Essay, Research Paper: The Story Behind The Nazi Gold

The Story Behind the Nazi Gold

Nazi Gold: Hard currency looted from treasuries of countries occupied by the Axis
powers during World War II. Ingots consisting of gold melted down from the teeth of
murder victims and weddings bands and jewelry. About two thirds of an estimated $660
million ($7.8 billion in today's dollars) in stolen Nazi gold passed through Switzerland
during the war. And like any sharp businessmen with hot goods, the Swiss disposed of
much of their gold quickly - through Portugal mainly, but also to Sweden, Spain, and
other central banks (Hirsh 48). Probably no more that $140 million remains unaccounted
for, and a good portion of that was probably sold onward as well. But what remains of
the known Nazi hoard (none of which has been returned to the Jewish community) is
worth no more than about $65 million according to the Brussels-based Tripartite Gold
Commission, set up after World War II to return stolen gold to national treasuries.
Recently the Clinton administration created a commission to search for any Nazi funds
that might have ended up in U.S. Federal Reserve vaults. "We have to be willing not
only to focus the spotlight on Switzerland," says Under Secretary of Commerce Stuart
Eizenstat. "We have to be willing to follow the trail of assets into our own treasury"
(qtd. in Hirsh 47).

This trail though, suggests that there is no huge stash of Nazi gold in Switzerland. The
loot has scattered worldwide through numerous transactions and is probably
irretrievable. Also, because so many banks were involved, the
amount of gold left in Switzerland is probably negligible, contrary to what investigators
have until now presumed. At this point the cost or returning the Nazi Gold to its rightful
owners is not worth the trouble and inconvenience it would create.

Documents released in recent months have made it clear that Swiss banks traded in
looted Nazi-gold, and that Swiss businesses made a fortune selling arms to the Nazis.
In a historical report published around May 9,1997, it was said that there was no
evidence that the Swiss or other neutral countries knew that gold from the central
banks had been smelted together with gold fillings, wedding bands, and other jewelry
stolen from Holocaust victims (Sanger). But, Eizenstat found "incontrovertible evidence"
that Swiss bankers knew they were trading in gold that Germany had looted from the
treasuries of states it occupied, and also a handwritten ledger sheet from the
Reichsbank showed a deposit of 29,996 grams of "dental gold" into a Swiss account (A
harsh...). This confirms that the Nazis melted down and recirculated gold extracted
from the teeth of murdered Jews and other death camp victims. It also proves the
involvement and knowledge of dealings with gold extracted from teeth of murdered
victims by the Swiss in that there were depositsmadeintotheiraccounts. Germany also
sent Switzerland via diplomatic pouch packages of jewelry, looted from Jewish
persecutees, to be exchanged for industrial diamonds and foreign currency essential to
the German war effort (Sanders). From this evidence we see that the Swiss acted as
the Nazis' "principal bankers" and after the war took a "legalistic" stance to hold onto
their ill-gotten gains, returning only $58 million worth of gold (Chesnoff). Some argue
that the Swiss should have given up all of the gold, but why should they? It was
business after all. Many Swiss argue that what Switzerland did was done for survival's
sake, but their critics assert that it was Wieckowski 3 done of opportunism and
amorality and should be paid for in both moral and financial terms (Cowell)

During WWII, the German threat to Switzerland was real, not imaginary or exaggerated.
After the collapse of France in 1940, historically neutral Switzerland was virtually
surrounded by axis-dominated territory. After the Germans occupied Vichy, France in
the fall of 1942, Switzerland was entirely cut off from the outside world.