Hitler may have come close to building atomic bomb, German treasure hunter finds

From Fox News.com (Sept. 26):

A pensioner in Brandenberg, Germany, was casting about with his metal detector last week when it gave an unusual ‘bleep’.

According to German media, it’s cause was what first appeared to be a nondescript but shiny lump of metal.

Then the 64-year-old hobbyist, Bernd Thälmann, gave it a quick test.

It was not magnetic.

This was odd. Bernd had been scouring the terrain around Oranienburg in Brandenberg for some time. He had some experience in what to expect to find.

After bringing it home and leaving it laying around for several days, he and his children began to do some digging on the properties of various metals

What they found caused them to became somewhat anxious.

He notified authorities.

He suddenly became the centre of a huge emergency services effort — including the evacuation and cordoning off of surrounding homes.

NAZI LINK

Men in hazmat suits moved into his house, and carefully packed his find into a special lead-lined container, which was itself put in a protective suitcase.

Now Bernd’s being investigated for possessing ‘unauthorised radioactive substances’.

Police have confirmed Bernd’s metallic find is radioactive. And they’ve also reportedly suggested a source.

Oranienburg was, during World War II, the location of a secret research facility.

It was working on enriching uranium oxide sourced from South America..

Its objective was to create weapons-grade plutonium.

This was to be the core a Nazi atomic bomb.

The research facility is long gone.

But it seems some rather telltale traces still remain.  [read more]

It sure was a good thing that Hitler didn’t build the atomic bomb. That would have been a game changer.