During the years running up to WW2 and throughout the years of the war, the Nazis amassed vast wealth and art treasure looted throughout Europe.
It has been estimated that they stole approximately
$550m in gold from Belgium banks and
$193 from the financial institutions of the Netherlands alone.
This is in addition to the gold and artworks stolen from private citizens and companies. To this day, the whereabouts of a lot of the Nazi loot and the total value of assets stolen by Nazi Germany remains unknown.
There are numerous conspiracy theories about the missing bank vault gold.
The Swiss National Bank allegedly was used to store most of it and some people have claimed that it was subsequently transferred to the Vatican -
unsurprisingly they have always denied this.
The Nazi War machine spent some of it in Portugal because the German armaments industry was dependant on
tungsten - a vital metal produced in Portugal.
Because the Portuguese were, neutral they could trade with both sides but when the Germans started passing counterfeit cash, in 1941 Portuguese leader
Antonio de Oliveiera demanded all further payments in gold. This probably accounted for some of it.
Although this is interesting, large financial establishments are impossible to penetrate and it seems likely that the truth will never be known. However, some smaller hoards remain un found and intrigue treasure hunters some 70 years on.
Stolpsee Lake is situated about an hour’s drive north of Berlin in the former East Germany and is the site of a well known treasure hoard. In 1945,
Herman Goering emptied his home of loot and art works before ordering it to be dynamited because the Red army were advancing.
Goering is alleged to have personally taken charge of numerous amounts of bullion from the national bank of Poland following the Nazi invasion in 1939 and apparently ordered 18 boxes of gold to be thrown in nearby
Stolpsee lake - only a few miles from his home.
Although The Polish prisoners who followed the order were subsequently shot some local people did witness the dumping of the boxes.
In 1986, before German reunification the Stasi ordered a trawl of the lake but found nothing. Last year a group of German businessmen started searching the lake. So far, if they have found anything, they are keeping quiet about it.
Treasure hunters also believe that
Lake Toplitz, 60 miles from
Salzburg in Austria may contain millions of pounds in bullion and treasure. Nazi scientists used it as a test site for explosives so may have been a good hiding place for Nazi loot.
The Austrian Alps are also believed to house lost Nazi treasure following the discovery of a network of tunnels built to store supplies and materials and provide a safe place for a last ditch stand.
One of the oddest Nazi gold stories is the tale of a U-boat crew who supposedly buried a fortune in gold bullion on
Auckland Island, which lies approximately 200 miles south of the coast of New Zealand.
The tiny Auckland Island has been so carefully picked over by treasure hunters,
if there was anything there; it is certainly not there now.
