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World War II allies attacked at Nazi gold conference
December 3, 1997
Participants arrive for the second day of the conference
Web posted at: 3:45 p.m. EST (2045 GMT)LONDON (CNN) -- World War II allies France, Britain and the United States knowingly used gold stolen by the Nazis from individuals to repay looted European central banks after the war, the World Jewish Congress claimed Wednesday. But Britain immediately denied the allegation.
Britain, France and the United States set up the Tripartite Gold Commission after World War II to return looted gold to 10 countries whose treasuries had been sacked when Nazi Germany's troops swept across Europe. The commission has returned all but 5.5 tons of the 337 tons it recovered to central banks, but none to individuals.
The World Jewish Congress based its allegations on a document that it said its researchers discovered about two months ago in the U.S. National Archives. The document was marked "secret" and dated from 1949 or 1950, according to the group's executive director, Elan Steinberg.
Steinberg told the conference that the document clearly showed that 50 to 60 tons of the Nazi gold the Allies received belonged to "private persons."
Steinberg said the gold was worth about $500 million at today's value and should have been paid back to Holocaust survivors rather than to national banks.
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Britain objects
Representatives of Britain and the United States Britain immediately rejected the accusations. "If any monetary gold (from national banks) was mixed with non-monetary gold (from individuals), it is impossible to say how much that might have been. It could only have been a very small amount," said Francis Richards, the head of the British delegation.
"We want the archives open," Steinberg told reporters on the second day of the Nazi Gold Conference, which is being attended by representatives from more than 40 nations. He said Jewish groups could only finalize their compensation claims when they had the commission's full accounts of where the gold came from.
Aims of the London gold conference: To pool available knowledge on the historical facts relating to gold looted from the Nazis from both countries and individuals. To examine steps taken hitherto to reimburse countries and compensate individual victims. To examine the case for further compensation of individuals or reimbursement of countries. However, both Britain and France say they want to wait until the commission has distributed the remaining 5.5 tons of gold before considering the move.
Horst Moller of the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, Germany, told the conference on Tuesday that many German records on Nazi gold transfers were accessible in the West but were lost or scattered within his country.
Moller said that in order to produce a "truly comprehensive picture" of the movement of Nazi gold, all records from Swiss private banks, from Germany's allies, from the countries it occupied, and from neutral countries -- especially Sweden, Portugal, Spain and Turkey -- must be declassified.
Correspondent Siobhan Darrow, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Swiss fund starts paying Holocaust victims - November 18, 1997
- Swiss banks publicize more dormant Nazi-era accounts - October 29, 1997
- California asked to lift sanctions on Swiss banks - October 24, 1997
- Swiss banks publish dormant WWII-era accounts - July 23, 1997
- Vatican drawn into scandal over Nazi-era gold - July 22, 1997
Related sites:
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- FCO - Nazi Gold
- Simon Wiesenthal Center
- Swiss banks dormant accounts site
- The ITA Pressroom/U.S. Efforts to Seek Justice for Victims of the Holocaust - from the Office of Media Affairs, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce
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