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Jurek’s biggest concern, and Boczek’s, was being followed. Both worried that they were being watched by a gang of clandestine agents known as “the guards.” Other treasure hunters voiced similar concerns. Piotr Koper, the man who claimed to have found the train at the 65th Kilometre, said that he feared for the safety of his family.

There is an extensive mythology around the guards. By most accounts, they are a global network of former Nazis, similar to the legendary ODESSA unit. ODESSA was allegedly founded at the end of the war in order to help former S.S. members avoid capture and escape to countries like Argentina and Brazil. Historians doubt whether ODESSA units ever existed. Boczek conceded that most of the original guards were likely dead, but he suspects that their secrets have been passed along to subsequent generations, who have been charged with watching over the old homeland and its buried treasures.