Violin maker claims to locate Hitler's treasure after cracking code

After cracking a code hidden in a sheet of wartime music, a violin maker claims to have located 50 million pounds (about $77 million) worth of diamonds and gold that reportedly belonged to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, media reported.

Cyril Whistler has spent the past two years studying the score of composer Gottfried Federlein's "Marsch-Impromptu", Mirror online reported on Thursday.

It is said to be a musical map to the lost haul, with clues and typed comments from Hitler's secretary Martin Bormann marking the hiding place of "Tears of the Wolf".

Wolf was Hitler's nickname among his inner circle, with tears referring to his diamonds.

Whistler said the treasure lies buried behind a German army depot in the Bavarian town of Mittenwald.

"I studied the score which, at first glance, is an unappealing piece of sheet music with typed annotations and runes. I couldn't see a connection between Nazi treasure and Mittenwald," he said.

"I soon discovered a typical number that returns over and over again, between the bars as well as encrypted throughout the score. The more I studied the piece, the more I discovered. The letters, the number and the signs reveal a route."

A spokeswoman from Germany's armed forces said: "This property is a military area. Access to, and archaeological excavations in, military security areas require official approval by the Bundeswehr. So far, we have received no requests."

Nazi elite hid fortunes across Germany as the Third Reich collapsed to finance a post-war resistance or an escape.

Much of the Nazis' gold was stored in their central Reichsbank in Berlin, but then transferred to secret caves and hidden mine shafts as the war came to an end.

According to legends, Hitler had ordered Bormann to bury the treasure in the Bavarian hills during the final days of the Third Reich. Bormann is said to have scribbled the location's coordinates on the sheet music to send to the Nazis' accountant, but it never arrived.