Chapter 2

Chapter 2

General Naryshkin began by thanking the organizer for the opportunity to speak.

“I am going to talk not only about Admiral Kolchak but more specifically to the avatars of the treasure of Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family as far as we know them. Our host, Duke Golovkin, will illustrate the content of this treasure afterwards.”

He took a sip of water from the glass in front of him, cleared his throat, and began his exposition.

“In 1915, at the beginning of World War I, the Russian imperial treasury was located in Petrograd, today Saint Petersburg, and therefore close to the Russian western border. Fearing that it might fall into German hands, the Tsar's supporters, the so- called white forces, decided to move it to the east, bringing it to the city of Kazan, located 640 km from Moscow, on the trace of the Trans-Siberian Railway, assuming that if later it was required to take it further east it could be done by train.”

“ The treasure remained in Kazan for several years in apparent safety. However, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, sent strong troops in its search, knowing that whoever had those financial resources would end up winning the Russian Civil War. The communists under Trotsky besieged the city of Kazan and in the summer of 1918 took it after a hard fight. Their disappointment was great when they found that the treasure had evaporated from the coffers of the Bank of Kazan and they concluded that it had been taken to East Siberia by rail, seeking to save it this time from the clutches of the Bolshevik revolutionaries, since the First World War was ending.”

Naryshkin took another gulp of water and continued.

“The Bolsheviks set up their own train and put it on the treasure track, always guided by the Trans-Siberian rails; so what happened was a bizarre chase between trains full of heavily armed soldiers.”

The general stopped and reflected before continuing.

“ It is necessary to clarify that although the whole length of the Trans-Siberian Railway is covered today in three or four days, at that time the routes along the immense Siberian steppe took months. The locomotive ovens were loaded with coal by hand, fuel that was not always available at the following stop. Furthermore, both trains were stopped by enemy gangs along the way and had to sustain long battles. Indeed, the war had plunged Siberia into chaos and the Russian winter was finally doing its work. In this way the progress of the white and red trains was maddeningly slow and unsafe.”

The general paused again to put his ideas in order.

“After a couple of months of chasing, the train with the treasure arrived at the hands of Admiral Kolchak, who was acting in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the White Forces. As the Bolsheviks were already on their trail Kolchak rightly decided to forward the white train further east to get it away from his enemies, sending it to Irkutsk, a Siberian city near Lake Baikal. However in this city treason nested in the midst of the Czechoslovak Legion, which should have been allies of the whites.”

New pause.

“I will give a brief explanation about this legion. It was made up of Czech and to a lesser extent Slovakian prisoners of war who had fought for the Central Powers, that is to say Germany and in particular the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and decided to change sides to achieve the independence of their country from Austria-Hungary and then sided with the allies to fight in World War I and then continued to fight for whites in the Russian Civil War. One of their missions was precisely to control and give security to the Trans-Siberian Railway, but what they really wanted was to return to their country after the end of the First World War. That return was impossible towards the west since the Bolsheviks occupied all the territory and did not allow the passage to potentially enemy battalions. In this way the Legion leaders negotiate with the Communists and handed over the train to them with the treasure, or at least part of it. They also betrayed and handed over Admiral Kolchak who, as already said, was shot in 1920. In exchange for their betrayal, the Czechs obtained permission from the Reds to continue east and embark on Vladivostok, over the Pacific Ocean, on a sea voyage to Europe. Meanwhile the reds forwarded the train with the treasure back to Kazan and their territory.”

After another sip of water Naryshkin concluded.

“Up to here comes the verified official history. From this point on, speculations and uncertainties begin, but Duke Golovkin will speak to us about these.”

Indeed, the host resumed the podium and the concluding phase of the event began.

“Thank you General. First, we will try to specify what we mean by the name of the Treasury of the Czars. According to the records of the time it was the third gold reserve in the world, after that of the United States and France, consisting of about 500 tons of gold. The metal was in the form of bullion and gold coins from many different sources, including at least 15 countries. We do not know if there was also part of the imperial family jewels. Although many of them were seized by the Bolsheviks and are found in Russian museums and others were taken by nobles when they fled abroad, there are a number of other pieces of which there is no reference.”

That said, he turned around looking at the slide show based on old photos with jewels laden with precious stones.

“For example, this precious choker from the Tsarina of which the trail has been lost.”

He paused again and changed the subject.

“We will now refer to the real destiny of the imperial treasury and its various parts.”

The next slide showed a pie chart divided into circular sectors each with a figure and a percentage.

“ Although there are different contradictory versions, not all the actors are convinced that what the members of the Czechoslovak Legion delivered was the total amount of gold that the train was carrying. It is actually credible that the Czechs had kept for they part of it to start with some financial backing their long and eventful journey back to their country by sea from Vladivostok, as has been said. One of the most consistent versions claims that the Legion put together their own trains that continued east along the mountainous terrain neighboring Lake Baikal. According to this actually legendary source, one of the trains would have had a fault that plunged it into the dark waters of the lake, one of the oldest and deepest in the world.”

New pause.

“In 2009 a research submarine submerged in the waters of the lake and the versions insist that it had found railway remains at great depth, although not traces of gold. Some theories insist that the derailment was not actually caused by train failures but by sabotage, specifically by an avalanche caused by enemies of the whites and that the train in that case had never reached Vladivostok. Other versions say that the train actually did arrive at that port but it sank in the bay for some reason, or perhaps it was sunk to conceal its arrival, after taking the gold out of it. Indeed, certain studies would have confirmed the presence of underwater wagons in that area.”

“Other destinations for gold mention a variety of Siberian regions, whose forests would still house part of the treasure. In short, according to the different arguments, up to 200 tons of gold could be missing from the aforementioned treasure.”

A rumor ran through the projection room but was immediately extinguished.

“Finally, there are versions in the sense that Kolchak himself, during the period when gold was in Irkutsk until the arrival of the Bolsheviks, would have sent all or part of the treasure to American and English banks as collateral to finance the purchase of arms and war supplies, and it was later used to finance the flight of nobles in Soviet times and their installation in the West. As you will see all kinds of versions and very little hard evidence.”

The Duke moved away from the microphone for a minute and then asked, ending the presentation.

“Any comments or questions?”

In the absence of a response, he added.

“I am infinitely grateful for your presence, I request that you pay attention to our future activities and I remind you to keep the strictest secret about what you have heard here.”

After the cocktail that had been served in the palace, the atmosphere in Igor's car during the return trip was festive; indeed only Frederika, who was driving, was completely sober. At Igor's request, she and Irina alternated singing quietly German and Russian songs.

"Well," Igor said unexpectedly, addressing the Argentinean. "What do you think of the evening and in particular about the presentation of the speakers?”

“Interesting, very interesting.”

"Yet I thought I saw you yawn a few times."

"That was before the gold train subject arose," Irina said ironically, proving that she was not asleep on her husband's shoulder as it seemed.

“Oh! What a materialist.” Frederika added following the jocular mode.

"It is not that ... to me the train story gives some solid support to all this expectation created around the Tsar's treasure." Thiago defended himself.

“Expectation of which you had no news before today.”

“I don't think many are aware of this topic.” Again the young man added in an apologetic tone.

"Books have been written." Igor said.

“That very few have read.” His wife replied. “And stop criticizing Thiago. The truth is that the whole introductory part about Kolchak's personality was boring for me too.”

Then a new silence was imposed. Changing entirely the subject the Argentine expressed in a sarcastic way.

“So they have decided to rename me. Now I am Thiago Daniel Ferrari Fiodorov” His tone imitated Duke Golovkin's voice.

"Does it bother you to use my last name?" Irina asked.

“ No, only that they could have consulted me.”

"Complainant!" The woman's challenge was faked.

Igor suggested.

“Irina, sing that very melancholic song that it says that the snow has covered Russia.

At the end of the same Thiago was encouraged to ask.

“What is the next step? I refer to the subject of the train.”

“Next weekend there will be a small meeting at my house of an ad-hoc committee that has been organizing all these events to plan the next move.

“We'll still be in Vienna. We are leaving on Wednesday.” Thiago replied.

“That is why we prepare it for an earlier date. Irina plays an important role in this next step.” It was Igor's surprising revelation.

“What? I had no idea.” The Argentine's phrase included a certain reproach to his wife.

"I was going to tell tonight, it is something we resolved today." The lady replied.

Upon arriving at the hotel and before undressing, Thiago asked in a false, offended tone.

“What is that important role you...?

The woman threw herself on her husband pushing him so that he fell on the bed on his back and kneeling on top of him, still wearing her hat, she said.

“Tonight we are not going to talk about roles, we are going to make up for lost time.”

“I'm glad to hear you say that. I thought that with all this aristocratic manners you had lost your instinct.”

“We Russians never lose our basic instincts, not even in aristocratic circles. That is why there are so many Princes.” The lady replied in an excited tone.

"Let me at least take off my jacket and tie," was the distressing reply.