The local Książ Castle Museum, which commands an imposing view over the region, has seen an unprecedented spike in visitors over the last fortnight.
“Queues for tours really are very long, and it's not easy to buy a ticket,” commented the museum's Magdalena Woch, in an interview with wp.pl.
Hastily concocted souvenirs, including T-shirts and gold bar chocolates, are flying off the shelves.
“T-shirts with the logo 'Explore Walbrzych' are very popular, we even get requests for them from abroad, including England,” confirmed Bogumil Gwoździk of the city's Old Mine Science and Art Centre.
“I have to admit that locals from Wałbrzych are also buying them out of pride for their city,” he noted, adding that a special range of ceramics is now in the pipeline.
In 1943, the Nazi regime launched Project Riese, which saw the construction of a network of undreground chambers around Wałbrzych, including beneath Książ Castle. Several of these chambers have been open to the public for a number years, but interest has now shot up.
Besides standard tickets, the museum is now offering 'golden' all-inclusive package tours, capitalising on the mystery around the supposed treasure-laden train.
A German and a Polish citizen filed a claim with Wałbrzych city authorities in mid-August, stating that they knew the location of the train. They called for 10 percent of the value of the find, although Polish law stipulates that property found on national territory belongs to the state.
Although ground penetrating radar (GPR) has indicated that there may be a vehicle at the site near Wałbrzych, many voices remain sceptical.
The site lies on the rail route between Wrocław and Walbrzych, both of which were part of German territory prior to and during WWII, named Breslau and Waldenburg respectively.
As Germans fled the advancing Red Army at the end of the war, innumerable valuables – many of them looted - were shifted from across Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe.
The Soviets took Waldenburg (Wałbrzych) on 8 May 1945. Poland's borders were moved west - as finalised two months later at the Potsdam Conference - and the city became Polish. (nh)