Stolen Nazi Gold: Facilitated by the Allied Banks, Most Disappears
Before WW2 and during the war the German Nazis stole what amounts to billions of gold in today’s dollars from the various countries they annexed or seized by force. In all, it is estimated that the Nazis stole over $550 million from foreign governments in gold. The gold assets of Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Danzig were first looted to the estimated tune of $71 million, the remainder being primarily from the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
Some portion of the gold stolen by the Nazis was retained by the Reich such as the large hoard of gold, silver, and currency found in the Merkers Mine that was recovered after the war by Allied troops. This gold is thought to have been stolen from concentration camp prisoners and other victims of the Nazis. But where did the rest of the gold go? Portugal was involved in trade with the Nazis of tungsten, which was incredibly useful in the manufacturing of armaments, and is estimated to have accepted over 78 tons of gold from the Germans during this time. That accounts for a bit more of the missing gold, but there is still a lot more not accounted for.
The two other sources that have been accused of taking Nazi gold, known to be stolen and looted from nations bullied, abused, and killed by the Nazis, were the Vatican Bank and the Swiss Banks. The U.S. government released a report in October 1946 called the Bigelow Report that was declassified in December 1996 that claims that 350 million Swiss francs worth of gold was confiscated by the Vatican from Germany for “safekeeping” in 1945 and transferred to a Swiss bank account but that 150 million Swiss francs had been seized at the Austro-Swiss border by the British. The remaining 200 million eventually made its way to the Vatican Bank where it remains to this day. The Vatican of course denies all of this.
Over the course of the war it is estimated that over $316 million in looted gold by the Nazis was transferred to the Swiss National Bank, but only a small fraction of that was ever returned to post-war Germany. Due to Swiss bank secrecy laws and what appears to be no desire to determine any official answer, most of the gold looted by Nazi Germany is unaccounted for today. In 1997, the New York Times itself published an article detailing the theory that they seemed to accept that the Nazi gold made its way to central banks and the the Federal Reserve Bank where it was melted down, removing the swastikas' it was adorned with, and replacing it with “United States Assay Office.”
Analysis: The story of Nazi stolen gold demonstrates a few realities. First, even after the United States effectively went off the gold standard, gold remained an important part of international finance as witnessed by its theft and then apparent theft again by countries and political entities. People and organizations do not bother to steal something that is not valuable.
It reveals that international banking institutions including the Swiss and Vatican banks were morally and ethically comfortable accepting stolen blood money (gold) from the Nazis and then did not work to return the gold to its rightful owners after the war, but kept, stole, or distributed it as they saw fit. At the very least this is indicative of a nihilistic if not amoral and evil international banking cartel. The United States Federal Reserve has stolen Nazi gold in its vaults to this day.
Anyone familiar with Operation Paperclip and how it brought over former Nazi scientists to work for the U.S. Government may be wondering with raised eyebrows how the stolen Nazi gold may indicate a lot secrets tied to the fall of the Third Reich and the behavior of the powers that be in the United States.
Please follow Bullion TP for more essays on the intersection of precious metals, history, and national and international politics.
