The Amber Room

           The Amber Room

Suzanne Marsh

My heart was pounding in my chest as I ran; I had stolen a highly sensitive map the Soviets had been hiding. I had to get out of the Soviet Union as soon as possible or I would be found tortured and finally executed. I had to keep moving; my American handler wanted all maps and information about a shipwreck found off the coast of Poland, the Nazi steamer Karlsruhe. It was a good possibility that the missing Amber panels as well as other parts of the Amber Room stolen from the Catherine Palace by the Nazis were on the ship. Divers were waiting for the coordinates before they could begin retrieving the artifacts. The Soviets wanted the panels returned to them since they were part of the rich bounty removed in 1945. I turned a corner and saw my contact motioning me away; the KGB were close by waiting. There was no time to conceive a plan, I had to keep moving. Finally, I saw a train pulling out of the station; I had no idea where it was going but I was going to be on it. I had some rubles for a ticket I purchased; the best thing I could do was to hide in plain sight. The train pulled out of the station, and I examined the ticket. I felt relief it was going to Kaliningrad, where the Nazis had taken the items from the Amber Room, I sighed with relief as I sat down on the seat. I knew from Kaliningrad I would be able to cross the border into Poland where I would be safe until I could make contact with my handler.

I pulled out my cell phone I wanted more information about how the Karlsruhe was sunk; who sunk her? I began to read about Kaliningrad having a different name during the Nazi regime the name was like a quick slap: Konigsberg. I knew from various newspaper clippings I had located Konigsberg was where the Karlsruhe, a steam vessel the Nazis were using to move a large amount of items, maybe just maybe it was the treasures from the Amber Room. Historically it could be the find of the century. The rhythmic movement of tthe rain continued on into the night, I soon dozed off.

1945

Captain Hans Schulz waited for the rest of his men to arrive at the Catherine Palace. They had a job to do. His orders from the supreme command stated to remove all treasures from the Amber Room, taking them by truck to Konigsberg. The orders required the utmost secrecy, once the trucks arrived they would begin loading the treasures. There was a German steamship waiting for them to load the treasure, they also were to board the ship, and guard the treasure until it reached the safety of Germany. I was one of the guards who was there. I remember the awe I felt as I strode into the Catherine Palace, we then opened the doors to the Amber Room, and we stood there gaping at the splendor and opulence. I now understood why we were taking it apart; an attempt to keep those artifacts the same from Soviet hands. The Soviets under Josef Stalin would most certainly destroy anything that reminded them of Czar Nicholas II.

We removed the Amber panels first, the Amber had jewels embedded in the panels. Apparently, the Romanov Czars lived in splendor, and the Catherine Palace was huge. We looked in several rooms, all with rich tapestries, and gilt furniture. The Soviet army was making its way to Konigsberg. We were part of an evacuation operation called “Hannibal”. The ship Karlsruhe, a small cruiser waited for us to load crates that had been taken from the Amber Room. There were also civilians and of course army personnel who also boarded. Once the ship was loaded she pulled out of the harbor into the Baltic Sea.

Hell broke loose in the form of Soviet fighters/bombers. They were on a mission to sink our ship! Fear took over most passengers and soldiers alike. Bullets from the guns of the fighters began to splinter the wooden deck. The deck guns were uncovered and the ship’s crew began to return fire. It was like no other battle I had ever been in; the battle intensified. I couldn’t swim I had no idea what would happen if the Soviets sunk the ship. We found life preservers in lockers off the main deck. As army soldiers we were obliged to aid and comfort the passengers, helping them to put on life preservers. The harder I worked the more frightened I became, watching the air battle, where were our pilots? I could not understand why this ship with such valuable cargo did not have either planes or ships accompanying her.

The bow began to sink, and we began uncovering lifeboats; a general panic was now setting in. For the first time since the war began, I regretted joining the army. The ship was definitely sinking; the loss of life of the passengers was over one thousand people. I could feel the deck creaking beneath my feet. The ship’s crew continued to fire the deck guns, and the Soviet fighters continued to return fire.

The order came from the Captain to abandon ship, she would not hold together much longer. I hoped I would be fortunate enough to survive, I did not want to die on this old ship; I did not want to drown either. A sailor came by and then jumped into the water, he was determined to save himself, he was not afloat for more than ten minutes when he went under but never came back up. More of the crew were doing the same. The ten soldiers put a lifeboat over the side and we scrambled down, the water was so cold I was glad I had a great coat. We began to row away from the ship quickly not wanting to be sucked under as she went down to her watery grave.

I awoke with a start, thank God it was only a dream!