This page last amended: 05/04/02 03:33:30
Appropriation of
Assets and Labour by the Third Reich
[Please see the note
concerning the provenance of files in this presentation]
General Sites
and Resources
U.S. and Allied Efforts To Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During World War II: Finding Aid to Records at the National Archives at College Park
Guide to Public Record Office Sources on Nazi Gold. Records in the UK National Archives.
Holocaust-Era
Assets: Records and Research at the National Archives and Records Administration
This Web presentation by the National Archives and Records Administration is primarily
directed at "helping researchers working with the original records. It's purpose is
to make known the vast quantity of original records on the topic accessible at NARA. The
finding aids and research papers focus on original, primary records at NARA and the
process of doing research at this archives. The printed and online sources are offered to
supplement the original records, to offer research background on the topic through
bibliographic citations and Weblinks to related sites, and to offer access to the records
through finding aids."
The information available is very comprehensive and should, undoubtedly, be a primary
port of call for researchers interested in these matters. It has its origins in the work
of the Interagency Group on Nazi Assets, whose report was published as U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and Restore Gold and
Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During World War II: Preliminary Study [local
server] Although the offline archive records include the bulk of data likely
to be of main interest to those engaged in primary research, for scholars who are
interested in more general aspects relating to these issues there are some useful online
materials. Particularly significant in this context are the substantial
bibliographies relating to diverse aspects of Nazi appropriation, likely to be of use to
many scholars and others interested in these matters who are not fortunate enough to be
able to travel to the NARA:
Looted Art
This site has a significant volume of interesting materials relating to the
confiscation of artistic and cultural materials. Unfortunately, the information
relating to who organises the site, its purpose, the dating of files, and similar, is
poor. As far as I can gather, it is fronted by the Koordinierungstelle der
Länder für die Rückführung von Kulturgütern, which is the (Coordination Office
of the [German] Federal States for the Return of Cultural Treasures). This
organisation collects information on artistic and cultural materials that have been
confiscated during the period 1933-1945 and the postwar aftermath, including those taken
from individuals and institutions in the vanquished Third Reich: "The
Koordinierungsstelle keeps close contact with all affected museums, libraries and archives
and collects the missing objects and the research results in a database especially
designed for this purpose."
Included in the resources available online is an international Newsletter "Spoils of War", which covers
news items on relating to these issues, special articles, country-based articles,
bibliographic lists, news reports, and similar. Unfortunately, the newsletters are
not dated, nor is their index page, so it is impossible to ascertain how frequently or
when last published. It is, however, worthwhile browsing through the resources
available. Hopefully a more adequate guide to those available here will be uploaded
in the future.
Art [See
also Occupation Policies below and Country
Policies, and Occupied Country Policies]
Switzerland and the Looted Art Trade Linked to World War
II. Switzerland Task Force. Georg Kreis
Holocaust Era Assets [See
also, Country Policies, and Occupied
Country Policies]
Historical and moral Settlement for the treatment in Norway of the economic liquidation of the Jewish minority during World War
II. White Paper to the Storting (1997-98) The Role of French Banks During WWII and its
Aftermath. Richard Weisberg Testimony of Jean-Pierre Landau On Behalf of French Banking
Association, Before the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services. US House of Representatives, September 14, 1999
International List of Current Activities
Regarding Holocaust-Era Assets
Provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, it provides information
on governmental and private attempts to trace Holocaust assets by country, forty-three
being included in the list on 25 September, 1998.
British Government's Listing of Enemy Property, Restitution of Assets to Victims of
Nazi Persecution
"The British Government has provided summary details of some 25,000 records
held at the Public Record Office in London, relating to property in the United Kingdom
seized between 1939 and 1945 from commercial organizations registered and from individuals
resident in countries with which Britain was at war. The data is searchable by Country and
Name of Owner and/or Address. The British Government has also recently published a report
by FCO historians on the history of enemy property seized during the Second World War. It
has also made an initial £2m available to fund a claims procedure to allow for
restitution of assets to victims of Nazi persecution. An independent third party, of
appropriate stature and experience, will be appointed to make an assessment of the
historians' report consulting all interested parties, and advise on the form of the
scheme. Further information will be posted on the Enemy Property site as developments
occur. The Enemy Property site can be accessed at http://www.enemyproperty.gov.uk "
Also available at this site is a link to the Stationary Office site where you
can find particulars relating to the printed volume on the London Conference on Nazi
Gold.
Insurance Policies
California Faulted on Holocaust Cases.
Washington Post, December 2, 1999
California Threatens Italy's Generali on Unpaid Holocaust
Claims. AFP, December 1, 1999
Holocaust Victims Insurance Act of 1998, State of New York
This act, along with those enacted by other States, has allowed
pressure to be brought on insurance companies operative, in the case of the
state of New York, in "Areas under Nazi influence", to settle
outstanding claims and to disclose relevant records.
Holocaust Victim Insurance
Relief Act of 1999. California Insurance Code, and Section 790.15 of the California Insurance Code.
The significant operative clause, (e) reads: "Insurance
companies doing business in the State of California have a responsibility to
ensure that any involvement they or their related companies may have had
with insurance policies of Holocaust
victims are disclosed to the state and to ensure the rapid resolution of
these questions, eliminating the further victimization of these [surviving]
policyholders and their families."
Nazi Gold
"Declassified intelligence reports reveal that Swiss banks,
particularly the Swiss National Bank, accepted gold looted from the national treasuries of
Nazi-occupied countries and from dead Jews alike, gold they either bought outright or
laundered for the Nazis before sending it on to other neutral countries. Swiss banks
supplied the foreign currency that the Third Reich needed to buy vial war material.
Swiss banks financed Nazi foreign intelligence operations by providing funds for German
front companies in Spain and Portugal. ... There is a powerful
argument that, without the considerable efforts of Swiss bankers to help keep the Nazi war
machine sufficiently funded the Second World War would have ended several years earlier...
No other neutral country played as crucial a role in keeping the Nazi war machine
rolling as Switzerland." (Adam LeBor. Hitler's Secret Bankers: The Myth of
Swiss Neutrality During the Holocaust. Birch Lane Press Group, 1997, pp.xiv-xv)
Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine
Treasure. Greg Bradsher
The Holocaust Education Trust -
Nazi Gold. Written and edited
by Jonathan Boyd and Stephen Ward, 1997
This study of Nazi Gold documents information regarding the
looting of gold and valuables during the Third Reich, from Jews and others, what happened
to this at the end of the war, and how the gold that fell into Allied hands was
distributed following an international conference held in Paris, under the terms of the
Paris Treaty, 1946. This brief study emphasises some of the critical errors that
were made which resulted in reparations to individual victims/refugees being significantly
lower than they should have been.
The file is in PDF format. If when you select the link to the document
it does not open, you probably need to download a free Acrobat Reader, available from Adobe
The Holocaust Education Trust - "Ex-Enemy Jews" - The Fate of the Assets in
Britain of Holocaust Victims and Survivors. Written and edited by Stephen
Ward and Ian Locke.1998
Explores the policies adopted by the British government in respect of
enemy assets that were deposited in British banks, particularly those of Jews who regarded
as Britain as a safe haven for funds. "By 1945 a proportion Jews who had put
their money in Britain for safe-keeping were dead, and in cases where relatives survived,
they often had no knowledge of the account. As a result they were never re-claimed.
In the ase of Germany, Rumani, Hungary and Bulgaria, the estates of
Holocaust victims went to the British creditors of these countries. In the case of
"Allied" countries, the account stayed in British banks, which have
retained any dormant accountes as effectively "interest-free loans" for 50
years. (p.6. Emphasis in original)
The file is in PDF format. If when you select the link to the document
it does not open, you probably need to download a free Acrobat Reader, available from Adobe
Switzerland and Jewish Funds
Various articles on Switzerland and Jewish Funds from the Journal deGenève. These
deal with the controversy over Jewish assets in Swiss banks andthe attitude of the Swiss
toward Jews during the period of the Third Reich. The articles also focus on the
sources of US policy respecting payments that should be made by Swiss banks to Holocaust
survivors.
Switzerland-Second World War
Excellent series of files dealing with varied aspects
of Swiss governmental policy during the Second World War and subsequently, arranged by the
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. It includes information on Swiss neutrality,
refugee issues, financial and economic questions, matters relating to Nazi and other gold
deposited in Swiss banks, and post-war agreements relating to the disposition of various
matters arising out of the international conflict. Although, understandably, the approach
tends toward putting a positive gloss on many issues, particularly those relating to
more controversial issues, there are many useful links to files relating to international
agreements and those containing details on a wide range of policies.
Preliminary Study on U.S. and Allied
Efforts To Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During
World War II May 1997. Coordinated by Stuart E.
Eizenstat. Prepared by William Z. Slany, The Historian Department of State.
This lengthy report deals in considerable depth with how Nazi Germany
exprorpriated vast quantities of bullion from central and other banks of occupied
countries, and from their civilian populations, and dwells in detail also on the
enrichment of the Third Reich and some of its functionaries from assets confiscated from
the Jewish populations of occupied Europe. It also details the efforts by the United
States and other powers to recover some of these assets and distribute them to states and
individuals. It needs to be emphasised that it is largely through the efforts of
individuals, politicians, organisations, and government departments and agencies in the
United States that recently compensation to victims of the Holocaust from Swiss banks and
prominent corporations have been agreed. Pressure built up in the United States on these
issues has undoubtedly also been a compelling factor persuading other countries to review
policies about these issues, including the British government.
"The report documents one of the greatest thefts by a government in
history: the
confiscation by Nazi Germany of an estimated $580 million of central bank gold¾around
$5.6
billion in today's values¾along with indeterminate amounts in other assets during World
War II.
These goods were stolen from governments and civilians in the countries Germany overran
and
from Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Nazis alike, including Jews murdered in
extermination camps, from whom everything was taken down to the gold fillings of their
teeth."
U.S. and Allied Wartime
and Postwar Relations and Negotiations With Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey
on Looted Gold and German External Assets and U.S. Concerns About the Fate of the Wartime
Ustasha Treasury
Closing Plenary Statement at the
London Conference on Nazi Gold, December 4, 1997. US Under
Secretary Stuart Eizenstat
Vatican Faces Lawsuit for Alleged Nazi-Era War
Crimes. CNSNews, 23 November 1999
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Vatican
Bank Alleges Complicity in Holocaust Era War Crimes. PRWeb, November 20, 1999
Occupation Policies
Secured Objects of Art in the Government-General [Poland]
, [no date available]
Himmler Decree Concerning Procedures for
Confiscation of Works of Art, Archives and Documents, 1 December 1939
Copy of Letter from Keitel to Commanding General,
Netherlands, Concerning Cooperation with Einsatzstab Rosenberg, 5 July 1940
Order Concerning Treatment of Property of Nationals of
the Former Polish State, 17 September 1940
Copy of Order from Keitel to Chief Army High Command
Occupied France Concerning Ownership Tranfers of Libraries and Possessions, 17
September 1940
Goering Order Concerning Distribution of Jewish Art
Treasures, 5 November 1940
Seizure of Cultural Items by Einsatzstab Rosenberg,
September 1940/January 1941
Report from Rosenberg to Hitler Concerning Shipment
of Jewish Property, 20 March 1941
Goering Order Requesting Cooperation with
Einsatzstab Rosenberg, 1 May 1941
Rosenberg Order Concerning Establishment and Role of
Einsatzstab in Eastern Occupied Territories, 20 August 1941
Communication from the Commissar for White Ruthenia,
Kube, to Rosenberg, Concerning Appropriation of Cultural Objects by the SS and the
Wehrmacht, 29 September 1941
Memorandum from Rosenberg to Hitler Concerning Jewish
Possessions in France, 18 December 1941
Hitler Order, 1 March 1942, Establishing Authority of
Einsatzstab Rosenberg
Rosenberg Order, 7 April 1942, Concerning Safeguarding
of Cultural Goods, etc
Rosenberg Order, 27 April 1942, for Formation of
Central Unit for Seizure of Art Treasures in Occupied Eastern Territories
Correspondence between Alfred Rosenberg and Hermann
Goering relating to Einsatzstab Rosenberg, 30 May 1942-11 January 1943
Letter from Lammers to High State and Party
Authorities, 5 July 1942, Confirming Rosenberg's Powers
Einsatzstab Rosenberg Administrative Regulations 30
September 1942
Rosenberg Memorandum Concerning Action "M",
Redistribution of Confiscated Jewish Property to Bomb-Damaged Persons in the Reich, 3
October 1942
Rosenberg Letter and Report to Hitler on Progress in
Appropriating and Cataloguing Art Treasures, Primarily from Jewish Owners in France,
16 April 1943
Supervision by Ministry of Eastern
Territories over Appropriated Cultural Objects, 17 May 1944 (1107-PS)
Rosenberg Letter to Seyss-Inquart Concerning Removal
of Marxism Library from Amsterdam to the Reich, 11 September 1944
Correspondence Concerning Art Works Seized in the
Ukraine and Fuehrer Decree, 12 September 1944
Library for Exploration of the Jewish Question
"Hohe Schule", District Office, Frankfurt/ Main. Undated
Report on Einsatzstab Rosenberg Working Group in the
Occupied Western Territories and the Netherlands (Undated/1940-41?)
Individual Responsibility of Alfred Rosenberg,
Nuremberg Tribunal Charges, 1945
Artur Seyss-Inquart, Nuremberg Indictment Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV (Parts
III and IV deal with policies relating to occupied countries, Poland and the Netherlands)
Third Reich
Decree for the Reporting of Jewish
Owned Property of 26 April 1938
Stenographic Report of the Meeting on "The Jewish
Question" Under the Chairmanship of Field Marshall Goering in the Reichs Air Force.
12 November 1938. Part I, Part II
Missing from Original, Part III, Part IV Missing from
Original, Part V, Part VI Missing from Original, Part VII
Regulations Concerning Jewish Housing and
Property, 28 December 1938
Report of Goering Inquiry into
Aryanization in the Gau of Franconia, 1939 |