Switzerland and Gold Transactions in the Second World War

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Interim Report on Gold 34 Chapter 1 added the District of Galicia with the area around the city of Lvov which had been occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939. In these areas, a comprehensive system of camps was built up (work camps, transit camps, concentration camps, and after December 1941, extermination camps). Here a distinction must be made between killing centers like Chelmno in the Warthegau, the camps of the so-called «Operation Reinhardt»–the name given to the program begun in early- 1942 for the deportation and the killing of Polish Jews from the General Government 58 − and the largest extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, which lay in the so-called annexed areas and thus belonged directly to the Reich. 59 In the annexed areas, precious metals looted from both Jews and non-Jews were also confiscated by the Main Trusteeship Office East [Haupttreuhandstelle Ost] and the Trusteeship Office for the General Government. 60 These offices reported to the Four-Year Plan Office, namely Hermann Göring. Only in 1944 were they directed to ship the objects they had sequestered to the Reichsbank. The Lodz ghetto was an exception since the local municipal administration was responsible. «Operation Reinhardt» came under the General Government. Here the same types of deportation, killing, and plundering operations took place as had been applied to the occupied areas of the Soviet Union. As a result, conflicts ensued between Reich Leader of the SS and Police Heinrich Himmler, and General Governor Hans Frank, with the latter emerging victorious in autumn 1942. 61 Up until mid 1942 the SS collected in the territory of the Reich the dental gold from the deceased or murdered concentration camp inmates and shipped it directly to the SS Health Office. There it was used for the dental needs of SS personnel. 62 A modification of this procedure was instigated by an exchange of letters between Dr. Ernst Robert Grawitz, Reich Physician of the SS, and Police, and the SS detachments in the General Government. At the end of April 1942, SS Major General [SS-Gruppenführer] Grawitz addressed the Warsaw Leader of the SS and Police requesting that «old gold of Jewish origin» confiscated in Warsaw be made available for dental purposes. 63 From Warsaw, SS Senior Colonel [SS-Oberführer] Wigand replied that he was unable to decide about the use of «old gold of Jewish origin» which had come into his possession, and that Grawitz should obtain instructions from Himmler. After Grawitz had contacted the personal headquarters of the Reichsführer SS, Himmler sent out a directive in August 1942 to the Higher SS and Police Leaders in the 58 59 60 61 62 63 See Kogon et al. 1994, pp. 102 ff. Ibid., pp. 139 ff.; as well as Gutman/Berenbaum 1994. See the decree on the safeguarding of the assets of the former Polish state dated 15 January 1940, and the order on the handling of assets of the members of the former Polish state of 17 September 1940, printed in the official list of the General Government 1940. Hilberg 1985, pp. 947 ff. Nuremberg Document NO-2305, letter of SS Brigadier General [SS-Brigadeführer] Frank, SS Central Office for Economy and Administration [SS-WVHA], to Reichsführer SS, concerning dental gold, 8 October 1942. Nuremberg Document NO-3166, exchange of correspondence between SS Reich Physician Dr. Grawitz, SS Senior Colonel [SS-Oberführer] Wigand (Warsaw District), SS Lieutenant Colonel [SS-Obersturmbannführer] Dr. Brandt (Personal Headquarters of the Reichsführer SS), April, May 1942.
Interim Report on Gold 35 Chapter 1 «Eastern Territories» to the effect that «all quantities of gold, old gold, silver, various precious metals, and other valuables without exception be shipped to SS Lieutenant General [SS- Obergruppenführer] Pohl», head of the SS Central Office for Economy and Administration [SS-WVHA]. 64 Thereafter it would be up to the WVHA to decide how the booty would be distributed. At about the same time, negotiations took place between the WVHA, representatives of the Reich Ministry of Finance, as well as the Reich Minister of Economy and Reichsbank President Walther Funk concerning the disposal of the looted assets gathered by the SS. 65 The result of these negotiations was that the booty was to be taken from the WVHA to the Reichsbank. Beginning in August 1942, SS Captain Bruno Melmer [SS- Hauptsturmführer] 66 shipped sealed containers to the Reichsbank where the foreign currencies, precious metals, coins, and pieces of jewelry were sorted. The Reichsbank Office for Precious Metals, headed by Albert Thoms, 67 accepted these shipments and distributed them along the various channels such as the Municipal Pawnshop, refining centers, etc. Once the SS dentists had covered their «requirement», 68 Himmler’s subordinates also began, in November 1942, to deliver dental gold extracted from those who had been murdered. This gold was for the most part smelted down and processed into bars of a type designated «various». In this connection, it should moreover be noted that within the deployment area of «Operation Reinhardt» in the General Government, the process of melting down was carried out prior to dispatch to Berlin, whereas for Auschwitz-Birkenau, such a procedure is not known to have taken place. 69 The precious metals carrying the designation of «Melmer» in the records of the Reichsbank, did not, however, originate solely in «Operation Reinhardt». Considerable amounts of gold came from the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. These shipments were after all so voluminous that Auschwitz was exempted from a new regulation on the disposal of victim gold that, according to a declaration made by the head of Amtsgruppe D of the WVHA, Willi 64 65 66 67 68 69 Nuremberg Document NO-3192, Brandt’s circular issued to all Higher SS and Police Leaders, 12 August 1942, and to Pohl, 12 August 1942. Nuremberg Document PS-3944, affidavit of the former Vice President of the Reichsbank Puhl, 3 May 1946. Bruno Melmer was the Head of the Finance Office in «Amtsgruppe A/II» of the WVHA [SS Central Office for Economy and Administration] BAB (BDC), SS Officers files Bruno Melmer. Thoms, Albert, as of 1910 staff member of the Reichsbank, with 1923/1924, Head of the Reich Office for Precious Metals. See also Hilberg 1985, vol. 3, pp. 957 ff. It was not until November 1942 that dental gold looted from victims began arriving at the Reichsbank due to the fact that until that time it had been being used for the dental treatment of members of the SS as per request of SS Reich Physician Dr. Ernst Robert Grawitz (see Jüdisches Historisches Institut Warschau 1961, p. 404). In October, the Head of Office A of the WVHA informed Himmler that the Health Office had already received 50 kg of dental gold, sufficient for the next five years. For this reason, he wanted to ship this gold to the Reichsbank in the future in return for acknowledgment from the latter. Frank to Himmler, 8 October 1942, BAB NS 19/3929. That the practice of melting down was carried out in Poland is confirmed by the comparison of two documents, i.e., by the concluding report of the Lublin SS and Police Leader Odilo Globocnik on the economic aspect of «Operation Reinhardt» dated 5 January 1944, as well as the concluding report of the Galicia District SS and Police Leader Friedrich Katzmann on the local «solution to the Jewish question» dated 30 June 1943. According to these documents, Katzmann shipped scrap gold, earrings, dental gold etc. to Globocnik’s «Special Headquarters», while the latter’s statement of accounts showed only gold and silver bars. See Jüdisches Historisches Institut Warschau 1961, pp. 421 f. (Globocnik); Trials of Major War Criminals, vol. 37, pp. 402 f. (Nuremberg Document Nr. L-105) (Katzmann).
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Switzerland and Gold Transactions in the Second World War

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