Giant concrete swastika unearthed by construction workers in Germany

Monolith is too heavy to be transported away and will be broken up with jackhammers

(DPA via AP)

A giant concrete swastika has been unearthed by construction workers in Germany.

The Nazi monolith was found buried beneath a sports field in the northern city of Hamburg.

German news agency dpa said workers were excavating ground to build changing rooms when they discovered the four-by-four metre block.

Members of the sports club at the Hein-Kling stadium in the city's Billstedt district said the swastika served as a foundation for a monument that was torn down decades ago.

City officials say they want the swastika gone as quickly as possible.

But because it is too heavy to be transported away, they are planning to destroy it with jackhammers.

The discovery follows two years after an amateur archaeologist found a collection of gold coins worth around 45,000 euros said to have been buried during the Nazi era or shortly after the Second World War.

Florian Bautsch found 10 coins under a tree near the northern town of Lueneburg and a further 207 were then excavated.

Two aluminium seals featuring swastika crosses, eagles and the words “Reichsbank Berlin 244” – a reference to the Nazi era central bank - were also discovered.

An analysis of the metal suggested they were made some time after 1940.