The Amber Room_ The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure - Cathy Scott-Clark [143]
Always the showman, Stein's greatest fear was losing control of the Amber Room story and particularly to the already famous Soviet crime writer Semyonov. But in the end it was not Semyonov that he would fear.
There is a significant gap in the bundle of correspondence, presumably the period in which Stein's Amber Room documentary was being filmed, before this flurry of press releases in 1987:
Deutsche Press Association, ARD [Channel One television] and NDR [Norddeutscher Rundfunk]. 16 April 1987. Headline: Amber Room taken to the USA on 15 May 1945. George Stein reveals that the room was transported via Grasleben [mine in Helmstedt, eighty miles north-east of Volpriehausen] - to Wiesbaden [US central collection point] - and then Antwerp [sea port] - finally arriving in the USA [secret depository].
Bayern 3 TV: 16 April 1987. A 90-minute documentary screened tonight will show how the hunt for the Amber Room led by hobby-Historiker George Stein has revealed that it was taken to the United States.
Die Zeit. Hamburg: 18 April 1987. Mystery of Amber Room Now Solved?
Stein had been passed documents by the Stasi that showed how the Amber Room had been taken by US forces and smuggled to America, a revelation that, although surely a fake, created a press frenzy.
'Hamburg-Eppendorf Psychiatric Hospital.' A letter from George Stein, 13 May 1987. Less than one month after the German media aired Stein's controversial American theory, he was in a psychiatric hospital.
My dear Baron! I am lying here for the last three and a half weeks exactly. Why, you shall find out today. On 15 April [the day before Stein's TV documentary was broadcast], I received an ultimate demand from the Inland Revenue for the amount 400,000 DM. My children have been induced to clear the house in Stelle. It is now standing empty and will be auctioned in the near future by the state. The Amber Room affair is at an end and that probably was the main aim of the 'State Action'. We were nearly at the final stage. Revenge for the little matter of the monastery treasure [Pskov] is also playing a role in this affair. I myself own nothing except the clothes I am wearing.
'The Amber Room files are locked up in the empty house. Friends are trying to rescue these and take them to safety... I have no money at all. Somebody has given me the stamps for this letter. In spite of all this I retain courage and hope. Please inform all our friends, you know who I mean. Please do not forget me. I often think about all of you... My children despise me and they don't visit any more... With kind regards, George Stein.
P.S. How do I get out of here? Can our friends help?'
Stein was in a manic state, on the verge of bankruptcy, and we wonder if he was seeing clearly, fearing that the West German government was trying to silence him about the Amber Room before he made his controversial revelation. But we are beginning to understand what contributed to Robert Stein's state of mind. We read on, as fast as we can.
'Files of the Criminal Investigation Department, Ingolstadt.' Extract from a report by Professor Gotze, senior physician, Hamburg-Eppendorf Psychiatric Hospital, May 1987:
The patient always reacted in an identical manner, when challenged directly about mysterious or occult facts; emphasizing the importance of his own person, hinting at his function as a confidant of secrets, as a researcher of complicated areas and a connoisseur of international political entanglements - and of the dangers arising for him out of such matters.
Professor Gotze was suspicious of his conspiracy theories.
'Villa Askania Nova, Schloss Strasse, Vaduz.' A letter from the Baron:
1 June 1987, Dear Mr Stein!