Polish family’s hidden treasure found after 80 years
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Jan Glazewski of South Africa located a family treasure in western Ukraine that his parents buried before fleeing the advancing Red Army in 1939.
Before escaping, the Glazewski family hid jewelry, silverware, and hunting weapons in a forest, hoping to retrieve them later. Jan’s father, Gustav, sketched a map from memory in 1989 to help his son find the buried items.
After retiring in 2019, Jan Glazewski, a former law professor specializing in environmental law, used a metal detector and his father’s map to search for the treasure. He enlisted the help of local Ukrainians to pinpoint the location, guided by the vague instruction on the map: “Where the forest begins, dig for our silver.” The search culminated in October 2019 with the discovery of the hidden objects.
The items held personal significance for Glazewski, as some had belonged to his mother, who died when he was seven. Though valued at only a few thousand dollars, the recovered silverware, jewelry, and a baptismal spoon represented a connection to his family’s past and fulfilled a promise made to his father. Glazewski later documented his journey in a 2022 autobiography, Blood & Silver, which has been adapted into a stage play set to premiere in July 2025.
