1 00:00:03,833 --> 00:00:05,874 Tonight, as the Allies 2 00:00:05,875 --> 00:00:08,999 sweep through the Sahara during World War II, 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,874 General Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, 4 00:00:11,875 --> 00:00:13,957 is suddenly on the run. 5 00:00:13,958 --> 00:00:15,707 While Rommel is getting 6 00:00:15,708 --> 00:00:17,332 pummeled by Allied forces, 7 00:00:17,333 --> 00:00:19,916 the Germans make a desperate dash to the coast 8 00:00:19,917 --> 00:00:22,666 to protect their men, but also stolen gold. 9 00:00:22,667 --> 00:00:25,666 The Nazis take tens of millions of dollars 10 00:00:25,667 --> 00:00:28,666 in gold and treasures from the Jews in North Africa. 11 00:00:28,667 --> 00:00:31,541 Rommel has to send this gold back to Berlin 12 00:00:31,542 --> 00:00:33,791 or he is gonna face Hitler's wrath. 13 00:00:33,792 --> 00:00:35,832 But when the German surrender, 14 00:00:35,833 --> 00:00:40,249 Rommel's $50 million in gold is nowhere to be found. 15 00:00:40,250 --> 00:00:42,624 One of the most vicious organized crime operations 16 00:00:42,625 --> 00:00:44,207 in all of Southern Europe 17 00:00:44,208 --> 00:00:47,082 becomes intensely interested in these rumors 18 00:00:47,083 --> 00:00:49,999 about treasure just off the coast of Corsica. 19 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,166 There is speculation that this stolen treasure 20 00:00:53,167 --> 00:00:55,457 may have never left Northern Africa at all. 21 00:00:55,458 --> 00:00:57,916 If Rommel knows where the gold is, 22 00:00:57,917 --> 00:01:00,207 the secret goes with him to the grave. 23 00:01:00,208 --> 00:01:02,874 Now we explore the top theories 24 00:01:02,875 --> 00:01:04,374 behind the missing treasure 25 00:01:04,375 --> 00:01:08,375 and ask what really became of Rommel's gold. 26 00:01:22,458 --> 00:01:24,541 It's December, 1940 27 00:01:24,542 --> 00:01:28,041 and the North African campaign of World War II 28 00:01:28,042 --> 00:01:31,332 isn't going well for the Axis powers. 29 00:01:31,333 --> 00:01:35,541 Italian forces had stormed into Egypt a few months earlier 30 00:01:35,542 --> 00:01:38,582 hoping to defeat the British troops there, 31 00:01:38,583 --> 00:01:41,749 but instead, the Italians are getting pummeled 32 00:01:41,750 --> 00:01:43,457 in the Sahara Desert. 33 00:01:43,458 --> 00:01:45,999 By early 1941, Allied forces 34 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,374 take down nine Italian divisions. 35 00:01:48,375 --> 00:01:51,083 They capture 130,000 men. 36 00:01:51,208 --> 00:01:54,374 For Hitler, any sort of setback 37 00:01:54,375 --> 00:01:56,541 that happens to the Italians 38 00:01:56,542 --> 00:01:57,707 in North Africa 39 00:01:57,708 --> 00:01:59,874 is essentially threatening Hitler's plan 40 00:01:59,875 --> 00:02:03,333 to seize control of the southern Mediterranean. 41 00:02:03,708 --> 00:02:07,332 Hitler becomes furious at these losses 42 00:02:07,333 --> 00:02:08,957 that are happening to the Italians in North Africa, 43 00:02:08,958 --> 00:02:14,208 so he calls in one of his aces, General Erwin Rommel. 44 00:02:16,625 --> 00:02:20,749 Rommel is very popular in the military and in Germany. 45 00:02:20,750 --> 00:02:24,250 He has a legacy of success from serving in World War I 46 00:02:25,333 --> 00:02:27,707 and he was one of the German officers 47 00:02:27,708 --> 00:02:31,124 responsible for what we know as the Blitzkrieg. 48 00:02:35,417 --> 00:02:37,791 The term blitzkrieg means lightning war, 49 00:02:37,792 --> 00:02:41,541 and that's because it doesn't rely on brute force, 50 00:02:41,542 --> 00:02:44,332 but instead speed and precision. 51 00:02:44,333 --> 00:02:45,541 Instead of pounding endlessly 52 00:02:45,542 --> 00:02:47,624 against the enemy's front lines, 53 00:02:47,625 --> 00:02:52,082 this tactic employed by Rommel would identify a weak point, 54 00:02:52,083 --> 00:02:53,749 create a breakthrough at that weak point, 55 00:02:53,750 --> 00:02:55,332 which will have the effect 56 00:02:55,333 --> 00:02:57,999 of disrupting command centers, splitting divisions, 57 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,332 and devastating communications before the enemy can react. 58 00:03:01,333 --> 00:03:03,791 In June of 1940, Rommel used 59 00:03:03,792 --> 00:03:07,707 these blitzkrieg tactics against the French successfully, 60 00:03:07,708 --> 00:03:10,207 which only strengthened his popularity 61 00:03:10,208 --> 00:03:12,499 as a leader on the battlefield. 62 00:03:12,500 --> 00:03:14,332 Hitler wastes no time 63 00:03:14,333 --> 00:03:16,749 deploying Rommel to North Africa, 64 00:03:16,750 --> 00:03:18,291 appointing him commander 65 00:03:18,292 --> 00:03:21,957 of the German military's newly formed Afrika Korps. 66 00:03:23,250 --> 00:03:26,499 Rommel arrives in Libya in 1941 67 00:03:26,500 --> 00:03:30,999 and initially they just hold a defensive line, 68 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,124 but he starts employing these blitzkrieg tactics 69 00:03:35,125 --> 00:03:37,582 to take out the British Army 70 00:03:37,583 --> 00:03:40,041 and to take out British forces and Allied forces 71 00:03:40,042 --> 00:03:41,582 and make inroads on that war. 72 00:03:41,583 --> 00:03:43,624 And because of his successes, 73 00:03:43,625 --> 00:03:46,833 he actually earns the nickname the Desert Fox. 74 00:03:47,792 --> 00:03:51,208 Behind the front lines of Rommel's Afrika Korps, 75 00:03:52,125 --> 00:03:56,707 another team is created with a whole different goal, 76 00:03:56,708 --> 00:04:01,082 which is to essentially carry out the Holocaust 77 00:04:01,083 --> 00:04:04,707 on the roughly 400,000 Jews 78 00:04:04,708 --> 00:04:08,249 that are living in the North African region. 79 00:04:08,250 --> 00:04:11,791 Following the same brutal pattern 80 00:04:11,792 --> 00:04:13,541 seen across Europe 81 00:04:13,542 --> 00:04:16,124 as the Nazis persecute the Jews, 82 00:04:16,125 --> 00:04:18,207 they also steal their wealth 83 00:04:18,208 --> 00:04:19,791 and that lays the groundwork 84 00:04:19,792 --> 00:04:21,667 for what's known as Rommel's gold. 85 00:04:23,208 --> 00:04:24,666 The Germans target one of 86 00:04:24,667 --> 00:04:26,749 the oldest Jewish communities in the entire world, 87 00:04:26,750 --> 00:04:29,707 a community that's over 2,000 years old, 88 00:04:29,708 --> 00:04:33,374 an island off the coast of Tunisia, known as Djerba. 89 00:04:33,375 --> 00:04:35,541 For centuries, Djerba's Jewish population 90 00:04:35,542 --> 00:04:37,707 has been known for goldsmithing and jewelry making, 91 00:04:37,708 --> 00:04:40,249 which has produced a treasure trove 92 00:04:40,250 --> 00:04:42,666 that has been passed down through generations. 93 00:04:42,667 --> 00:04:46,791 In January, 1943, the Nazis storm Djerba 94 00:04:46,792 --> 00:04:49,707 and begin their ruthless plunder. 95 00:04:49,708 --> 00:04:51,249 They get into the heart of the city 96 00:04:51,250 --> 00:04:53,707 and the primary synagogue 97 00:04:53,708 --> 00:04:55,999 and they see the wealth around them. 98 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:57,874 They go in and take everything. 99 00:04:59,542 --> 00:05:01,207 The Jews are stripped of all their rights. 100 00:05:01,208 --> 00:05:02,666 And if that weren't enough, 101 00:05:02,667 --> 00:05:05,541 they send the Jewish population 102 00:05:05,542 --> 00:05:09,207 to newly created labor camps in North Africa. 103 00:05:09,208 --> 00:05:13,207 So now that we have the military campaign in North Africa, 104 00:05:13,208 --> 00:05:15,750 we also have the Holocaust as well. 105 00:05:17,125 --> 00:05:18,916 It's believed that at Djerba, 106 00:05:18,917 --> 00:05:21,499 the Nazis steal tens of millions of dollars 107 00:05:21,500 --> 00:05:22,916 in today's money, 108 00:05:22,917 --> 00:05:24,791 and that's not including the countless millions 109 00:05:24,792 --> 00:05:27,041 that have already been stolen from North Africa. 110 00:05:27,042 --> 00:05:29,874 Rommel's domination of North Africa 111 00:05:29,875 --> 00:05:31,332 doesn't last long. 112 00:05:31,333 --> 00:05:33,457 By early March of 1943, 113 00:05:33,458 --> 00:05:35,541 the Allies have forced the Desert Fox 114 00:05:35,542 --> 00:05:37,832 and his Afrika Korps to retreat. 115 00:05:37,833 --> 00:05:41,207 It's one of the Allies' first major victories 116 00:05:41,208 --> 00:05:42,417 of World War II. 117 00:05:43,417 --> 00:05:44,957 Not long after the retreat, though, 118 00:05:44,958 --> 00:05:48,207 Rommel leaves Africa for good. 119 00:05:48,208 --> 00:05:50,791 As to the fate of all the gold 120 00:05:50,792 --> 00:05:53,499 that was stolen from the Jews of North Africa, 121 00:05:53,500 --> 00:05:55,166 it's unaccounted for. 122 00:05:55,167 --> 00:05:58,207 There are some rumors that there might be a hoard of gold 123 00:05:58,208 --> 00:05:59,624 somewhere within the realm 124 00:05:59,625 --> 00:06:02,874 of about $57 million in today's money 125 00:06:02,875 --> 00:06:06,541 that still is out there somewhere 126 00:06:06,542 --> 00:06:08,541 waiting for someone to find it. 127 00:06:08,542 --> 00:06:09,749 People have launched expeditions, 128 00:06:09,750 --> 00:06:11,707 some have even reportedly died 129 00:06:11,708 --> 00:06:13,374 trying to go on the hunt for this. 130 00:06:13,375 --> 00:06:14,582 but it's still a big mystery 131 00:06:14,583 --> 00:06:17,000 and no one knows where Rommel's gold is. 132 00:06:17,375 --> 00:06:19,541 80 years after the war, people are still trying 133 00:06:19,542 --> 00:06:21,582 to find this secret resting place 134 00:06:21,583 --> 00:06:24,624 of all of this stolen gold and treasure, 135 00:06:24,625 --> 00:06:27,541 and some people believe that the answer lies 136 00:06:27,542 --> 00:06:30,166 in studying Rommel's battlefield tactics. 137 00:06:35,458 --> 00:06:38,624 In June, 1942, Rommel is on the move 138 00:06:38,625 --> 00:06:40,207 and he's crossing into Egypt 139 00:06:40,208 --> 00:06:42,042 and going towards the Suez Canal. 140 00:06:43,583 --> 00:06:46,041 The Suez Canal is very important for the Allied forces. 141 00:06:46,042 --> 00:06:48,499 This really powers the British military, 142 00:06:48,500 --> 00:06:51,124 everything from oil, munitions, gasoline, 143 00:06:51,125 --> 00:06:55,041 and so this is a very strategic marker for the Axis here. 144 00:06:55,042 --> 00:06:56,374 Ultimately, Rommel's objective 145 00:06:56,375 --> 00:06:57,832 in the North African campaign 146 00:06:57,833 --> 00:07:01,082 is to advance on Alexandria and seize the Suez Canal. 147 00:07:01,083 --> 00:07:04,707 Doing so will cut the British off from their colonies 148 00:07:04,708 --> 00:07:06,541 and sever their supply lines, 149 00:07:06,542 --> 00:07:09,041 and then it will provide Germany access 150 00:07:09,042 --> 00:07:10,457 to an oil-rich region. 151 00:07:10,458 --> 00:07:13,666 Suddenly, the Afrika Korps begins defeating 152 00:07:13,667 --> 00:07:17,166 the British 8th Army driving it back into Egypt 153 00:07:17,167 --> 00:07:19,666 and Rommel seems unstoppable. 154 00:07:19,667 --> 00:07:21,999 But Rommel's rapidly advancing army 155 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,707 has a major problem: 156 00:07:23,708 --> 00:07:26,666 it's moving way too fast. 157 00:07:26,667 --> 00:07:28,916 Rommel's blitzkrieg attacks are so fast 158 00:07:28,917 --> 00:07:31,291 that sometimes he runs out of supplies 159 00:07:31,292 --> 00:07:33,541 before he makes it to the front lines. 160 00:07:33,542 --> 00:07:36,707 He runs out of munitions and even drinkable water. 161 00:07:36,708 --> 00:07:39,499 If he can't restock his supplies quickly enough, 162 00:07:39,500 --> 00:07:41,499 he can't make it to the Suez Canal. 163 00:07:41,500 --> 00:07:43,416 So Rommel makes this desperate plea 164 00:07:43,417 --> 00:07:45,332 to the Nazi high command. 165 00:07:45,333 --> 00:07:46,874 He reaches out to Berlin 166 00:07:46,875 --> 00:07:50,041 and asks for these urgent reinforcements. 167 00:07:50,042 --> 00:07:53,749 Hitler says he's gonna send them, but they never arrive. 168 00:07:53,750 --> 00:07:55,832 This leaves Rommel and his inner circle 169 00:07:55,833 --> 00:07:58,874 to suspect that maybe Hitler 170 00:07:58,875 --> 00:08:01,207 and the Nazi leadership in Berlin 171 00:08:01,208 --> 00:08:04,583 are jealous of Rommel's success in North Africa. 172 00:08:05,833 --> 00:08:08,416 Rommel makes another plea directly to Hitler, 173 00:08:08,417 --> 00:08:12,082 and Hitler says that he is going to send the supplies to him 174 00:08:12,083 --> 00:08:14,041 and they still never come. 175 00:08:14,042 --> 00:08:15,832 Almost out of supplies, 176 00:08:15,833 --> 00:08:19,957 surrounded by enemy forces and rapidly losing ground, 177 00:08:19,958 --> 00:08:22,707 Rommel seems to be out of options, 178 00:08:22,708 --> 00:08:25,832 but somehow the Desert Fox strikes back 179 00:08:25,833 --> 00:08:28,249 winning what many historians call 180 00:08:28,250 --> 00:08:31,374 one of the most improbable Axis victories 181 00:08:31,375 --> 00:08:34,166 of the North African campaign. 182 00:08:34,167 --> 00:08:36,249 In February, 1943, 183 00:08:36,250 --> 00:08:38,624 Rommel launches a surprise attack 184 00:08:38,625 --> 00:08:40,832 that culminates in an action 185 00:08:40,833 --> 00:08:42,624 at a mountain pass in central Tunisia 186 00:08:42,625 --> 00:08:44,374 near the town of Kasserine. 187 00:08:44,375 --> 00:08:46,832 Despite being undersupplied, 188 00:08:46,833 --> 00:08:48,707 Rommel nevertheless takes on 189 00:08:48,708 --> 00:08:51,124 two American divisions, defeats them, 190 00:08:51,125 --> 00:08:55,957 he causes over 6,000 American casualties during the action, 191 00:08:55,958 --> 00:08:58,291 he takes 3,000 American prisoners, 192 00:08:58,292 --> 00:09:00,499 he kills 1,000 Americans in combat, 193 00:09:00,500 --> 00:09:04,041 he destroys 183 armored fighting vehicles 194 00:09:04,042 --> 00:09:07,416 and captures dozens of pieces of field artillery 195 00:09:07,417 --> 00:09:08,999 in the first battle 196 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,749 in which the American military fights Nazi Germany 197 00:09:11,750 --> 00:09:12,999 during World War II. 198 00:09:13,708 --> 00:09:14,832 It turns out to be 199 00:09:14,833 --> 00:09:17,291 Rommel's last major victory in the war, 200 00:09:17,292 --> 00:09:20,416 and it's one that leaves the Allied commanders stumped. 201 00:09:20,417 --> 00:09:21,999 I mean, how did he do it? 202 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,041 Just days earlier, his men were in retreat 203 00:09:25,042 --> 00:09:27,250 and he was seriously undersupplied. 204 00:09:28,667 --> 00:09:30,749 What some historians believe Rommel does 205 00:09:30,750 --> 00:09:34,832 is, in order to rev up his war machine, 206 00:09:34,833 --> 00:09:37,499 he uses some of the stolen gold 207 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:40,582 and other items to barter for resources 208 00:09:40,583 --> 00:09:44,374 for items that he needs to continue fighting. 209 00:09:44,375 --> 00:09:45,667 The timing is curious 210 00:09:45,792 --> 00:09:47,541 because the Battle of Kasserine Pass takes place 211 00:09:47,542 --> 00:09:51,374 just days after he's stolen all of this loot from Djerba 212 00:09:51,375 --> 00:09:53,624 so maybe it's not a coincidence. 213 00:09:53,625 --> 00:09:55,582 Some argue that this victory 214 00:09:55,583 --> 00:09:57,707 had nothing to do with the stolen gold, 215 00:09:57,708 --> 00:10:00,457 that any gold that was expropriated 216 00:10:00,458 --> 00:10:01,791 from the Jews of Djerba 217 00:10:01,792 --> 00:10:03,874 would've just been sent back to Berlin, 218 00:10:03,875 --> 00:10:06,874 and the victory was produced in its entirety 219 00:10:06,875 --> 00:10:10,291 by Rommel's skill as a battlefield commander. 220 00:10:10,292 --> 00:10:15,374 But the fact of Rommel's unlikely win 221 00:10:15,375 --> 00:10:17,332 and the missing treasure 222 00:10:17,333 --> 00:10:21,416 leads some to wonder whether Rommel used the Djerban's gold 223 00:10:21,417 --> 00:10:23,250 to fund one last strike. 224 00:10:29,208 --> 00:10:31,082 As the Nazi commander of his Afrika Korps, 225 00:10:31,083 --> 00:10:32,541 Erwin Rommel directed his subordinates 226 00:10:32,542 --> 00:10:35,916 to plunder riches from North Africa's Jewish communities. 227 00:10:35,917 --> 00:10:37,166 Rommel himself wasn't the one 228 00:10:37,167 --> 00:10:39,791 personally overseeing all this looting, 229 00:10:39,792 --> 00:10:42,291 that was someone else entirely. 230 00:10:42,292 --> 00:10:45,249 Some historians insist that he is the one 231 00:10:45,250 --> 00:10:48,582 who knows what happened to the missing treasure. 232 00:10:48,583 --> 00:10:51,541 His name is Walter Rauff. 233 00:10:53,125 --> 00:10:55,791 Walter Rauff is a notorious member of the SS, 234 00:10:55,792 --> 00:10:57,499 he's a good friend of Hitler's 235 00:10:57,500 --> 00:10:58,791 and he is one of the architects 236 00:10:58,792 --> 00:11:01,208 of the final solution or the Holocaust. 237 00:11:02,042 --> 00:11:05,874 Rauff is also the man that is known for inventing 238 00:11:05,875 --> 00:11:09,167 a nefarious device known as the gassing van. 239 00:11:09,875 --> 00:11:14,332 It's a van with a airtight rear that's outfitted 240 00:11:14,333 --> 00:11:15,999 with an exhaust pipe 241 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,999 that feeds right back into the container. 242 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,332 And so all of this carbon monoxide 243 00:11:21,333 --> 00:11:24,207 would essentially just be pumped into the back of this van. 244 00:11:24,208 --> 00:11:26,374 Anybody that was inside is now dead. 245 00:11:26,375 --> 00:11:30,791 And it's believed that these gassing vans were used 246 00:11:30,792 --> 00:11:34,833 to kill thousands of Jews during World War II. 247 00:11:36,917 --> 00:11:39,374 In 1942, Rauff arrives in Northern Africa 248 00:11:39,375 --> 00:11:42,541 and in coordination with Rommel's Afrika Korps, 249 00:11:42,542 --> 00:11:44,416 he sets his sights on the region's Jews 250 00:11:44,417 --> 00:11:45,624 and he starts conducting 251 00:11:45,625 --> 00:11:47,624 what the Nazis call executive measures. 252 00:11:47,625 --> 00:11:49,457 And those are effectively torture campaigns 253 00:11:49,458 --> 00:11:53,499 where they go town to town, city by city, and pillage. 254 00:11:53,500 --> 00:11:54,791 Under Rauff's command, 255 00:11:54,792 --> 00:11:58,041 the SS sets up a network of forced labor camps. 256 00:11:58,042 --> 00:12:01,999 More than 2,500 Jews would later die at these camps. 257 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:03,499 He and other Nazi officials 258 00:12:03,500 --> 00:12:05,582 are kind of adhering to this rule 259 00:12:05,583 --> 00:12:07,332 that when you conquer someone, 260 00:12:07,333 --> 00:12:11,207 you are bringing all of their wealth back to Germany. 261 00:12:11,208 --> 00:12:13,749 The idea here is to rob from the conquered 262 00:12:13,750 --> 00:12:15,874 to fund the German war machine. 263 00:12:15,875 --> 00:12:18,082 Their objective becomes extracting wealth 264 00:12:18,083 --> 00:12:20,457 from any and all conquered territories 265 00:12:20,458 --> 00:12:23,375 so that that wealth can then be sent back to the Fatherland. 266 00:12:28,417 --> 00:12:30,124 After Rauff settles in Tunisia, 267 00:12:30,125 --> 00:12:32,541 he surveys the Jewish enclaves 268 00:12:32,542 --> 00:12:34,041 and he's attempting to figure out 269 00:12:34,042 --> 00:12:38,457 how much wealth is within these Jewish communities. 270 00:12:38,458 --> 00:12:39,707 He also takes it upon himself 271 00:12:39,708 --> 00:12:41,624 to personally stand shoulder to shoulder 272 00:12:41,625 --> 00:12:43,166 with other members of the SS 273 00:12:43,167 --> 00:12:45,332 and threaten the Jewish population on the island 274 00:12:45,333 --> 00:12:47,624 basically saying, "Give us the gold 275 00:12:47,625 --> 00:12:49,125 in exchange for your lives." 276 00:12:50,250 --> 00:12:52,791 This isn't wealth for Rauff, 277 00:12:52,792 --> 00:12:54,874 this isn't wealth for Rommel, 278 00:12:54,875 --> 00:12:56,749 they are under strict orders 279 00:12:56,750 --> 00:12:59,041 to take all of the wealth that they can 280 00:12:59,042 --> 00:13:00,957 and ship it back to Germany. 281 00:13:00,958 --> 00:13:02,874 This is supposed to be for the Fatherland. 282 00:13:02,875 --> 00:13:05,541 This is supposed to be for the war effort. 283 00:13:05,542 --> 00:13:06,832 If any of them were caught 284 00:13:06,833 --> 00:13:08,832 keeping these goods for themselves, 285 00:13:08,833 --> 00:13:10,500 they would get most likely killed. 286 00:13:11,875 --> 00:13:13,374 But moving these tons of plunder 287 00:13:13,375 --> 00:13:16,292 would require very strategic planning. 288 00:13:17,375 --> 00:13:19,707 It's late February, early March, 1943, 289 00:13:19,708 --> 00:13:21,874 and as the Afrika Korps is fighting 290 00:13:21,875 --> 00:13:23,999 in the vicinity of Kasserine Pass, 291 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:25,291 Rauff and his men are preparing 292 00:13:25,292 --> 00:13:27,791 to make a beeline for the Tunisian coast. 293 00:13:27,792 --> 00:13:29,624 Rauff's goal is to escape 294 00:13:29,625 --> 00:13:32,249 from the advancing Allied forces with the gold 295 00:13:32,250 --> 00:13:35,249 before they can cut off his line of retreat. 296 00:13:35,250 --> 00:13:38,416 Historians believe Rauff makes it out of Djerba 297 00:13:38,417 --> 00:13:40,041 with the stolen gold, 298 00:13:40,042 --> 00:13:42,291 then heads for the Tunisian coast 299 00:13:42,292 --> 00:13:46,207 where it's allegedly loaded onto a ship bound for Italy. 300 00:13:46,208 --> 00:13:47,957 The supposed plan for this gold 301 00:13:47,958 --> 00:13:50,707 is to ship it from Tunisia 302 00:13:50,708 --> 00:13:52,457 across to Italy, 303 00:13:52,458 --> 00:13:55,749 then take it from Italy up to Germany and then into Berlin. 304 00:13:55,750 --> 00:13:57,207 In Berlin, there's a place called 305 00:13:57,208 --> 00:13:59,416 the Berlin Municipal Pawn Shop. 306 00:13:59,417 --> 00:14:02,207 It sounds very simple, "Oh, a pawn shop." 307 00:14:02,208 --> 00:14:04,624 But in reality, this is where all the wealth 308 00:14:04,625 --> 00:14:08,707 that's being stolen across Europe, across North Africa, 309 00:14:08,708 --> 00:14:10,416 the gold, the jewelry, 310 00:14:10,417 --> 00:14:14,874 everything that is being gathered by force by the Nazis 311 00:14:14,875 --> 00:14:16,582 is being shipped to this pawn shop, 312 00:14:16,583 --> 00:14:20,541 then it's being melted down into gold bars. 313 00:14:20,542 --> 00:14:24,332 Once you melt down the gold, it can no longer be traced. 314 00:14:24,333 --> 00:14:25,957 Then you can sell it anywhere, right? 315 00:14:25,958 --> 00:14:28,374 You can trade those gold bars for cash. 316 00:14:28,375 --> 00:14:30,874 You can trade those gold bars for weapons. 317 00:14:30,875 --> 00:14:33,082 You can do whatever you want. 318 00:14:33,083 --> 00:14:34,707 Rauff's objective in all of this 319 00:14:34,708 --> 00:14:37,874 is to retreat toward the Tunisian coast with the gold 320 00:14:37,875 --> 00:14:41,541 so that it can be loaded onto transports and sent to Berlin 321 00:14:41,542 --> 00:14:43,291 to where it can be put to use 322 00:14:43,292 --> 00:14:45,207 funding the German war machine. 323 00:14:45,208 --> 00:14:47,541 It may have been difficult, if not impossible, 324 00:14:47,542 --> 00:14:50,332 to move the gold through the collapsing front, 325 00:14:50,333 --> 00:14:52,791 but some historians believe that there is evidence 326 00:14:52,792 --> 00:14:56,124 to suggest that Rauff did just that. 327 00:14:56,125 --> 00:14:58,374 There is a record showing a significant shipment 328 00:14:58,375 --> 00:15:01,499 of gold coming into Berlin in 1943. 329 00:15:01,500 --> 00:15:02,707 There's no way to prove 330 00:15:02,708 --> 00:15:04,874 that that's the gold taken from North Africa, 331 00:15:04,875 --> 00:15:06,541 but the timing is notable. 332 00:15:06,542 --> 00:15:08,707 If the gold had made it back to Berlin, 333 00:15:08,708 --> 00:15:12,124 it's final location would be really hard to know 334 00:15:12,125 --> 00:15:14,707 because the gold bars could be in private vaults 335 00:15:14,708 --> 00:15:18,666 or they might just be mixed into the global banking system. 336 00:15:18,667 --> 00:15:21,207 In early May, 1943, 337 00:15:21,208 --> 00:15:25,041 the Allies capture the Tunisian capital of Tunis, 338 00:15:25,042 --> 00:15:27,916 leading to the full surrender of Axis forces 339 00:15:27,917 --> 00:15:30,457 in all of North Africa. 340 00:15:30,458 --> 00:15:31,874 The Allied forces liberate 341 00:15:31,875 --> 00:15:34,041 nearly 400,000 Jews in the region, 342 00:15:34,042 --> 00:15:36,166 many of whom were forced into those labor camps 343 00:15:36,167 --> 00:15:38,250 that were set up by Walter Rauff. 344 00:15:40,583 --> 00:15:42,749 By late April of 1945, 345 00:15:42,750 --> 00:15:44,582 Rauff sees the writing on the wall. 346 00:15:44,583 --> 00:15:46,707 He knows Germany is about to lose. 347 00:15:46,708 --> 00:15:50,832 He knows the war is over, so he escapes to Italy. 348 00:15:50,833 --> 00:15:55,875 He is captured there on April 30th, 1945 and interrogated. 349 00:15:56,708 --> 00:16:00,832 Rauff ultimately reveals little to nothing 350 00:16:00,833 --> 00:16:02,416 in terms of concrete information 351 00:16:02,417 --> 00:16:06,041 about the gold or any stolen treasure, 352 00:16:06,042 --> 00:16:09,166 and he ends up being put in a POW camp 353 00:16:09,167 --> 00:16:13,374 where he'll remain until he escapes in 1946. 354 00:16:13,375 --> 00:16:16,166 As to the fate of the stolen wealth, 355 00:16:16,167 --> 00:16:18,083 that remains a mystery. 356 00:16:23,125 --> 00:16:24,624 On March 22nd, 1945, 357 00:16:24,625 --> 00:16:28,124 General George Patton leads US troops across the Rhine River 358 00:16:28,125 --> 00:16:30,707 and into the heart of Germany. 359 00:16:30,708 --> 00:16:34,207 As Allies close in, the Nazis frantically seek 360 00:16:34,208 --> 00:16:37,207 to hide all evidence of their atrocities, 361 00:16:37,208 --> 00:16:41,000 including stolen treasure from around the world. 362 00:16:41,667 --> 00:16:43,624 General George Patton leads his troops 363 00:16:43,625 --> 00:16:45,332 into the heart of Germany. 364 00:16:45,333 --> 00:16:48,166 And they come across this abandoned salt mine, 365 00:16:48,167 --> 00:16:49,499 and they go into the mine, 366 00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:53,207 they take an elevator 2,100 feet below ground 367 00:16:53,208 --> 00:16:56,874 and they come across this large steel-plated door. 368 00:16:56,875 --> 00:16:59,166 So they blow open the door 369 00:16:59,167 --> 00:17:02,249 and they are shocked by what they find inside. 370 00:17:02,250 --> 00:17:04,707 There are rows and rows of loot. 371 00:17:04,708 --> 00:17:09,207 You've got 8,000 gold bars, cash, rare artwork. 372 00:17:09,208 --> 00:17:11,582 And as they make their way further back into the vault, 373 00:17:11,583 --> 00:17:14,666 they start coming across these bags and boxes 374 00:17:14,667 --> 00:17:18,249 and suitcases that are full of all this gold and jewelry 375 00:17:18,250 --> 00:17:22,541 and all of them have a tag on them with the name Melmer. 376 00:17:22,542 --> 00:17:25,374 Melmer is a notorious SS officer 377 00:17:25,375 --> 00:17:26,916 and his task during World War II 378 00:17:26,917 --> 00:17:30,082 is taking the wealth stolen from Jews in concentration camps 379 00:17:30,083 --> 00:17:32,832 and transporting it back to Germany. 380 00:17:32,833 --> 00:17:35,374 Many believe the looted valuables 381 00:17:35,375 --> 00:17:38,041 of the North African Jewish population 382 00:17:38,042 --> 00:17:40,832 could have been taken to Germany, 383 00:17:40,833 --> 00:17:43,457 melted down into golden tablets, 384 00:17:43,458 --> 00:17:46,499 and then found its way into this mine, 385 00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:51,124 now discovered by Patton and his troops. 386 00:17:51,125 --> 00:17:52,874 There are some historians 387 00:17:52,875 --> 00:17:54,666 who dispute this theory 388 00:17:54,667 --> 00:17:57,957 because there's no proof tying this gold 389 00:17:57,958 --> 00:18:01,207 directly to the gold that was stolen from Northern Africa. 390 00:18:01,208 --> 00:18:04,666 There is new information which suggests 391 00:18:04,667 --> 00:18:09,707 that perhaps the gold never left Africa after all. 392 00:18:09,708 --> 00:18:12,791 After the devastating battle of El Alamein, 393 00:18:12,792 --> 00:18:16,291 Rommel's Afrika Korps is essentially in full retreat 394 00:18:16,292 --> 00:18:18,541 and heading westward back towards Libya. 395 00:18:18,542 --> 00:18:20,499 And the Allied forces are moving forward 396 00:18:20,500 --> 00:18:23,499 and retaking control of the country back from the Germans. 397 00:18:23,500 --> 00:18:25,582 It's alleged by some 398 00:18:25,583 --> 00:18:28,541 that elements of the Afrika Korps during that retreat 399 00:18:28,542 --> 00:18:31,291 may have been in possession of the looted gold, 400 00:18:31,292 --> 00:18:32,707 and during this hasty retreat, 401 00:18:32,708 --> 00:18:35,749 the German soldiers may have taken this gold 402 00:18:35,750 --> 00:18:38,207 and made a mad dash for the Libyan coast 403 00:18:38,208 --> 00:18:39,791 so that it could be buried there. 404 00:18:44,625 --> 00:18:47,499 During the chaotic Axis retreat, 405 00:18:47,500 --> 00:18:51,457 the Germans were in crisis. 406 00:18:51,458 --> 00:18:55,082 Supply lines were closed, routes were cut off, 407 00:18:55,083 --> 00:18:57,291 and it would've been near impossible 408 00:18:57,292 --> 00:18:59,207 to get the loot out at that point. 409 00:18:59,208 --> 00:19:02,707 According to reports, German soldiers are seen 410 00:19:02,708 --> 00:19:06,374 loading metal crates onto armored cars 411 00:19:06,375 --> 00:19:10,249 and driving through the Libyan desert to the coast 412 00:19:10,250 --> 00:19:12,916 where they bury those crates in the seabed, 413 00:19:12,917 --> 00:19:15,749 hoping to come back after the war to retrieve them. 414 00:19:15,750 --> 00:19:18,249 With the Germans long gone from Africa, 415 00:19:18,250 --> 00:19:20,707 the crates allegedly lie in limbo 416 00:19:20,708 --> 00:19:24,833 until a sea diver's chance encounter years later. 417 00:19:26,542 --> 00:19:30,207 In 1962, Robin Lee, who's a British soldier, 418 00:19:30,208 --> 00:19:33,541 is snorkeling off the coast of Tobruk, Libya, 419 00:19:33,542 --> 00:19:37,207 and he sees something down on the sea floor 420 00:19:37,208 --> 00:19:39,166 about 79 feet below him. 421 00:19:39,167 --> 00:19:41,707 He sees these metal crates. 422 00:19:41,708 --> 00:19:44,374 And so he tries to free dive down 423 00:19:44,375 --> 00:19:46,541 to go see what's inside of them, 424 00:19:46,542 --> 00:19:49,207 but there's no way that he can get these crates open 425 00:19:49,208 --> 00:19:51,541 without having to come back to the surface for air. 426 00:19:51,542 --> 00:19:53,666 And he wants to go back with full scuba gear 427 00:19:53,667 --> 00:19:56,624 with the hopes of unearthing these crates, 428 00:19:56,625 --> 00:19:58,791 bring them to the surface and seeing exactly what's inside. 429 00:19:58,792 --> 00:20:01,291 But unfortunately, Lee will never get the chance 430 00:20:01,292 --> 00:20:03,416 because not long after that snorkeling trip, 431 00:20:03,417 --> 00:20:06,957 he actually gets transferred to another base in Yemen. 432 00:20:06,958 --> 00:20:09,207 Now while he's in Yemen, 433 00:20:09,208 --> 00:20:11,791 Lee comes across an old magazine article 434 00:20:11,792 --> 00:20:15,749 that talks about two Germans that were desperate 435 00:20:15,750 --> 00:20:20,124 to try to find Rommel's gold off the coast of Libya. 436 00:20:20,125 --> 00:20:22,999 According to Lee, he recognizes these men as 437 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,332 former Afrika Korps soldiers, 438 00:20:25,333 --> 00:20:28,082 who after World War II had gotten jobs 439 00:20:28,083 --> 00:20:30,291 working as maintenance engineers 440 00:20:30,292 --> 00:20:33,707 at an old base located in Libya, 441 00:20:33,708 --> 00:20:36,332 and now here they are showing up in an article 442 00:20:36,333 --> 00:20:38,374 about looted Nazi gold. 443 00:20:38,375 --> 00:20:40,874 Lee remembers that he used to see these guys walking 444 00:20:40,875 --> 00:20:43,791 around the army base sort of at odd hours, 445 00:20:43,792 --> 00:20:45,832 and the guys would claim that they were just looking 446 00:20:45,833 --> 00:20:49,999 for, you know, unused munitions for their Luger pistols. 447 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,041 But now Lee really thinks that these two guys 448 00:20:53,042 --> 00:20:54,374 were actually looking 449 00:20:54,375 --> 00:20:56,624 for stolen gold off the coast of Libya. 450 00:20:56,625 --> 00:20:59,707 He now suspects that they know the whereabouts 451 00:20:59,708 --> 00:21:01,374 of Rommel's gold. 452 00:21:01,375 --> 00:21:03,416 He always thinks he's gonna come back, 453 00:21:03,417 --> 00:21:05,249 but the political tides turn 454 00:21:05,250 --> 00:21:07,291 and Libya is closed off for him, 455 00:21:07,292 --> 00:21:09,582 and that is why to this day, 456 00:21:09,583 --> 00:21:12,874 we don't know if those crates contained any gold. 457 00:21:12,875 --> 00:21:15,291 No one knows for sure what was in those boxes, 458 00:21:15,292 --> 00:21:17,291 but according to Lee, 459 00:21:17,292 --> 00:21:19,874 they might carry looted Nazi gold 460 00:21:19,875 --> 00:21:22,707 from the North African campaign back in 1943, 461 00:21:22,708 --> 00:21:24,166 and if they were ever recovered, 462 00:21:24,167 --> 00:21:27,541 there is certainly no record of that having been done. 463 00:21:27,542 --> 00:21:30,541 So to this day, this remains one of the great mysteries 464 00:21:30,542 --> 00:21:32,917 about looted Nazi gold in North Africa. 465 00:21:38,417 --> 00:21:39,874 The location of Rommel's gold remains a mystery 466 00:21:39,875 --> 00:21:44,874 until the winter of 1947 when a former German soldier 467 00:21:44,875 --> 00:21:48,541 walks into the French consulate in Stuttgart, Germany. 468 00:21:48,542 --> 00:21:50,041 He wants to share a secret 469 00:21:50,042 --> 00:21:52,499 that he's been hiding for nearly five years. 470 00:21:54,458 --> 00:21:56,791 A former German soldier named Peter Fleig 471 00:21:56,792 --> 00:21:58,707 walks into the French Consulate. 472 00:21:58,708 --> 00:22:02,041 He is 21 years old at the time, he's gaunt, 473 00:22:02,042 --> 00:22:05,666 he has this big scar running down the side of his face 474 00:22:05,667 --> 00:22:07,707 and he says that he's looking for a visa 475 00:22:07,708 --> 00:22:09,999 to go to the island of Corsica. 476 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,791 Now this request raises a flag 477 00:22:12,792 --> 00:22:14,624 for one of the consulate officials, 478 00:22:14,625 --> 00:22:18,207 because a German asking for a visa to go to Corsica 479 00:22:18,208 --> 00:22:22,374 seems a bit off considering that during World War II, 480 00:22:22,375 --> 00:22:25,374 Corsica was an island that was battered 481 00:22:25,375 --> 00:22:27,707 and just ravaged by the Germans. 482 00:22:27,708 --> 00:22:31,374 So Corsicans have no love for Germans at all. 483 00:22:31,375 --> 00:22:32,874 In fact, the only Germans 484 00:22:32,875 --> 00:22:35,041 that are on the island of Corsica right now are POWs. 485 00:22:35,042 --> 00:22:37,707 So if Fleig says that he wants to go to Corsica, 486 00:22:37,708 --> 00:22:40,999 he's essentially risking his life. 487 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:42,083 As the story goes, 488 00:22:42,250 --> 00:22:45,041 Fleig tells this representative at the consulate 489 00:22:45,042 --> 00:22:48,207 that after having served in North Africa, 490 00:22:48,208 --> 00:22:52,707 he is then transferred to the Italian port of La Spezia. 491 00:22:52,708 --> 00:22:54,999 Then during the summer of 1943, 492 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,541 he gets an order to collect his scuba gear 493 00:22:58,542 --> 00:22:59,750 and get ready to go. 494 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,666 Fleig is an experienced diver 495 00:23:02,667 --> 00:23:05,541 and he's supposed to help clear mines from the area 496 00:23:05,542 --> 00:23:08,291 and be on call for search-and-rescue operations. 497 00:23:08,292 --> 00:23:11,332 At this point, the Allies have retaken North Africa 498 00:23:11,333 --> 00:23:12,374 and they're allegedly going 499 00:23:12,375 --> 00:23:14,207 to be crossing the Mediterranean Sea 500 00:23:14,208 --> 00:23:17,624 to launch attacks on Sicily and Italy as a whole. 501 00:23:17,625 --> 00:23:20,041 Against this imminent threat of invasion, 502 00:23:20,042 --> 00:23:22,041 Fleig gets picked up by a speedboat 503 00:23:22,042 --> 00:23:24,332 and whisked off to Corsica, 504 00:23:24,333 --> 00:23:25,874 and he's told that he's gonna be part 505 00:23:25,875 --> 00:23:29,707 of this top-secret mission ordered by the fuhrer himself. 506 00:23:29,708 --> 00:23:33,749 According to Fleig, he's then led into a room. 507 00:23:33,750 --> 00:23:35,874 Inside are six metal crates 508 00:23:35,875 --> 00:23:39,792 packed with gold, jewelry, and other stolen treasures. 509 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,916 Allegedly Fleig is told that the gold 510 00:23:42,917 --> 00:23:45,582 and the crates was loaded on a convoy 511 00:23:45,583 --> 00:23:47,041 that was on its way to Berlin, 512 00:23:47,042 --> 00:23:49,457 but then Allied aircraft began bombing 513 00:23:49,458 --> 00:23:51,457 and strafing Italian roads. 514 00:23:51,458 --> 00:23:53,832 Some historians argue that because of this, 515 00:23:53,833 --> 00:23:57,541 the gold was then diverted to Corsica and the plan was, 516 00:23:57,542 --> 00:24:01,082 from there, the gold would be buried on the sea floor 517 00:24:01,083 --> 00:24:03,582 so that it could be recovered after the war. 518 00:24:03,583 --> 00:24:05,916 And Fleig, the experienced diver, 519 00:24:05,917 --> 00:24:08,374 is the man that would be given the responsibility 520 00:24:08,375 --> 00:24:09,541 of burying it. 521 00:24:15,708 --> 00:24:16,874 On September 18th, 522 00:24:16,875 --> 00:24:19,624 Fleig and four other German officers 523 00:24:19,625 --> 00:24:22,624 allegedly set out on a boat with these six metal crates 524 00:24:22,625 --> 00:24:24,874 into the Mediterranean Sea. 525 00:24:24,875 --> 00:24:27,874 Fleig finds what he thinks is the perfect spot to bury them. 526 00:24:27,875 --> 00:24:30,541 It's about three miles from the coast. 527 00:24:30,542 --> 00:24:33,207 There's sort of a rocky embankment 528 00:24:33,208 --> 00:24:36,541 where he's going to take each crate one by one 529 00:24:36,542 --> 00:24:39,957 down to the sea floor and secure it down there. 530 00:24:39,958 --> 00:24:42,749 All he knows is that these crates are meant for Germany, 531 00:24:42,750 --> 00:24:44,832 they're meant for the war cause. 532 00:24:44,833 --> 00:24:47,041 He's also smart enough to know to take a special note 533 00:24:47,042 --> 00:24:49,832 of where they are and what it looks like 534 00:24:49,833 --> 00:24:54,041 so that if Germany doesn't get them someday, he can. 535 00:24:54,042 --> 00:24:57,707 But just days later, after returning to Italy, 536 00:24:57,708 --> 00:25:00,541 Fleig's dreams of outlasting the Germans 537 00:25:00,542 --> 00:25:02,292 are thrown into jeopardy. 538 00:25:03,375 --> 00:25:06,624 When Hitler allegedly learns of this mission 539 00:25:06,625 --> 00:25:08,541 to bury all of this treasure at sea, 540 00:25:08,542 --> 00:25:12,166 he flies into this wild rage. 541 00:25:12,167 --> 00:25:13,999 He orders that the four Nazis 542 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,916 that accompanied Peter Fleig on the mission 543 00:25:16,917 --> 00:25:18,457 are brought back to Germany, 544 00:25:18,458 --> 00:25:20,999 court-martialed, and sentenced to death. 545 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,041 Now, Fleig is sent to the Russian front as punishment, 546 00:25:24,042 --> 00:25:27,666 but reportedly escapes back to Germany 547 00:25:27,667 --> 00:25:29,624 after the war comes to its conclusion. 548 00:25:29,625 --> 00:25:31,916 He bides his time in Germany for a while, 549 00:25:31,917 --> 00:25:35,082 tends to his wounds before mustering up the courage 550 00:25:35,083 --> 00:25:37,249 to walk into the French consulate. 551 00:25:37,250 --> 00:25:39,416 Fleig assures his interrogators 552 00:25:39,417 --> 00:25:41,916 that he's the only one still alive 553 00:25:41,917 --> 00:25:46,166 who knows where the stolen gold from North Africa is hidden, 554 00:25:46,167 --> 00:25:49,167 and now he's ready to help the French find it. 555 00:25:50,375 --> 00:25:51,624 They are intrigued enough 556 00:25:51,625 --> 00:25:54,749 that they put together a search party in 1948 557 00:25:54,750 --> 00:25:56,999 and Fleig is gonna be the one to lead it. 558 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,166 So the plan is that Fleig is gonna dive down 559 00:25:59,167 --> 00:26:02,207 to that exact spot where he says he deposited the gold 560 00:26:02,208 --> 00:26:03,666 and he's gonna use salvage equipment 561 00:26:03,667 --> 00:26:06,124 to try to bring it back up to the surface. 562 00:26:06,125 --> 00:26:09,166 They spent two months out there in the water 563 00:26:09,167 --> 00:26:11,374 looking for these cases. 564 00:26:11,375 --> 00:26:13,374 Fleig takes them from place to place, 565 00:26:13,375 --> 00:26:15,374 is so certain of where it is. 566 00:26:15,375 --> 00:26:16,791 This is gonna be an expensive trip. 567 00:26:16,792 --> 00:26:18,207 They've got a ship, 568 00:26:18,208 --> 00:26:20,749 they've got crew that they're paying to go out there 569 00:26:20,750 --> 00:26:22,916 all on the word of this German 570 00:26:22,917 --> 00:26:26,041 who claims he knows where this lost treasure is. 571 00:26:26,042 --> 00:26:28,999 But soon, the French begin to suspect 572 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,166 that Fleig has an ulterior motive. 573 00:26:32,167 --> 00:26:35,541 They start to see that Fleig's story 574 00:26:35,542 --> 00:26:38,250 might not be adding up the way that he told it. 575 00:26:39,042 --> 00:26:42,291 For starters, when they go out into the water 576 00:26:42,292 --> 00:26:44,124 and they start diving for these crates, 577 00:26:44,125 --> 00:26:48,791 they notice very quickly that he is a horrible diver. 578 00:26:48,792 --> 00:26:51,999 He doesn't know how to resurface correctly, 579 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,707 and they were worried that he would get the bends, 580 00:26:55,708 --> 00:26:57,957 a condition that a diver can experience 581 00:26:57,958 --> 00:27:00,874 if they come back up to the surface too quickly. 582 00:27:00,875 --> 00:27:02,999 Not only is he a terrible diver, 583 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,207 he also is misidentifying landmarks 584 00:27:05,208 --> 00:27:08,207 and his coordinates also seem to be off. 585 00:27:08,208 --> 00:27:10,707 It's at this point they begin to question who he really is. 586 00:27:10,708 --> 00:27:11,874 They think he's a conman 587 00:27:11,875 --> 00:27:13,291 that may have learned the story 588 00:27:13,292 --> 00:27:15,249 from somebody who befriended maybe an SS officer 589 00:27:15,250 --> 00:27:18,082 who actually knew where this gold was buried, 590 00:27:18,083 --> 00:27:20,750 but they don't think Fleig is who he says he is. 591 00:27:22,250 --> 00:27:24,291 After two months, the French are like, 592 00:27:24,292 --> 00:27:26,499 "That is enough, we're done," 593 00:27:26,500 --> 00:27:30,416 and they walk away and send Fleig off on his own. 594 00:27:30,417 --> 00:27:31,874 The French have the idea 595 00:27:31,875 --> 00:27:34,707 that Fleig probably just misidentified the landmarks 596 00:27:34,708 --> 00:27:36,916 that he couldn't really remember where it was 597 00:27:36,917 --> 00:27:38,916 and it was just lost. 598 00:27:38,917 --> 00:27:41,249 After the expedition, Fleig is arrested 599 00:27:41,250 --> 00:27:44,374 for never returning the salvage operator's camera. 600 00:27:44,375 --> 00:27:48,249 Once he's in jail, he starts making up these hand-drawn maps 601 00:27:48,250 --> 00:27:51,916 of new locations where this gold might be. 602 00:27:51,917 --> 00:27:54,916 Now why would Fleig have made up this whole story? 603 00:27:54,917 --> 00:27:57,541 Well, some believe that he was actually just trying 604 00:27:57,542 --> 00:28:00,124 to send the French on a wild goose chase 605 00:28:00,125 --> 00:28:01,957 because they refused to give him a reward 606 00:28:01,958 --> 00:28:03,916 for helping him find the gold, 607 00:28:03,917 --> 00:28:06,041 and maybe Fleig was going back to Corsica 608 00:28:06,042 --> 00:28:08,833 to try to get all the gold for himself. 609 00:28:09,208 --> 00:28:11,291 After he's released from jail in late December, 610 00:28:11,292 --> 00:28:12,916 Peter Fleig vanishes. 611 00:28:12,917 --> 00:28:16,041 Now, French authorities do conduct a search for him. 612 00:28:16,042 --> 00:28:17,916 They don't find him, but they do speculate 613 00:28:17,917 --> 00:28:20,707 that he probably made his way back to Germany. 614 00:28:20,708 --> 00:28:22,832 However, it's also rumored 615 00:28:22,833 --> 00:28:26,749 that he might have made contact with another group 616 00:28:26,750 --> 00:28:29,707 before making his way back to Germany 617 00:28:29,708 --> 00:28:32,167 and that group being the Corsican mafia. 618 00:28:37,875 --> 00:28:39,291 The French expedition's 619 00:28:39,292 --> 00:28:42,207 highly publicized failure to find Rommel's gold 620 00:28:42,208 --> 00:28:44,791 sparks a global obsession to find this elusive treasure. 621 00:28:44,792 --> 00:28:46,874 Yet back on Corsica, 622 00:28:46,875 --> 00:28:49,582 one of the most feared organizations in the world 623 00:28:49,583 --> 00:28:51,916 may already know where it is 624 00:28:51,917 --> 00:28:55,208 and they'll stop at nothing to get their hands on it. 625 00:28:56,458 --> 00:28:59,124 For decades, the Corsican mafia maintained 626 00:28:59,125 --> 00:29:01,874 a near total grip on parts of the island 627 00:29:01,875 --> 00:29:04,041 controlling prostitution, 628 00:29:04,042 --> 00:29:06,332 illegal gambling, drug trafficking, 629 00:29:06,333 --> 00:29:09,249 and they've done so with such brutality 630 00:29:09,250 --> 00:29:12,832 that their reputation extends well beyond Corsica. 631 00:29:12,833 --> 00:29:14,332 During World War II, 632 00:29:14,333 --> 00:29:17,499 they hated the Germans more than they hated anybody else. 633 00:29:17,500 --> 00:29:19,207 France had controlled Corsica. 634 00:29:19,208 --> 00:29:23,249 As France is defeated, Corsica comes under German control. 635 00:29:23,250 --> 00:29:25,999 So the mafia works with the French resistance 636 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,707 to try to break up the German's stronghold over Corsica 637 00:29:29,708 --> 00:29:31,166 and to kick them out. 638 00:29:31,167 --> 00:29:33,041 The deal that they make with France 639 00:29:33,042 --> 00:29:35,499 is that after the war, 640 00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:39,291 they'll be able to do whatever they want there in Corsica. 641 00:29:39,292 --> 00:29:40,916 It's during this time 642 00:29:40,917 --> 00:29:43,207 that the mafia reportedly becomes obsessed 643 00:29:43,208 --> 00:29:46,249 with finding Rommel's gold for themselves. 644 00:29:46,250 --> 00:29:48,541 The first person to make this connection 645 00:29:48,542 --> 00:29:50,333 is a world-famous novelist. 646 00:29:51,708 --> 00:29:55,541 In 1963, the British author who created James Bond, 647 00:29:55,542 --> 00:29:57,624 Ian Fleming, writes this book 648 00:29:57,625 --> 00:30:00,624 called "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," 649 00:30:00,625 --> 00:30:03,207 and there's this passage in there about this, quote, 650 00:30:03,208 --> 00:30:06,207 "mysterious business" of Rommel's gold 651 00:30:06,208 --> 00:30:09,666 being buried at sea off the coast of Corsica. 652 00:30:09,667 --> 00:30:13,707 It also mentions two treasure hunters in the book. 653 00:30:13,708 --> 00:30:15,541 You've got one character in the book 654 00:30:15,542 --> 00:30:17,166 that's referenced as Fleigh 655 00:30:17,167 --> 00:30:19,916 who vanishes off the face of the earth 656 00:30:19,917 --> 00:30:21,332 according to the novel, 657 00:30:21,333 --> 00:30:24,041 and then the other treasure hunter ends up dying 658 00:30:24,042 --> 00:30:26,000 because he ends up getting riddled with bullets. 659 00:30:26,875 --> 00:30:28,374 It's a work of fiction, 660 00:30:28,375 --> 00:30:32,124 but there appears to be some truths woven in. 661 00:30:32,125 --> 00:30:33,249 Before writing this, 662 00:30:33,250 --> 00:30:34,791 Ian Fleming was the real deal. 663 00:30:34,792 --> 00:30:37,416 He was a spymaster and he oversaw operations 664 00:30:37,417 --> 00:30:40,957 in Northern Africa and Europe, and that included Corsica. 665 00:30:40,958 --> 00:30:42,999 It was during his time as an intelligence officer 666 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:44,499 he got an intelligence briefing 667 00:30:44,500 --> 00:30:47,291 which said that Rommel was sending a vessel to Berlin 668 00:30:47,292 --> 00:30:49,499 that sank off the coast of Corsica 669 00:30:49,500 --> 00:30:52,249 filled with treasure and gold. 670 00:30:52,250 --> 00:30:54,249 Fleming's intelligence work also exposes him 671 00:30:54,250 --> 00:30:55,707 to elements of organized crime, 672 00:30:55,708 --> 00:30:58,249 including the Corsican mafia. 673 00:30:58,250 --> 00:31:02,291 Through his writing, he speculates that the mafia 674 00:31:02,292 --> 00:31:06,875 becomes very invested in finding Rommel's gold. 675 00:31:12,958 --> 00:31:14,582 The author Ian Fleming 676 00:31:14,583 --> 00:31:17,874 is about to publish the book "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," 677 00:31:17,875 --> 00:31:20,041 and as a part of that, he's being interviewed 678 00:31:20,042 --> 00:31:22,749 by a British journalist named Peter Haining. 679 00:31:22,750 --> 00:31:25,207 In that interview, Fleming mentions 680 00:31:25,208 --> 00:31:29,707 how there are rumors of looted Nazi gold in Corsica, 681 00:31:29,708 --> 00:31:34,958 and he even suggests the involvement of organized crime. 682 00:31:35,083 --> 00:31:38,791 As the story goes, this idea sticks with Haining 683 00:31:38,792 --> 00:31:41,999 who would go on to research it for decades, 684 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,499 and he comes to the conclusion that the Corsica mafia 685 00:31:45,500 --> 00:31:48,417 may have been involved in what happened to Rommel's gold. 686 00:31:49,500 --> 00:31:50,874 According to the theory, 687 00:31:50,875 --> 00:31:53,874 in order to scale up their criminal empire, 688 00:31:53,875 --> 00:31:56,667 the mafia targets Rommel's gold. 689 00:31:57,625 --> 00:31:59,041 There's a report of a local diver 690 00:31:59,042 --> 00:32:01,332 who's gunned down on the island. 691 00:32:01,333 --> 00:32:03,124 He had been going around to local bars 692 00:32:03,125 --> 00:32:06,207 and claiming that he knew where Rommel's gold was. 693 00:32:06,208 --> 00:32:08,207 Now the case goes unsolved, 694 00:32:08,208 --> 00:32:09,332 but Corsicans really believe 695 00:32:09,333 --> 00:32:11,333 that he was killed by the mafia. 696 00:32:12,417 --> 00:32:15,124 Then Corsican police, acting on a tip, 697 00:32:15,125 --> 00:32:17,541 approach this group of men that are ready to set sail. 698 00:32:17,542 --> 00:32:22,041 These men then start firing at the officers. 699 00:32:22,042 --> 00:32:23,541 Several people are wounded 700 00:32:23,542 --> 00:32:28,124 and two of the men aboard the ship are captured. 701 00:32:28,125 --> 00:32:30,541 They're later ID'd as mobsters 702 00:32:30,542 --> 00:32:32,458 who are in search of Rommel's gold. 703 00:32:33,750 --> 00:32:35,999 Though the treasure remains elusive, 704 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,541 the mafia may be preventing anyone else 705 00:32:38,542 --> 00:32:40,624 from finding it first. 706 00:32:40,625 --> 00:32:43,499 The Corsican mafia may very well be preventing anyone 707 00:32:43,500 --> 00:32:46,541 from going to look for the gold because after the war, 708 00:32:46,542 --> 00:32:49,249 they get significant control of the coastline. 709 00:32:49,250 --> 00:32:50,541 So they're gonna know 710 00:32:50,542 --> 00:32:52,500 if anyone is going out in search of the gold 711 00:32:53,750 --> 00:32:57,707 Irish adventurer John Kilbracken learns firsthand 712 00:32:57,708 --> 00:33:00,999 how dangerous it can be to look for Rommel's gold. 713 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,291 He arrives on the island of Corsica in 1963 714 00:33:04,292 --> 00:33:07,041 with a fully funded expedition. 715 00:33:07,042 --> 00:33:09,082 It's reported that a year earlier 716 00:33:09,083 --> 00:33:11,707 Kilbracken tracks down the one person 717 00:33:11,708 --> 00:33:14,749 who says he knows exactly where that gold is buried, 718 00:33:14,750 --> 00:33:17,041 the mysterious Peter Fleig. 719 00:33:17,042 --> 00:33:19,166 Reportedly the two strike a deal, 720 00:33:19,167 --> 00:33:22,124 and that is that Kilbracken will fund the expedition 721 00:33:22,125 --> 00:33:25,166 and Fleig will come along and bring his expertise 722 00:33:25,167 --> 00:33:29,332 as well as a map showing the exact location of the gold. 723 00:33:29,333 --> 00:33:31,207 But the Corsican mafia 724 00:33:31,208 --> 00:33:34,374 reportedly gets word of their endeavor. 725 00:33:34,375 --> 00:33:35,832 According to another historian, 726 00:33:35,833 --> 00:33:38,374 Kilbracken and his team are threatened by the Corsican mafia 727 00:33:38,375 --> 00:33:41,249 and told to not go looking for the gold. 728 00:33:41,250 --> 00:33:43,916 And it's this threat that causes Kilbracken 729 00:33:43,917 --> 00:33:46,666 to completely call off the expedition. 730 00:33:46,667 --> 00:33:49,666 But Kilbracken firmly believes 731 00:33:49,667 --> 00:33:51,791 that they were in the right spot 732 00:33:51,792 --> 00:33:54,374 and had they a little bit more time, 733 00:33:54,375 --> 00:33:56,167 they would've found that treasure. 734 00:34:02,458 --> 00:34:04,291 Some say that the key to the whereabouts 735 00:34:04,292 --> 00:34:05,541 of Rommel's gold is to find the Nazi fugitive 736 00:34:05,542 --> 00:34:08,250 originally put in charge of stealing it. 737 00:34:09,625 --> 00:34:10,707 In 1946, 738 00:34:10,708 --> 00:34:14,249 Walter Rauff escapes from a POW camp in Italy. 739 00:34:14,250 --> 00:34:17,332 He hides out in a convent for several months in Rome. 740 00:34:17,333 --> 00:34:18,624 He briefly resurfaces 741 00:34:18,625 --> 00:34:22,332 as an intelligence officer in Syria in 1948. 742 00:34:22,333 --> 00:34:24,541 So he keeps managing to evade capture 743 00:34:24,542 --> 00:34:28,041 despite being one of the most-wanted war criminals. 744 00:34:28,042 --> 00:34:30,874 And he's able to do this because of the ratlines, 745 00:34:30,875 --> 00:34:34,792 this secretive, pro-Nazi network of human smugglers. 746 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:37,666 Ratlines are 747 00:34:37,667 --> 00:34:39,874 a series of safe houses 748 00:34:39,875 --> 00:34:43,749 that are set up by these pro-Nazi sympathizers 749 00:34:43,750 --> 00:34:45,666 to help Nazis escape. 750 00:34:45,667 --> 00:34:47,541 And most routes in these ratlines 751 00:34:47,542 --> 00:34:49,749 go from Ally-occupied territory 752 00:34:49,750 --> 00:34:52,082 to places that are much more 753 00:34:52,083 --> 00:34:53,874 sympathetic towards ex-Nazis, 754 00:34:53,875 --> 00:34:55,874 specifically in South America. 755 00:34:55,875 --> 00:34:59,374 And these ratlines are orchestrated in plain sight. 756 00:34:59,375 --> 00:35:01,374 They're operating openly in Italy 757 00:35:01,375 --> 00:35:04,499 and other Ally-occupied territories. 758 00:35:04,500 --> 00:35:06,457 Yet some contend 759 00:35:06,458 --> 00:35:09,624 that in order for Rauff to access the ratlines 760 00:35:09,625 --> 00:35:13,291 and travel great distances to South America, 761 00:35:13,292 --> 00:35:17,374 he would need access to vast sums of money. 762 00:35:17,375 --> 00:35:21,249 After the war, Rauff resurfaces in Chile, 763 00:35:21,250 --> 00:35:23,374 and the belief is that he, 764 00:35:23,375 --> 00:35:25,874 the man who originally expropriated the gold 765 00:35:25,875 --> 00:35:28,332 to begin with, held onto it 766 00:35:28,333 --> 00:35:31,416 and used it to fund his winding escape from Europe 767 00:35:31,417 --> 00:35:33,082 at the end of the conflict 768 00:35:33,083 --> 00:35:34,792 that brought him to South America. 769 00:35:40,292 --> 00:35:41,749 Now, while in Chile, 770 00:35:41,750 --> 00:35:43,707 Rauff and his family are given protective status, 771 00:35:43,708 --> 00:35:46,166 so essentially they're shielded from extradition. 772 00:35:46,167 --> 00:35:49,832 They can't be taken back to Germany. 773 00:35:49,833 --> 00:35:52,541 At the same time, because he's residing in Chile, 774 00:35:52,542 --> 00:35:55,707 the Chilean government actually calls up Rauff and 775 00:35:55,708 --> 00:35:58,499 turn him into an intelligence officer for the country. 776 00:35:58,500 --> 00:36:00,666 Rumors swirl about, how is Rauff able 777 00:36:00,667 --> 00:36:04,041 to secure passage for himself and his family? 778 00:36:04,042 --> 00:36:06,749 At the end of the war, many former Nazi leaders 779 00:36:06,750 --> 00:36:09,457 purchased their freedom using bribes 780 00:36:09,458 --> 00:36:13,499 to pay for everything from forged documents to safe passage 781 00:36:13,500 --> 00:36:15,875 and then protection from foreign governments. 782 00:36:16,333 --> 00:36:19,541 But did Rauff fund his escape to Chile 783 00:36:19,542 --> 00:36:22,707 off the gold stolen persecuted Jews? 784 00:36:22,708 --> 00:36:27,041 Recently declassified documents may provide answers. 785 00:36:27,042 --> 00:36:29,374 In the early 2000s, 786 00:36:29,375 --> 00:36:33,582 the CIA declassified intelligence information 787 00:36:33,583 --> 00:36:36,250 from the American military in World War II 788 00:36:37,375 --> 00:36:41,374 due to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. 789 00:36:41,375 --> 00:36:44,374 And in this dossier, there is a report 790 00:36:44,375 --> 00:36:46,374 of a sighting of Walter Rauff 791 00:36:46,375 --> 00:36:49,332 on the streets of Rome in 1947, 792 00:36:49,333 --> 00:36:51,874 and he is carrying a suitcase. 793 00:36:51,875 --> 00:36:56,041 [Amory Inside of this suitcase is supposedly gold and jewelry 794 00:36:56,042 --> 00:36:57,707 and all sorts of other treasures, 795 00:36:57,708 --> 00:37:00,832 but Rauff refuses to say where it came from. 796 00:37:00,833 --> 00:37:01,874 Rauff could have brought 797 00:37:01,875 --> 00:37:04,874 this same suitcase with him to South America 798 00:37:04,875 --> 00:37:06,416 because by all accounts, 799 00:37:06,417 --> 00:37:08,707 he is living a very comfortable life there 800 00:37:08,708 --> 00:37:13,582 and he's free to espouse his pro-Nazi views. 801 00:37:13,583 --> 00:37:14,957 It's reported that Rauff 802 00:37:14,958 --> 00:37:17,207 was welcomed as a VIP in Chile 803 00:37:17,208 --> 00:37:18,832 and that he was welcomed 804 00:37:18,833 --> 00:37:21,416 in the highest offices of Pinochet's government, 805 00:37:21,417 --> 00:37:23,832 working specifically in intelligence, 806 00:37:23,833 --> 00:37:26,332 and that he had the resources and the wherewithal 807 00:37:26,333 --> 00:37:28,917 to ingratiate himself among his new hosts. 808 00:37:30,375 --> 00:37:33,874 Rauff remained an unrepentant Nazi to the bitter end. 809 00:37:33,875 --> 00:37:36,707 At his funeral, other expatriate Nazis 810 00:37:36,708 --> 00:37:40,541 shouted "Heil Hitler" and delivered the Hitler salute. 811 00:37:40,542 --> 00:37:41,666 In an off-camera interview, 812 00:37:41,667 --> 00:37:44,332 Rauff's grandson doesn't believe 813 00:37:44,333 --> 00:37:46,332 that his grandfather had any access 814 00:37:46,333 --> 00:37:48,541 to any sort of stolen gold during his time in Chile, 815 00:37:48,542 --> 00:37:52,207 but his grandfather never really spoke 816 00:37:52,208 --> 00:37:53,666 about his experiences during the war 817 00:37:53,667 --> 00:37:56,374 so his grandson really doesn't know all that much 818 00:37:56,375 --> 00:37:59,083 about his grandfather's time during World War II. 819 00:37:59,458 --> 00:38:02,166 So whether or not 820 00:38:02,167 --> 00:38:04,332 Rauff had access to this gold 821 00:38:04,333 --> 00:38:06,625 to be able to fund his lifestyle in Chile 822 00:38:07,833 --> 00:38:09,625 continues to remain a mystery to this day. 823 00:38:10,750 --> 00:38:12,582 Decades later, the search 824 00:38:12,583 --> 00:38:14,832 for Rommel's gold continues 825 00:38:14,833 --> 00:38:18,374 with one recent endeavor rekindling belief 826 00:38:18,375 --> 00:38:19,958 in a well-worn theory. 827 00:38:21,667 --> 00:38:23,124 In more recent times, 828 00:38:23,125 --> 00:38:26,791 British author and investigator Terry Hodgkinson 829 00:38:26,792 --> 00:38:29,707 says he knows where Rommel's gold is. 830 00:38:29,708 --> 00:38:31,541 He firmly believes that this gold 831 00:38:31,542 --> 00:38:35,707 is at exactly the place that Fleig said that it was, 832 00:38:35,708 --> 00:38:38,291 that it's just there off the coast of Corsica. 833 00:38:38,292 --> 00:38:40,582 It's near a rocky outcropping 834 00:38:40,583 --> 00:38:43,458 and that it's there buried underneath the seabed. 835 00:38:44,667 --> 00:38:46,874 His theory hinges on the accuracy 836 00:38:46,875 --> 00:38:51,374 of a code scrawled on the back of a faded photograph. 837 00:38:51,375 --> 00:38:53,541 Terry Hodgkinson has this photo 838 00:38:53,542 --> 00:38:55,541 that he's obtained of Peter Fleig. 839 00:38:55,542 --> 00:38:58,832 It's worn out, but there are lines and numbers on the back 840 00:38:58,833 --> 00:39:00,582 and he thinks that these are coordinates 841 00:39:00,583 --> 00:39:02,875 that actually point right to the gold. 842 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:05,499 Hodgkinson is convinced 843 00:39:05,500 --> 00:39:07,832 that these are the exact coordinates 844 00:39:07,833 --> 00:39:10,541 of the location of Rommel's gold, 845 00:39:10,542 --> 00:39:12,832 and he says he's deciphered them, 846 00:39:12,833 --> 00:39:16,249 but he still needs to raise the money for the expedition 847 00:39:16,250 --> 00:39:19,291 and get past the Corsican mafia. 848 00:39:19,292 --> 00:39:23,333 If anybody were to actually find this missing gold, 849 00:39:24,208 --> 00:39:27,374 hopefully they would be required 850 00:39:27,375 --> 00:39:29,541 to share some of that bounty 851 00:39:29,542 --> 00:39:33,874 with the families of the North African Jews 852 00:39:33,875 --> 00:39:36,874 who had that wealth stolen from them 853 00:39:36,875 --> 00:39:39,124 and were forced into those labor camps 854 00:39:39,125 --> 00:39:42,374 that were set up by Walter Rauff during World War II. 855 00:39:42,375 --> 00:39:45,166 I mean, after all, it is their treasure, 856 00:39:45,167 --> 00:39:46,332 so it only makes sense 857 00:39:46,333 --> 00:39:47,917 that it would be returned back to them. 858 00:39:51,333 --> 00:39:53,332 For more than 80 years 859 00:39:53,333 --> 00:39:55,457 the whereabouts of Rommel's gold 860 00:39:55,458 --> 00:39:58,874 has been one of the most famous enduring mysteries 861 00:39:58,875 --> 00:40:00,207 of World War II. 862 00:40:00,208 --> 00:40:03,041 Explorers and documentary crews 863 00:40:03,042 --> 00:40:05,874 continue to regularly travel to Corsica 864 00:40:05,875 --> 00:40:08,249 and other locations around the world 865 00:40:08,250 --> 00:40:10,124 to search for the missing war bounty. 866 00:40:10,125 --> 00:40:13,832 Many believe that the loot is still out there 867 00:40:13,833 --> 00:40:16,874 and that, one day, the full story of Rommel's gold 868 00:40:16,875 --> 00:40:19,707 can be added to the history books. 869 00:40:19,708 --> 00:40:21,166 I'm Laurence Fishburne. 870 00:40:21,167 --> 00:40:25,625 Thank you for watching "History's Greatest Mysteries."