Holocaust Gold From The Victims to Switzerland: The Paths of the Nazi Plunder

Amid the severe devastation wrought by the Second World War, the economic implications of the Nazi regime is a subject that has come to light only in recent years. Holocaust Gold by Raul Teitelbaum and Moshe Sanbar is an important and revealing contribution to this growing body of historical research. Tracing the path of Nazi looting and plunder, Sanbar and Teitelbaum identify and elaborate the complexities of this sensitive issue, and the difficulties in seeking justice half a century later. The lack of German documentation of the gold looted from individuals – combined with a host of contributing factors that include politics and the role of the media – ensures that the issue of Nazi gold be so difficult and painful to reconcile. The authors explore the role of ‘neutral’ Switzerland and the systematic effort by Swiss leaders to blur the tracks of the gold that reached the vaults of the Nazi Reichsbank. A detailed chapter features an expose of the little-known Vreneli the minting of Vreneli gold coins on an unprecedented scale, and the sale of these coins to the general public in order to shrink the enormous gold stocks Switzerland amassed during the war. Holocaust Gold also uncovers several fascinating and telling pieces of information, including the story of Himmler’s mistress who was assured a luxurious lifestyle after the war, and how SS officials used gold extracted from the mouths of their victims for their own dental work. This book is comprehensive and impressive, providing a historical and economic framework in which to contemplate the magnitude of the Nazi looting and the subsequent cover-ups. The authors condemn the Swiss authorities, convincingly contending that the $1.25 billion that the major Swiss commercial banks pledged to the victims of the Holocaust totally disregards the active role the Swiss Central Bank and Swiss government played in this devastating affair. Holocaust Gold is both courageous and insightful, exploring a shameful economic history and policy to which the world has only recently awoken.