Switzerland and Gold Transactions in the Second World War

Interim Report on Gold 44 Chapter 1
of research, such transfers in which the Reichsbank shipped gold from Berlin to Switzerland –
most probably acting upon orders received from the Soviet national bank – represented roughly
34,149 kg fine gold or the equivalent of $ 38.4 million (SFr. 166.3 million). The comments to
Table II, to positions V/1 and V/3, and the remarks made at the end of Chapter 2.3.1 give a more
detailed explanation about the sources and the background of these gold transactions of Soviet
origin. It is possible that the Reichsbank purchased at least a part of this gold for itself prior to
transferring it to Switzerland.
V. Reserves at the End of the War. The gold remaining in the possession of the Reichsbank at
the time of Germany’s capitulation can be considered as the final balance for accounting
purposes. Toward the end of the war, the Reichsbank began hiding its gold in Germany and
Austria to protect it from Allied air raids. Most of this gold was secured by the Allies.
V/1. Gold Recovered in Germany. In the spring of 1945, the Reichsbank transferred almost all of its
holdings from Berlin to Merkers/Thuringia. They were seized in a mine on 15 April 1945 by US
troops. Smaller amounts were found in branch offices of the Reichsbank in Germany and at
German embassies abroad. The Western Allies recovered $ 265.6 million of gold in Germany and
centralized it in Frankfurt am Main. Here it was sorted and counted by the Foreign Exchange
Depository, a division of the US Military Administration and, after the founding of the Tripartite
Commission for the Restitution of Monetary Gold, was administered on its behalf. 102 Gold of the
Federal Foreign Office coming from Italy is not listed here. 103
V/2. Gold Recovered in Austria. American military forces secured gold valued at $33.3 million in
Spital am Pyhrn which had been evacuated from the Hungarian National Bank. 104
VI. Gold Shipped Abroad. Germany’s desire for gold stemmed from its need for foreign
exchange, both to buy goods – especially war materials – and to make payments abroad. These
payments were for items such as diplomatic representation, postal charges, and travel
expenses, as well as costs for propaganda and espionage.
VI/1. Swiss Banks. The most important recipient of German gold was Switzerland, which was able to
provide the Germans not only with goods such as machinery and armaments, but also with Swiss
francs. The Swiss banks also served as conduits for transferring German gold to third parties,
especially Spain, Portugal, and Sweden. The Swiss commercial banks were used by Germany as
late as the spring of 1941 to make substantial dollar payments to the USSR and to the United
States, as well as smaller payments to Japan and China. 105 Swiss banks received $444.1 million in
gold. 106 Gold shipments to the Swiss National Bank were relatively small at the beginning of 1940,
and reached a peak in 1943. After the beginning of 1944, deliveries to Bern declined rapidly, and
by 1945 no gold was shipped directly from Berlin to the Swiss National Bank (there was one
102 US National Archives, RG 260, Finance, Box 469, Register of Valuables in the Custody of the Foreign Exchange
Depository; Fletcher Memorandum. The difference in the sum totals in the Commission’s working paper of 1 December
1997 results from the fact that holdings transported from Italy to Germany were no longer listed separately but rather as
a part of this position. Documents consulted in the meantime have made it possible to determine more exactly the way
in which holdings were divided between the Reichsbank and the Federal Foreign Office.
103 See II/3 of the Comments to this Table.
104 Fletcher Memorandum.
105 A memorandum from Knoke, Vice-President of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, mentions $558,008 which was
paid through the Swiss Bank Corporation in March 1941 for US exports of petroleum to Germany. Federal Reserve
Bank of New York Archives, File C261 Germany-Reichsbank, Memo to File from L. W. Knoke, 7 July 1941.
106 Reichsbank Ledgers, US National Archives. The shipment from Constance of April 1945 to the SNB was added to this
($3.6 million). SNB Archives, gold transactions for its own account 1939–1945, 4 March 1997.