Government. Together with the Polish gold, the Russian crown jewels were sent out of Poland before the war, but their destination is not disclosed. It is believed that Ihey are now in England, where a portion of Polish gold is also understood to have been deposited.