Timur's tomb is protected by a slab of jade in which are carved the words in Arabic: "When I rise, the World will Tremble". ^[25] It is said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found reading "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I."^[26] In any case, within hours after Gerasimov had begun the exhumation, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, its invasion of the U.S.S.R.^[27]