1 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:29,581 - [Narrator] During the Second World War, 2 00:00:29,684 --> 00:00:32,687 the Nazis rampage through the homes of millions. 3 00:00:32,791 --> 00:00:35,138 As they systematically displace, torture, 4 00:00:35,242 --> 00:00:36,933 and murder Jewish populations 5 00:00:37,037 --> 00:00:39,004 in Germany and occupying Europe, 6 00:00:39,108 --> 00:00:41,593 they steal everything they can lay their hands on. 7 00:00:43,077 --> 00:00:45,459 The Nazis' ruthless pillaging is a crucial component 8 00:00:45,562 --> 00:00:47,116 of the Holocaust. 9 00:00:47,219 --> 00:00:48,910 - The Nazis really make a fine art out 10 00:00:49,014 --> 00:00:51,361 of this nationally sanctioned theft. 11 00:00:51,465 --> 00:00:54,019 Everything of potential value goes. 12 00:00:54,123 --> 00:00:55,572 - [Narrator] Over the course of the war, 13 00:00:55,676 --> 00:00:58,334 the Nazis steal billions of dollars worth of valuables, 14 00:00:58,437 --> 00:01:01,785 including precious artwork, silver, and gold. 15 00:01:01,889 --> 00:01:04,823 - Billions of dollars. You can't wrap your head around that. 16 00:01:04,926 --> 00:01:06,652 - What happens to all that wealth 17 00:01:06,756 --> 00:01:08,827 after the Nazis lose the war? 18 00:01:08,930 --> 00:01:11,105 - [Narrator] Despite efforts to return the stolen property 19 00:01:11,209 --> 00:01:14,695 to its rightful owners, much of it still remains missing. 20 00:01:14,798 --> 00:01:18,043 - Could there yet still be gold onboard this ship 21 00:01:18,147 --> 00:01:19,527 at the bottom of the sea? 22 00:01:19,631 --> 00:01:20,977 - [Narrator] To this day, 23 00:01:21,081 --> 00:01:22,841 hoards of Nazi-stolen goods are being uncovered 24 00:01:22,944 --> 00:01:24,153 around the world. 25 00:01:24,256 --> 00:01:26,224 - We all love hidden treasure stories. 26 00:01:26,327 --> 00:01:28,053 - Are there hidden fortunes still out there 27 00:01:28,157 --> 00:01:30,711 that we've yet to discover? 28 00:01:30,814 --> 00:01:31,988 - [Narrator] How did the Nazis manage 29 00:01:32,092 --> 00:01:33,852 to hide such a vast fortune, 30 00:01:33,955 --> 00:01:36,855 and what could they possibly have planned to do with it? 31 00:01:36,958 --> 00:01:38,546 - Complete world domination 32 00:01:38,650 --> 00:01:42,447 and a 1,000-year reign was their idea. 33 00:01:42,550 --> 00:01:44,345 [air whooshes] 34 00:01:44,449 --> 00:01:47,659 [tense dramatic music] 35 00:02:03,364 --> 00:02:05,504 [ominous music] 36 00:02:05,608 --> 00:02:07,575 - [Narrator] In late March 1945, 37 00:02:07,679 --> 00:02:10,889 the United States Army begins its push into Nazi Germany. 38 00:02:10,992 --> 00:02:13,857 Within two weeks, they arrive at Merkers, 39 00:02:13,961 --> 00:02:17,033 a small town of roughly 3,000 people. 40 00:02:17,137 --> 00:02:18,621 Many of these locals are part 41 00:02:18,724 --> 00:02:21,969 of the 40 million Europeans displaced by the German Army 42 00:02:22,072 --> 00:02:23,695 and not from the area at all. 43 00:02:25,145 --> 00:02:28,217 - As the American forces advance into Germany, 44 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,874 they're really entering the unknown. 45 00:02:30,978 --> 00:02:32,428 They have to be extremely careful 46 00:02:32,531 --> 00:02:35,465 because there are rumors and real suggestions 47 00:02:35,569 --> 00:02:37,950 that there may be Nazis hiding out, 48 00:02:38,054 --> 00:02:41,264 ready to attack these American forces. 49 00:02:41,368 --> 00:02:43,163 - [Narrator] Little do the American soldiers know, 50 00:02:43,266 --> 00:02:44,681 they're about to stumble upon one 51 00:02:44,785 --> 00:02:47,477 of the greatest treasure troves of all time. 52 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,136 - Some of the troops encounter two women 53 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,622 who tell a story of a salt mine 54 00:02:54,726 --> 00:02:57,107 that the Nazis had filled with gold. 55 00:02:57,211 --> 00:03:00,180 Over time, this rumor repeats itself 56 00:03:00,283 --> 00:03:04,149 and more civilians keep on suggesting the same thing. 57 00:03:04,253 --> 00:03:05,702 After enough rumors, 58 00:03:05,806 --> 00:03:08,533 there seems to be something worth investigating here, 59 00:03:08,636 --> 00:03:10,362 and the United States forces 60 00:03:10,466 --> 00:03:14,263 then go to check out this abandoned salt mine. 61 00:03:14,366 --> 00:03:16,265 - [Narrator] Half a stick of dynamite is all they need 62 00:03:16,368 --> 00:03:17,542 to blast through the walls. 63 00:03:17,645 --> 00:03:19,923 [dynamite explodes] 64 00:03:20,027 --> 00:03:21,787 - Just imagine what it must have been like 65 00:03:21,891 --> 00:03:23,824 for those American soldiers 66 00:03:23,927 --> 00:03:26,413 who probably quite tentatively went 67 00:03:26,516 --> 00:03:29,692 into this disused salt mine 68 00:03:29,795 --> 00:03:32,902 and were confronted with a veritable treasure trove 69 00:03:33,005 --> 00:03:36,492 of what happened to be stolen goods. 70 00:03:36,595 --> 00:03:39,184 Like something out of a movie, really. 71 00:03:39,288 --> 00:03:41,324 - [Narrator] Thousands of bags lined the inside 72 00:03:41,428 --> 00:03:44,707 of the 75-by-150-by-12-foot vault, 73 00:03:44,810 --> 00:03:48,124 stacked knee-high in more than 20 rows. 74 00:03:48,228 --> 00:03:49,919 As the bags are broken open, 75 00:03:50,022 --> 00:03:52,611 the full extent of the loot becomes clear. 76 00:03:52,715 --> 00:03:55,373 - Thousands of sacks of German currency, 77 00:03:55,476 --> 00:03:59,687 boxes of gold bullion, bags upon bags of silver, 78 00:03:59,791 --> 00:04:02,725 and vast amounts of gold. 79 00:04:02,828 --> 00:04:04,105 - Looted paintings, 80 00:04:04,209 --> 00:04:06,211 paintings of the great masters like Monet, 81 00:04:06,315 --> 00:04:09,318 that the Nazis have pilfered from around Europe. 82 00:04:09,421 --> 00:04:11,009 - And the US Treasury Department 83 00:04:11,112 --> 00:04:14,737 and the Bank of England valued the gold alone 84 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,604 at around $4 billion in today's money. 85 00:04:19,707 --> 00:04:22,331 - [Narrator] As enormous as the gold stores are at Merkers, 86 00:04:22,434 --> 00:04:25,713 they are only a fraction of the whole Nazi fortune. 87 00:04:25,817 --> 00:04:27,267 - The Nazis, of course, 88 00:04:27,370 --> 00:04:31,132 are a criminal enterprise, in all senses of the word. 89 00:04:31,236 --> 00:04:33,307 [tense music] 90 00:04:33,411 --> 00:04:36,690 It's a criminal enterprise with a very systematic process 91 00:04:36,793 --> 00:04:40,832 of looting everybody they invade and occupy. 92 00:04:42,247 --> 00:04:43,559 - [Narrator] The Nazis' plundering dates back 93 00:04:43,662 --> 00:04:45,354 to the earliest days of the regime, 94 00:04:45,457 --> 00:04:48,667 when Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany in 1933. 95 00:04:48,771 --> 00:04:50,945 [crowd cheers] 96 00:04:51,049 --> 00:04:53,983 Baked into Nazi ideology right from the beginning, 97 00:04:54,086 --> 00:04:56,399 the state-sanctioned seizure of Jewish businesses 98 00:04:56,503 --> 00:05:00,161 and land only intensifies as the war looms closer. 99 00:05:01,542 --> 00:05:03,233 - First, we have to understand the nature 100 00:05:03,337 --> 00:05:05,305 of the Nazi conquest. 101 00:05:05,408 --> 00:05:08,480 They understand it as an expression of their superiority. 102 00:05:08,584 --> 00:05:12,001 These are not people who have any sense of human rights 103 00:05:12,104 --> 00:05:13,382 or anything of that sort, 104 00:05:13,485 --> 00:05:15,142 so it was perfectly consistent 105 00:05:15,245 --> 00:05:17,386 for them to pillage everything. 106 00:05:17,489 --> 00:05:19,767 They could not have a moral qualm about this 107 00:05:19,871 --> 00:05:21,148 because they did not believe 108 00:05:21,251 --> 00:05:23,357 that the defeated were also human. 109 00:05:23,461 --> 00:05:25,463 [tense music] 110 00:05:25,566 --> 00:05:27,085 - [Narrator] Nazi hoarding wasn't solely 111 00:05:27,188 --> 00:05:29,467 about the cultural erasure of their victims 112 00:05:29,570 --> 00:05:31,848 or even about individual greed. 113 00:05:31,952 --> 00:05:35,369 Not only did the Nazis want gold, they needed it. 114 00:05:36,750 --> 00:05:38,441 Beginning in 1933, 115 00:05:38,545 --> 00:05:40,857 Hitler is desperate to portray Germany 116 00:05:40,961 --> 00:05:42,790 as a global financial power, 117 00:05:42,894 --> 00:05:44,654 especially coming out of the context 118 00:05:44,758 --> 00:05:46,276 of the Treaty of Versailles, 119 00:05:46,380 --> 00:05:47,761 which has gone to great lengths 120 00:05:47,864 --> 00:05:50,798 to limit the country's economic growth. 121 00:05:50,902 --> 00:05:52,352 - There is a sort of mythology 122 00:05:52,455 --> 00:05:55,458 that's developed around the appointment of Adolf Hitler 123 00:05:55,562 --> 00:05:57,149 as chancellor and the measures 124 00:05:57,253 --> 00:06:01,568 that his regime took to repair the German economy. 125 00:06:01,671 --> 00:06:03,742 These measures were largely achieved 126 00:06:03,846 --> 00:06:07,056 through what we would describe as massive deficit spending 127 00:06:07,159 --> 00:06:09,921 on infrastructure projects and rearmament. 128 00:06:10,024 --> 00:06:11,543 Who was going to pay for it? 129 00:06:11,647 --> 00:06:14,615 The Germans were practically insolvent by 1938 130 00:06:14,719 --> 00:06:16,445 as a function of all this spending. 131 00:06:17,653 --> 00:06:20,587 So in a pattern of circular logic, 132 00:06:20,690 --> 00:06:23,693 going to war to steal from one's neighbors was a way 133 00:06:23,797 --> 00:06:25,419 for paying for revitalization 134 00:06:25,523 --> 00:06:27,939 of the German economy during the depression years. 135 00:06:29,527 --> 00:06:32,392 - [Narrator] Hitler dreams of bringing Germany to autarky, 136 00:06:32,495 --> 00:06:35,533 complete economic self-sufficiency. 137 00:06:35,636 --> 00:06:38,639 This proves to be overly ambitious. 138 00:06:38,743 --> 00:06:41,642 Although the Nazis succeed in lowering unemployment rates 139 00:06:41,746 --> 00:06:45,301 and restoring a degree of national pride in the 1930s, 140 00:06:45,405 --> 00:06:47,993 they still can't afford to fund the war effort 141 00:06:48,097 --> 00:06:49,892 on the scale Hitler envisions. 142 00:06:51,411 --> 00:06:53,654 Autarky is made further impossible 143 00:06:53,758 --> 00:06:55,863 by Germany's dependence on other countries 144 00:06:55,967 --> 00:06:58,210 for raw material parts. 145 00:06:58,314 --> 00:07:00,005 For instance, they need: 146 00:07:00,109 --> 00:07:01,559 tungsten from Portugal 147 00:07:01,662 --> 00:07:04,631 for armor-piercing bullets and shells, 148 00:07:04,734 --> 00:07:09,359 chrome from Turkey for manufacturing tanks and aircraft, 149 00:07:09,463 --> 00:07:13,778 high-grade oil as fuel for tanks from Romania, 150 00:07:13,881 --> 00:07:15,918 and ball bearings from Sweden. 151 00:07:16,021 --> 00:07:19,646 However, none of these countries accept German currency. 152 00:07:19,749 --> 00:07:21,164 Gold becomes the only way 153 00:07:21,268 --> 00:07:25,099 the Nazis can keep their military ambitions afloat. 154 00:07:25,203 --> 00:07:27,205 - German currency was not welcome 155 00:07:27,308 --> 00:07:28,931 throughout most of the world. 156 00:07:29,034 --> 00:07:33,142 When the Germans needed resources, goods, 157 00:07:33,245 --> 00:07:35,144 things that they could not make at home, 158 00:07:35,247 --> 00:07:37,042 they needed to buy them from abroad, 159 00:07:37,146 --> 00:07:39,182 and they needed to pay for them with gold. 160 00:07:41,115 --> 00:07:43,048 [gentle music] 161 00:07:43,152 --> 00:07:47,467 - Gold is really interesting when it comes to our brains. 162 00:07:47,570 --> 00:07:49,779 We like shiny things. 163 00:07:49,883 --> 00:07:51,643 Gold is very shiny. 164 00:07:51,747 --> 00:07:53,956 We like things that are warm colors. 165 00:07:54,059 --> 00:07:57,028 Gold is a nice warm color like the sun. 166 00:07:57,131 --> 00:07:59,064 Gold is soft and malleable. 167 00:07:59,168 --> 00:08:00,583 You can make thread out of it. 168 00:08:00,687 --> 00:08:02,412 You can make jewelry out of it. 169 00:08:02,516 --> 00:08:05,070 You can show it off and show your wealth. 170 00:08:05,174 --> 00:08:08,522 We've placed a lot of value on gold. 171 00:08:08,626 --> 00:08:09,868 - Gold is coveted by humans 172 00:08:09,972 --> 00:08:12,422 because we've made it something to covet. 173 00:08:13,596 --> 00:08:15,702 - It wasn't useful like aluminum 174 00:08:15,805 --> 00:08:18,359 and iron and all these other things, 175 00:08:18,463 --> 00:08:21,328 but it was useful in terms of a status symbol, 176 00:08:21,431 --> 00:08:23,848 in terms of wealth. 177 00:08:23,951 --> 00:08:26,057 - The gold standard. That's the saying, right? 178 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:27,679 Like, it's built right in there. 179 00:08:27,783 --> 00:08:29,888 [artillery blasting] 180 00:08:29,992 --> 00:08:31,303 - [Narrator] When the Nazis invade Poland 181 00:08:31,407 --> 00:08:33,823 on September 1st, 1939, 182 00:08:33,927 --> 00:08:36,412 they continue to take virtually anything of value 183 00:08:36,516 --> 00:08:38,310 from the homes of private citizens 184 00:08:38,414 --> 00:08:41,072 and move on to bank vaults and museums. 185 00:08:42,832 --> 00:08:47,181 - It starts at the top with the gold reserves of a nation. 186 00:08:48,838 --> 00:08:52,152 Because often Nazis attacked without a declaration of war, 187 00:08:52,255 --> 00:08:55,396 nations did not prepare to evacuate their gold reserves, 188 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:57,295 and the Nazis overrun them. 189 00:08:57,398 --> 00:09:00,850 They're also seizing artwork from museums. 190 00:09:00,954 --> 00:09:05,890 So there is a kind of nation-to-nation looting 191 00:09:05,993 --> 00:09:07,995 that is taking place. 192 00:09:08,099 --> 00:09:09,479 - From the Jewish people, 193 00:09:09,583 --> 00:09:11,792 they took anything that they had on their person. 194 00:09:11,896 --> 00:09:15,900 They would melt it down if it was gold and repurpose it. 195 00:09:16,003 --> 00:09:20,974 They showed no respect to person, place, or thing. 196 00:09:22,492 --> 00:09:23,632 - [Narrator] But less than a month after the war begins, 197 00:09:23,735 --> 00:09:25,495 this mass looting and smuggling operation 198 00:09:25,599 --> 00:09:27,325 would hit its first stumbling block. 199 00:09:28,740 --> 00:09:30,984 [ominous music] 200 00:09:31,087 --> 00:09:32,813 - In the early months of the war, 201 00:09:32,917 --> 00:09:35,505 a German ship, the SS Minden, 202 00:09:35,609 --> 00:09:38,992 left Brazil en route to Germany. 203 00:09:39,095 --> 00:09:41,373 - [Narrator] On September 24th, 1939, 204 00:09:41,477 --> 00:09:43,375 the ship was positioned between Iceland 205 00:09:43,479 --> 00:09:45,585 and the Faroe Islands when it was intercepted 206 00:09:45,688 --> 00:09:47,863 by two British cruisers. 207 00:09:47,966 --> 00:09:50,313 To prevent British troops from seizing the ship, 208 00:09:50,417 --> 00:09:52,212 along with all its cargo, 209 00:09:52,315 --> 00:09:54,732 the SS Minden was scuttled by the crew, 210 00:09:54,835 --> 00:09:59,115 following orders from either the captain or Hitler himself. 211 00:09:59,219 --> 00:10:02,567 - It was sunk on purpose by its crew. 212 00:10:02,671 --> 00:10:05,259 It suggests that there was something important on it. 213 00:10:06,709 --> 00:10:07,986 - [Narrator] According to the official ship manifest 214 00:10:08,090 --> 00:10:10,713 of the SS Minden at the time of its sinking, 215 00:10:10,817 --> 00:10:13,198 the vessel was carrying resin from Brazil, 216 00:10:13,302 --> 00:10:15,097 intended for industrial use, 217 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,859 having unloaded any precious cargo in South America. 218 00:10:18,963 --> 00:10:21,275 But what if this isn't the full story? 219 00:10:22,622 --> 00:10:24,244 - If they had something really important, 220 00:10:24,347 --> 00:10:27,074 of course the logs would say that they weren't carrying it. 221 00:10:28,869 --> 00:10:31,078 - German banks were global enterprises 222 00:10:31,182 --> 00:10:33,253 that had branches around the world. 223 00:10:33,356 --> 00:10:36,221 And some of these German banks actually had branches 224 00:10:36,325 --> 00:10:40,260 in South America, in Argentina and in Brazil. 225 00:10:40,363 --> 00:10:43,297 When war broke out in 1939, 226 00:10:43,401 --> 00:10:48,371 Germany and German banks were recalling gold to Germany. 227 00:10:49,234 --> 00:10:50,650 A legend has developed 228 00:10:50,753 --> 00:10:53,307 that the Minden's crew actually took this step 229 00:10:53,411 --> 00:10:58,036 because it was carrying treasure, that it was carrying gold. 230 00:10:58,140 --> 00:10:59,762 - [Narrator] Nazi Germany's relationship 231 00:10:59,866 --> 00:11:03,421 to South America proved crucial during and after the war. 232 00:11:03,524 --> 00:11:06,458 Argentina and Brazil were particularly important, 233 00:11:06,562 --> 00:11:08,909 as they had strong political and economic ties 234 00:11:09,013 --> 00:11:11,291 to Germany dating back decades. 235 00:11:11,394 --> 00:11:13,638 - You know, you have the dictatorial systems there 236 00:11:13,742 --> 00:11:16,779 that are very sympathetic with fascism. 237 00:11:16,883 --> 00:11:21,301 You also have large German populations in South America. 238 00:11:22,751 --> 00:11:24,200 - [Narrator] In the 1930s, 239 00:11:24,304 --> 00:11:26,824 the German and Brazilian economies are complementary, 240 00:11:26,927 --> 00:11:28,446 both lack foreign exchange, 241 00:11:28,549 --> 00:11:31,000 and agree to non-standard trade policies. 242 00:11:32,208 --> 00:11:34,107 Germany is especially interested 243 00:11:34,210 --> 00:11:37,766 in the large untapped resources of iron ore in Brazil 244 00:11:37,869 --> 00:11:39,181 and wants to establish itself 245 00:11:39,284 --> 00:11:41,804 as the country's chief trading partner. 246 00:11:41,908 --> 00:11:44,324 The SS Minden represents just one link 247 00:11:44,427 --> 00:11:46,982 in the strengthening chain between South America 248 00:11:47,085 --> 00:11:48,259 and the Third Reich. 249 00:11:49,778 --> 00:11:52,159 - In the lead-up to the second World War, 250 00:11:52,263 --> 00:11:56,508 the Nazis made a number of modifications to the SS Minden. 251 00:11:56,612 --> 00:12:01,651 Firstly, they extended its length from 109 to 116 meters, 252 00:12:02,825 --> 00:12:04,240 and they also added a steam turbine 253 00:12:04,344 --> 00:12:07,209 for its journeys back and forth across the Atlantic, 254 00:12:07,312 --> 00:12:11,282 which would've not only increased its capacity as a vessel, 255 00:12:11,385 --> 00:12:15,527 it would also have made it a faster, more efficient ship. 256 00:12:15,631 --> 00:12:17,253 - [Narrator] We know the SS Minden was designed 257 00:12:17,357 --> 00:12:19,600 to carry heavy loads across the Atlantic. 258 00:12:19,704 --> 00:12:21,257 So the question remains: 259 00:12:21,361 --> 00:12:22,776 At the time of its sinking, 260 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,090 was the SS Minden carrying gold back to Germany, 261 00:12:26,193 --> 00:12:28,851 or had it already deposited gold in Brazil 262 00:12:28,955 --> 00:12:32,130 and was carrying resin, as the ship manifest stated? 263 00:12:34,029 --> 00:12:36,410 - The SS Minden was all but forgotten 264 00:12:36,514 --> 00:12:38,861 as an early casualty of the war 265 00:12:38,965 --> 00:12:42,727 until its rediscovery in 2017. 266 00:12:42,831 --> 00:12:44,798 [mysterious music] 267 00:12:44,902 --> 00:12:47,387 - [Narrator] The UK-based Advanced Marine Services conducts 268 00:12:47,490 --> 00:12:51,218 a survey off the Icelandic coast and finds the wreckage. 269 00:12:51,322 --> 00:12:54,083 Its known Nazi origin makes this a compelling site 270 00:12:54,187 --> 00:12:56,292 for further exploration. 271 00:12:56,396 --> 00:12:58,674 What could it have been carrying? 272 00:12:58,778 --> 00:13:00,262 - The only reason they would sink it 273 00:13:00,365 --> 00:13:01,815 that makes sense to us as a mystery 274 00:13:01,919 --> 00:13:03,990 is that there's something of value. 275 00:13:04,093 --> 00:13:05,405 - [Narrator] The search of the ship is halted 276 00:13:05,508 --> 00:13:06,924 by the Icelandic Coast Guard 277 00:13:07,027 --> 00:13:09,098 for not having the right license. 278 00:13:09,202 --> 00:13:11,721 During this time, rumors of a chest containing 279 00:13:11,825 --> 00:13:14,966 approximately $130 million worth 280 00:13:15,070 --> 00:13:17,658 of Nazi gold are widely reported. 281 00:13:17,762 --> 00:13:20,627 But when the search is finally completed a year later, 282 00:13:20,730 --> 00:13:22,042 nothing is found. 283 00:13:22,146 --> 00:13:25,321 [mysterious music] 284 00:13:25,425 --> 00:13:26,875 Despite the official report, 285 00:13:26,978 --> 00:13:28,462 the great lengths Nazis went to 286 00:13:28,566 --> 00:13:31,224 in hiding their stolen loot leaves us wondering, 287 00:13:31,327 --> 00:13:33,778 could researchers have missed something? 288 00:13:33,882 --> 00:13:35,987 Might there still be stolen treasure waiting 289 00:13:36,091 --> 00:13:38,507 to be discovered off the Icelandic shore? 290 00:13:39,957 --> 00:13:42,580 - Could there yet still be gold onboard this ship 291 00:13:42,683 --> 00:13:44,133 at the bottom of the sea? 292 00:13:44,237 --> 00:13:48,828 And if not, then why are we still so fascinated by it? 293 00:13:48,931 --> 00:13:52,003 - Shipwrecks have been associated with treasure ever 294 00:13:52,107 --> 00:13:54,247 since people have been sailing the seas. 295 00:13:54,350 --> 00:13:56,697 - And I think the historicity adds to it, 296 00:13:56,801 --> 00:13:58,251 especially if it comes from something 297 00:13:58,354 --> 00:14:01,219 as dark and sinister as the Nazi era. 298 00:14:01,323 --> 00:14:04,050 It has that much more appeal to some people. 299 00:14:04,153 --> 00:14:06,293 - There's something about our psyche 300 00:14:06,397 --> 00:14:09,055 that we like to hold onto the hope 301 00:14:09,158 --> 00:14:11,091 that this could be true, 302 00:14:11,195 --> 00:14:13,197 that it really is out there somewhere. 303 00:14:13,300 --> 00:14:15,199 [tense music] 304 00:14:15,302 --> 00:14:16,821 - [Narrator] As the Nazi regime worked hard 305 00:14:16,925 --> 00:14:18,443 to establish international links 306 00:14:18,547 --> 00:14:20,514 through trade and treasure smuggling, 307 00:14:20,618 --> 00:14:22,792 individual officers were also careful 308 00:14:22,896 --> 00:14:24,864 to secure their own personal stashes 309 00:14:24,967 --> 00:14:27,901 of stolen assets all over the occupied world. 310 00:14:29,489 --> 00:14:33,355 - On the one hand, as the Nazis are extracting this wealth, 311 00:14:33,458 --> 00:14:36,323 they're keeping very good records of what they've taken 312 00:14:36,427 --> 00:14:38,049 and where they're keeping it. 313 00:14:38,153 --> 00:14:39,533 But at the same time, 314 00:14:39,637 --> 00:14:41,777 we don't know if those records are complete. 315 00:14:41,881 --> 00:14:45,022 - Because of the power and the authority they wielded, 316 00:14:45,125 --> 00:14:48,888 many top Nazi officials were in the perfect position 317 00:14:48,991 --> 00:14:53,202 to collect their own private stashes of stolen gold. 318 00:14:54,790 --> 00:14:56,067 - [Narrator] Erwin Rommel is one 319 00:14:56,171 --> 00:14:59,001 of Nazi Germany's most infamous generals. 320 00:14:59,105 --> 00:15:01,590 His leadership of German and Italian forces 321 00:15:01,693 --> 00:15:04,834 in the North African campaign established his reputation 322 00:15:04,938 --> 00:15:08,700 as a gifted tank commander and military tactician. 323 00:15:08,804 --> 00:15:11,496 He earned the nickname Desert Fox 324 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,361 and was even respected by his Allied enemies 325 00:15:14,465 --> 00:15:17,399 for his relative chivalry and popular motto, 326 00:15:17,502 --> 00:15:19,746 "War without hate." 327 00:15:19,849 --> 00:15:22,852 - Because of his achievements in the First World War, 328 00:15:22,956 --> 00:15:24,302 his achievements in Africa, 329 00:15:24,406 --> 00:15:27,685 he was a very well-respected soldier, 330 00:15:27,788 --> 00:15:29,376 well-respected general. 331 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:31,792 He had written books on infantry tactics and so forth. 332 00:15:31,896 --> 00:15:33,001 So he was a legend. 333 00:15:34,485 --> 00:15:36,211 - [Narrator] During his campaigns in North Africa, 334 00:15:36,314 --> 00:15:37,695 Rommel's unit is said 335 00:15:37,798 --> 00:15:39,904 to have amassed more than 20 million pounds worth 336 00:15:40,008 --> 00:15:43,011 of gold and other precious objects looted primarily 337 00:15:43,114 --> 00:15:45,565 from Jewish people in Tunisia. 338 00:15:45,668 --> 00:15:48,430 The treasure was supposedly loaded aboard a ship 339 00:15:48,533 --> 00:15:53,090 to be sent to Germany, but the fate of that gold is unclear. 340 00:15:53,193 --> 00:15:56,265 Some believe the vessel sank near the coast of Corsica, 341 00:15:56,369 --> 00:15:58,958 and others think it may have been purposefully hidden 342 00:15:59,061 --> 00:16:00,545 by retreating Nazis. 343 00:16:01,753 --> 00:16:03,514 - It would be crazy for it 344 00:16:03,617 --> 00:16:06,413 to just be a normal random act of chance 345 00:16:06,517 --> 00:16:08,760 that caused this thing to sink. 346 00:16:08,864 --> 00:16:12,626 We downplay natural causes 347 00:16:12,730 --> 00:16:14,628 because most of the things we do 348 00:16:14,732 --> 00:16:17,459 in our lives are based on choices we make 349 00:16:17,562 --> 00:16:19,564 or the choices people around us make. 350 00:16:19,668 --> 00:16:21,290 And so when something goes missing, 351 00:16:21,394 --> 00:16:23,465 somebody caused it to go missing. 352 00:16:23,568 --> 00:16:25,018 We know it wasn't enemy action, 353 00:16:25,122 --> 00:16:27,814 so it had to be somebody who was involved. 354 00:16:27,917 --> 00:16:31,576 And that means in the case of an awful lot of gold, 355 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:33,993 it's about greed and thievery. 356 00:16:34,096 --> 00:16:35,960 - Is it possible that Erwin Rommel 357 00:16:36,064 --> 00:16:38,894 or other senior Nazis stole gold and were trying to hide it? 358 00:16:38,998 --> 00:16:42,035 For sure, it's possible. I mean, these were the Nazis. 359 00:16:42,139 --> 00:16:44,969 - If you're told that stealing is part of your mandate, 360 00:16:45,073 --> 00:16:47,937 it's built in, then that becomes behavior that's acceptable. 361 00:16:48,041 --> 00:16:51,113 So whether everything you steal you give back to the state, 362 00:16:51,217 --> 00:16:52,632 or you keep some of it for yourself, 363 00:16:52,735 --> 00:16:54,772 you've moralized yourself that it's all right. 364 00:16:54,875 --> 00:16:57,292 [tense music] 365 00:16:57,395 --> 00:16:59,949 - [Narrator] In 1944, Rommel is implicated 366 00:17:00,053 --> 00:17:03,988 in the 20th of July plot to assassinate Hitler. 367 00:17:04,092 --> 00:17:07,026 - 20th of July plot is the culmination of a series 368 00:17:07,129 --> 00:17:11,202 of attempts on the part of some German commanders 369 00:17:11,306 --> 00:17:14,723 to basically unseat Hitler through assassination 370 00:17:14,826 --> 00:17:17,519 and steer the course of the war in a different direction 371 00:17:17,622 --> 00:17:19,486 that hopefully, from their perspective, 372 00:17:19,590 --> 00:17:21,902 would not result in the complete destruction 373 00:17:22,006 --> 00:17:24,353 of German society as they knew it. 374 00:17:24,457 --> 00:17:27,425 Perhaps through negotiated settlement with the Allies. 375 00:17:28,944 --> 00:17:30,704 - [Narrator] At the time of the assassination attempt, 376 00:17:30,808 --> 00:17:33,431 Rommel is serving as a high-ranking field marshal. 377 00:17:33,535 --> 00:17:37,711 His reputation prompts Hitler to make him an uncommon offer. 378 00:17:37,815 --> 00:17:39,851 Rather than face a humiliating trial 379 00:17:39,955 --> 00:17:42,199 that would lead to a certain death sentence, 380 00:17:42,302 --> 00:17:44,684 Rommel is given the chance to take his own life, 381 00:17:44,787 --> 00:17:48,308 leaving his reputation intact and his family unharmed. 382 00:17:50,172 --> 00:17:52,036 - I think there was some interest on the part of Hitler 383 00:17:52,140 --> 00:17:55,177 and others that Rommel chose the second option 384 00:17:55,281 --> 00:17:56,937 because it certainly would not have been 385 00:17:57,041 --> 00:17:58,594 a very good public relations 386 00:17:58,698 --> 00:18:01,666 if this commander who would've been so widely lionized 387 00:18:01,770 --> 00:18:05,774 by the propaganda machine turns out to be executed 388 00:18:05,877 --> 00:18:08,604 as one of the 20th of July plotters. 389 00:18:08,708 --> 00:18:10,261 - [Narrator] On October 14th, 390 00:18:10,365 --> 00:18:13,989 Rommel swallows a cyanide capsule and dies minutes later. 391 00:18:15,163 --> 00:18:16,785 - Only under those circumstances 392 00:18:16,888 --> 00:18:19,443 would the Nazis leave his family alone. 393 00:18:19,546 --> 00:18:20,754 - [Narrator] Any secret information he 394 00:18:20,858 --> 00:18:22,584 is holding dies with him, 395 00:18:22,687 --> 00:18:25,828 leaving only the mystery of his legendary gold. 396 00:18:28,452 --> 00:18:30,902 - Rumors suggest that Rommel's men took 397 00:18:31,006 --> 00:18:35,942 six large steel cases containing 440 pounds 398 00:18:36,045 --> 00:18:39,566 of gold bullion with them when they left North Africa. 399 00:18:39,670 --> 00:18:41,396 Well, if those rumors are true, 400 00:18:41,499 --> 00:18:42,776 what happened to all that? 401 00:18:44,295 --> 00:18:45,952 - [Narrator] Some believe the gold was smuggled to Italy, 402 00:18:46,055 --> 00:18:49,542 while most think it was likely sunk close to the coast. 403 00:18:49,645 --> 00:18:51,578 None of it has ever been located 404 00:18:51,682 --> 00:18:54,374 despite hundreds of searches. 405 00:18:54,478 --> 00:18:56,549 - Why we can't find it is probably 406 00:18:56,652 --> 00:19:01,243 because it has disintegrated on the ocean floor over time. 407 00:19:01,347 --> 00:19:03,521 The containers in which gold bars 408 00:19:03,625 --> 00:19:05,730 would've been kept are metal, 409 00:19:05,834 --> 00:19:08,699 and that metal erodes, especially in the ocean depths. 410 00:19:08,802 --> 00:19:10,183 So, you know, it's quite likely 411 00:19:10,287 --> 00:19:12,289 that everything sank right into the sand. 412 00:19:13,531 --> 00:19:15,602 - And one of the only real effective means 413 00:19:15,706 --> 00:19:17,052 of recovering it would be 414 00:19:17,156 --> 00:19:19,503 through something called vacuuming the sea floor, 415 00:19:19,606 --> 00:19:23,334 which is incredibly costly and incredibly time consuming. 416 00:19:23,438 --> 00:19:25,198 Which leaves you wondering 417 00:19:25,302 --> 00:19:29,616 whether this vast personal fortune will ever be found. 418 00:19:30,997 --> 00:19:33,275 [ominous music] 419 00:19:33,379 --> 00:19:34,863 - [Narrator] Over the course of World War II, 420 00:19:34,966 --> 00:19:37,486 the Nazis loot immense amounts of gold, treasure, 421 00:19:37,590 --> 00:19:39,937 and valuables across Europe and Africa. 422 00:19:41,525 --> 00:19:45,253 - Occupied Poland is basically the clearing house 423 00:19:45,356 --> 00:19:48,014 for all of these deported individuals 424 00:19:48,117 --> 00:19:51,328 who are being fed into the extermination facilities 425 00:19:51,431 --> 00:19:55,090 and for so much looted material from Eastern Europe. 426 00:19:55,194 --> 00:19:58,300 - We have instances of castles, palaces, 427 00:19:58,404 --> 00:20:00,682 significant structures becoming kind 428 00:20:00,785 --> 00:20:03,581 of private store houses or private stashes 429 00:20:03,685 --> 00:20:05,687 for some of the Nazi officials. 430 00:20:05,790 --> 00:20:06,998 - After the war, 431 00:20:07,102 --> 00:20:09,000 teams of historians have traveled right 432 00:20:09,104 --> 00:20:12,211 across the Lower Silesia region of Poland 433 00:20:12,314 --> 00:20:16,456 in search of stashes of stolen gold and artworks. 434 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,977 And one such stash was found in the former hunting lodge 435 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:23,222 of Hermann Goring, the Paulinum Palace. 436 00:20:24,395 --> 00:20:25,810 - [Narrator] This palace, 437 00:20:25,914 --> 00:20:27,812 in the Lower Silesia region of modern-day Poland, 438 00:20:27,916 --> 00:20:31,126 was used for multiple purposes by the Nazis. 439 00:20:31,230 --> 00:20:33,818 In 1933, the palace was purchased 440 00:20:33,922 --> 00:20:38,098 for 70,000 marks by the famous Nazi German Labour Front 441 00:20:38,202 --> 00:20:40,239 and used as a training facility 442 00:20:40,342 --> 00:20:43,311 to teach Nazi anti-union ideology. 443 00:20:45,278 --> 00:20:47,038 - In all of the occupied territories, 444 00:20:47,142 --> 00:20:51,629 the Nazis make use of existing facilities and structures. 445 00:20:51,733 --> 00:20:54,943 So it would be pretty typical for a building like that 446 00:20:55,046 --> 00:20:58,015 to be repurposed during occupation. 447 00:20:58,118 --> 00:21:00,155 - [Narrator] It is claimed that the palace was also used 448 00:21:00,259 --> 00:21:03,745 as a storage place for top Nazi officials' personal stashes 449 00:21:03,848 --> 00:21:04,884 of stolen wealth. 450 00:21:04,987 --> 00:21:07,680 Most notably, Hermann Goring. 451 00:21:07,783 --> 00:21:10,648 This is said to have become the palace's primary function 452 00:21:10,752 --> 00:21:12,167 as the war came to an end 453 00:21:12,271 --> 00:21:14,687 and the Russian Army closed in on Berlin. 454 00:21:16,482 --> 00:21:18,967 The SS officers, including Karl Hanke, 455 00:21:19,070 --> 00:21:21,349 the last gauleiter of Lower Silesia, 456 00:21:21,452 --> 00:21:23,247 are rumored to have hidden their valuables 457 00:21:23,351 --> 00:21:25,801 in a huge park that surrounds the palace. 458 00:21:26,975 --> 00:21:28,287 - So at the end of the war, 459 00:21:28,390 --> 00:21:30,565 where the invasion is inevitable 460 00:21:30,668 --> 00:21:33,188 and Germany knows that they're going to lose this war, 461 00:21:33,292 --> 00:21:36,847 there's a scramble to try to secure these assets 462 00:21:36,950 --> 00:21:38,469 that they have attained, 463 00:21:38,573 --> 00:21:40,437 to put them somewhere safe where, 464 00:21:40,540 --> 00:21:42,093 perhaps at a later date, 465 00:21:42,197 --> 00:21:45,373 some can come back and unearth them. 466 00:21:45,476 --> 00:21:46,926 - [Narrator] The questions of whether 467 00:21:47,029 --> 00:21:49,963 or when these valuables were recovered remain unanswered. 468 00:21:52,103 --> 00:21:55,590 After the war, the palace became a sort of triage center. 469 00:21:55,693 --> 00:21:57,385 The Nazis stole tens of millions 470 00:21:57,488 --> 00:21:59,387 of precious artifacts from Poland, 471 00:21:59,490 --> 00:22:02,459 and it was necessary to create temporary warehouses 472 00:22:02,562 --> 00:22:04,909 for the recovered works of art. 473 00:22:05,013 --> 00:22:07,187 Paulinum became the most important one 474 00:22:07,291 --> 00:22:10,467 and was dubbed the Monuments Men Palace. 475 00:22:10,570 --> 00:22:13,815 - The Monuments Men are a team of American experts 476 00:22:13,918 --> 00:22:16,542 and were brought on to catalog the tremendous amounts 477 00:22:16,645 --> 00:22:20,684 of artifacts and valuables that had been taken by the Nazis 478 00:22:20,787 --> 00:22:22,306 and found in various locations. 479 00:22:23,618 --> 00:22:25,689 The Americans understand, to their credit, 480 00:22:25,792 --> 00:22:28,070 that they need to rebuild, not just economically, 481 00:22:28,174 --> 00:22:31,660 but also in a sense of political and cultural integrity. 482 00:22:31,764 --> 00:22:33,938 So the Dutch people deserve the Dutch art back 483 00:22:34,042 --> 00:22:36,458 and the French people the French art back. 484 00:22:36,562 --> 00:22:39,323 - The idea was to store and catalog the pieces of art 485 00:22:39,427 --> 00:22:40,911 before sending the collections back 486 00:22:41,014 --> 00:22:42,740 to their previous owners. 487 00:22:42,844 --> 00:22:46,192 But the truth is that many of them disappeared, 488 00:22:46,295 --> 00:22:49,368 stolen by a local crew, lost during transport, 489 00:22:49,471 --> 00:22:51,853 or distributed among some local museums 490 00:22:51,956 --> 00:22:54,718 where they're still stored in warehouses. 491 00:22:54,821 --> 00:22:56,305 - Not surprisingly, 492 00:22:56,409 --> 00:23:00,517 as the situation becomes more disorganized and chaotic, 493 00:23:00,620 --> 00:23:03,934 that central authorities increasingly lose their grip 494 00:23:04,037 --> 00:23:06,315 on where items are ending up. 495 00:23:06,419 --> 00:23:08,421 - Who has them? Where are they? 496 00:23:08,525 --> 00:23:10,803 Are they in an underground bunker somewhere? 497 00:23:10,906 --> 00:23:12,770 - It's a sad part of war 498 00:23:12,874 --> 00:23:14,807 that we lose those pieces of culture. 499 00:23:16,291 --> 00:23:18,189 - [Narrator] As defeat bears down on the Nazi Army, 500 00:23:18,293 --> 00:23:19,812 high-ranking officers scrambled 501 00:23:19,915 --> 00:23:22,297 to keep track of their stolen treasure. 502 00:23:22,401 --> 00:23:24,403 Yet, across occupied territory, 503 00:23:24,506 --> 00:23:27,889 top-secret operations are unfolding on a much larger scale 504 00:23:27,992 --> 00:23:29,960 to do the exact opposite. 505 00:23:31,306 --> 00:23:34,792 In 1945, locals surrounding Lake Toplitz 506 00:23:34,896 --> 00:23:36,898 in the Austrian Alps report seeing 507 00:23:37,001 --> 00:23:39,866 heavily armored SS vehicles approach the shore 508 00:23:39,970 --> 00:23:41,178 under the cover of night. 509 00:23:43,629 --> 00:23:46,114 - Put yourself in the shoes of one of these locals. 510 00:23:46,217 --> 00:23:50,014 All of a sudden, these convoys are arriving at night, 511 00:23:50,118 --> 00:23:53,052 under guard, and you can see them taking things 512 00:23:53,155 --> 00:23:55,882 and dumping them into this lake. 513 00:23:55,986 --> 00:23:58,471 What are they getting rid of? What are they hiding? 514 00:23:59,990 --> 00:24:02,095 - [Narrator] Lake Toplitz is stunning. 515 00:24:02,199 --> 00:24:03,890 Surrounded by dense woodland, 516 00:24:03,994 --> 00:24:06,272 its idyllic appearance contrasts sharply 517 00:24:06,375 --> 00:24:08,930 with the eerie depths of the water. 518 00:24:09,033 --> 00:24:11,933 While fish swim happily near the lake's surface, 519 00:24:12,036 --> 00:24:15,764 any trace of life vanishes just 20 meters down. 520 00:24:15,868 --> 00:24:17,663 There is no oxygen here; 521 00:24:17,766 --> 00:24:20,942 the water turns from fresh to salt. 522 00:24:21,045 --> 00:24:25,325 - The unique composition of both seawater and freshwater 523 00:24:25,429 --> 00:24:28,846 in Lake Toplitz has created this almost barrier 524 00:24:28,950 --> 00:24:32,401 of logs that are partially floating 20 meters down 525 00:24:32,505 --> 00:24:33,851 from the surface, 526 00:24:33,955 --> 00:24:36,198 which makes it a very difficult 527 00:24:36,302 --> 00:24:39,029 and very dangerous place to search. 528 00:24:40,548 --> 00:24:42,411 - [Narrator] At least five divers have lost their lives 529 00:24:42,515 --> 00:24:43,896 in recent decades, 530 00:24:43,999 --> 00:24:46,588 though the actual number is thought to be higher. 531 00:24:46,692 --> 00:24:48,763 One of these was a US Navy diver, 532 00:24:48,866 --> 00:24:51,662 who drowned in 1947 as part of a team sent 533 00:24:51,766 --> 00:24:53,664 to explore the lake. 534 00:24:53,768 --> 00:24:56,529 As a result, diving here is banned. 535 00:24:57,875 --> 00:24:59,981 But what brought these people to Toplitz? 536 00:25:00,084 --> 00:25:03,294 And why were they willing to risk their lives? 537 00:25:03,398 --> 00:25:06,574 - Lake Toplitz is an eerie lake 538 00:25:06,677 --> 00:25:10,025 that really seems to raise a lot of questions. 539 00:25:10,129 --> 00:25:11,993 - [Narrator] Legend tells of the Nazis sinking up 540 00:25:12,096 --> 00:25:15,203 to $5 billion worth of gold in the lake. 541 00:25:15,306 --> 00:25:18,447 But with the water reaching over 300 feet deep in areas, 542 00:25:18,551 --> 00:25:20,277 combined with the floating forest, 543 00:25:20,380 --> 00:25:23,073 a thorough search is practically impossible. 544 00:25:24,695 --> 00:25:26,904 - It almost could be something out of Greek mythology, 545 00:25:27,008 --> 00:25:28,941 where somebody has to go on a quest 546 00:25:29,044 --> 00:25:31,184 and pass through the barrier of logs 547 00:25:31,288 --> 00:25:34,291 or whatever to get down to some mythical items 548 00:25:34,394 --> 00:25:37,225 at the bottom of the lake that might not actually be there. 549 00:25:37,328 --> 00:25:39,158 - Now, when we consider that this place 550 00:25:39,261 --> 00:25:42,955 is not particularly suited for the recovery of materials, 551 00:25:43,058 --> 00:25:45,613 to my mind, it seems like it was more of a dumping ground 552 00:25:45,716 --> 00:25:47,718 than a place to store stuff. 553 00:25:47,822 --> 00:25:50,721 - And that changes the narrative or the ideas 554 00:25:50,825 --> 00:25:53,068 about what was in those crates. 555 00:25:53,172 --> 00:25:55,484 We're putting things someplace inaccessible, 556 00:25:55,588 --> 00:25:59,212 someplace no man will ever be able to see it again. 557 00:25:59,316 --> 00:26:02,595 So what is that? Probably not gold. 558 00:26:04,079 --> 00:26:06,703 - [Narrator] In 1959, a shocking discovery is made 559 00:26:06,806 --> 00:26:08,946 when investigators successfully recovered 560 00:26:09,050 --> 00:26:12,363 700 million pounds worth of bank notes from the lake. 561 00:26:13,779 --> 00:26:15,815 How did so much English currency find its way 562 00:26:15,919 --> 00:26:18,473 to the depths of an Austrian lake? 563 00:26:21,165 --> 00:26:22,719 Lake Toplitz was initially part 564 00:26:22,822 --> 00:26:24,652 of a Nazi naval testing station. 565 00:26:26,550 --> 00:26:29,173 Scientists experimented with copper diaphragms, 566 00:26:29,277 --> 00:26:33,902 detonating enormous 4,000-kilo charges at various depths. 567 00:26:34,006 --> 00:26:35,766 But the recovered money was traced back 568 00:26:35,870 --> 00:26:37,872 to a separate Nazi initiative, 569 00:26:37,975 --> 00:26:40,978 a master plan to tank the British economy, 570 00:26:41,082 --> 00:26:43,878 known as Operation Bernhard. 571 00:26:43,981 --> 00:26:46,501 - Operation Bernhard is a German plan 572 00:26:46,605 --> 00:26:48,986 to destabilize the British economy, 573 00:26:49,090 --> 00:26:53,335 principally by creating a lot of counterfeit notes. 574 00:26:55,303 --> 00:26:57,374 - [Narrator] Rather than use expert counterfeiters, 575 00:26:57,477 --> 00:27:00,032 prisoners from various concentration camps are taken 576 00:27:00,135 --> 00:27:02,966 to Sachsenhausen to produce the money. 577 00:27:03,069 --> 00:27:05,106 The plan is to drop the forged notes 578 00:27:05,209 --> 00:27:07,108 over Britain by airplane. 579 00:27:07,211 --> 00:27:10,180 However, most of the notes are laundered instead 580 00:27:10,283 --> 00:27:13,355 and used to fund the German military. 581 00:27:13,459 --> 00:27:15,012 - This plan goes awry. 582 00:27:15,116 --> 00:27:18,706 The forgeries do not break the British economy. 583 00:27:18,809 --> 00:27:22,848 And yet, these forgeries are so good that after the war, 584 00:27:22,951 --> 00:27:27,300 the British have to redesign their pound notes to make sure 585 00:27:27,404 --> 00:27:30,994 that it's no longer fake Nazi pounds circulating 586 00:27:31,097 --> 00:27:32,305 in British wallets. 587 00:27:33,790 --> 00:27:35,170 - [Narrator] The production of counterfeit bills stops 588 00:27:35,274 --> 00:27:38,622 by March 1945 with the advance of the Allies. 589 00:27:38,726 --> 00:27:41,590 - People want to eradicate any kind of evidence, 590 00:27:41,694 --> 00:27:44,973 especially if you're a senior Nazi or even a mid-level Nazi. 591 00:27:45,077 --> 00:27:46,837 You gotta be worried about the paper trail 592 00:27:46,941 --> 00:27:50,047 because you know damn well that the Allies are coming. 593 00:27:50,151 --> 00:27:52,084 This war is gonna end poorly for you, 594 00:27:52,187 --> 00:27:53,395 and if you survive, 595 00:27:53,499 --> 00:27:56,951 you might be now the focus of war crimes. 596 00:27:57,054 --> 00:28:00,402 - Well, I'm a soldier. I'm in charge of them. 597 00:28:00,506 --> 00:28:02,853 My command headquarters back 598 00:28:02,957 --> 00:28:05,649 in Berlin has been bombed into oblivion, 599 00:28:05,753 --> 00:28:08,825 and nobody's answering the phone for the last two weeks. 600 00:28:08,928 --> 00:28:10,654 Sounds like I'm on my own. 601 00:28:10,758 --> 00:28:12,621 Let me stick them in the lake for now, 602 00:28:12,725 --> 00:28:13,899 and in a couple of years, 603 00:28:14,002 --> 00:28:16,349 I'll come back and take a few thousand. 604 00:28:16,453 --> 00:28:17,730 - Now, these counterfeit notes 605 00:28:17,834 --> 00:28:20,871 that were discovered in 1959 were worthless, 606 00:28:20,975 --> 00:28:25,048 but it still raised questions about what else was lying 607 00:28:25,151 --> 00:28:28,430 at the bottom of Lake Toplitz and what that might be worth. 608 00:28:29,777 --> 00:28:30,881 - [Narrator] Efforts to recover more 609 00:28:30,985 --> 00:28:32,365 of this counterfeit currency 610 00:28:32,469 --> 00:28:35,575 and the famed gold loot continues to this day. 611 00:28:35,679 --> 00:28:37,957 In 2000, the submersible that was used 612 00:28:38,061 --> 00:28:40,719 to search the wreck of the RMS Titanic was used 613 00:28:40,822 --> 00:28:42,893 to survey the lake floor. 614 00:28:42,997 --> 00:28:46,000 Even then, the complex and treacherous topography 615 00:28:46,103 --> 00:28:48,727 of Lake Toplitz makes it impossible, 616 00:28:48,830 --> 00:28:51,626 leading to widespread speculation about its contents 617 00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:54,180 as people continue to ask themselves, 618 00:28:54,284 --> 00:28:56,079 what else could be down there? 619 00:28:56,182 --> 00:28:57,874 [mysterious music] 620 00:28:57,977 --> 00:29:00,393 - One imagines there's some great secret to be discovered 621 00:29:00,497 --> 00:29:03,120 at the bottom of a lake or some great wealth. 622 00:29:03,224 --> 00:29:06,468 It's hard to explain why we have this propensity. 623 00:29:06,572 --> 00:29:07,815 The realities of what we know 624 00:29:07,918 --> 00:29:10,610 about the war are already dramatic enough 625 00:29:10,714 --> 00:29:12,129 that I'm not really too worried about what's 626 00:29:12,233 --> 00:29:14,166 at the bottom of the lake, if anything. 627 00:29:14,269 --> 00:29:15,546 [tense music] 628 00:29:15,650 --> 00:29:16,927 - [Narrator] While sites like the SS Minden 629 00:29:17,031 --> 00:29:19,171 and Lake Toplitz continue to garner attention 630 00:29:19,274 --> 00:29:20,724 as Nazi treasure troves, 631 00:29:20,828 --> 00:29:23,071 neither compares to the discoveries made 632 00:29:23,175 --> 00:29:25,246 in the Merkers Mine. 633 00:29:25,349 --> 00:29:27,455 - It is a collection of treasures 634 00:29:27,558 --> 00:29:31,252 that some troops compare to Aladdin's cave. 635 00:29:31,355 --> 00:29:33,702 - But the big question remains, 636 00:29:33,806 --> 00:29:37,361 how did all this loot get here? 637 00:29:37,465 --> 00:29:38,742 - [Narrator] For most of the war, 638 00:29:38,846 --> 00:29:40,675 the Nazis store the bulk of their looted gold 639 00:29:40,779 --> 00:29:42,884 in the Reichsbank in Berlin. 640 00:29:42,988 --> 00:29:47,371 By 1944, Allied bombings escalate dramatically in the city, 641 00:29:47,475 --> 00:29:50,581 forcing the emergency relocation of funds. 642 00:29:50,685 --> 00:29:53,239 - They hid their gold, and they had to hide it 643 00:29:53,343 --> 00:29:54,654 where they didn't think 644 00:29:54,758 --> 00:29:56,691 that the Allies would ever go looking for it. 645 00:29:57,865 --> 00:30:00,108 - [Narrator] On February 11th, 1945, 646 00:30:00,212 --> 00:30:03,629 most gold reserves, approximately 1 billion reichsmarks, 647 00:30:03,732 --> 00:30:06,735 are brought to Merkers and locked in a vault known simply 648 00:30:06,839 --> 00:30:08,772 as Room Number 8. 649 00:30:10,118 --> 00:30:13,190 - This was a way of getting the gold reserve out 650 00:30:13,294 --> 00:30:15,917 from Berlin, which was being basically flattened 651 00:30:16,021 --> 00:30:17,470 by Allied bombardment. 652 00:30:19,093 --> 00:30:20,957 - [Narrator] The mine's location, far from the capital, 653 00:30:21,060 --> 00:30:23,476 makes it a safe choice for the Nazis. 654 00:30:23,580 --> 00:30:25,789 Further, the underground structure makes it 655 00:30:25,893 --> 00:30:28,412 relatively inconspicuous from above ground, 656 00:30:28,516 --> 00:30:30,967 while keeping it safe from Allied air raids. 657 00:30:31,070 --> 00:30:33,003 [tense music] 658 00:30:33,107 --> 00:30:36,248 Merkers is deemed so secure that even Heinrich Himmler, 659 00:30:36,351 --> 00:30:38,008 the head of the SS, 660 00:30:38,112 --> 00:30:40,839 asks for his own personal treasure trove to be stored here. 661 00:30:42,495 --> 00:30:45,913 - Along with this gold reserve of the National Bank was 662 00:30:46,016 --> 00:30:50,296 so many more tons of looted materials. 663 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,851 - [Narrator] As the US Army officers pour over the contents 664 00:30:52,954 --> 00:30:54,369 of Room Number Eight, 665 00:30:54,473 --> 00:30:56,820 they notice that many of the packing slips attached 666 00:30:56,924 --> 00:30:59,478 to the loot bear the same name: 667 00:30:59,581 --> 00:31:00,617 Melmer. 668 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:02,136 Who is this man, 669 00:31:02,239 --> 00:31:05,760 and why is his name on so much of the Nazi's treasure? 670 00:31:05,864 --> 00:31:09,522 - He's a captain, but his function is not military, 671 00:31:09,626 --> 00:31:10,765 neither it's policing. 672 00:31:10,869 --> 00:31:12,732 It's strictly economic. 673 00:31:12,836 --> 00:31:15,252 He's basically the clerk. He's the teller. 674 00:31:16,736 --> 00:31:18,738 - [Narrator] Bruno Melmer was a German SS officer 675 00:31:18,842 --> 00:31:21,396 who played a major role in distributing stolen money 676 00:31:21,500 --> 00:31:23,778 and jewelry throughout Nazi Germany. 677 00:31:23,882 --> 00:31:27,264 He was responsible for the organization, transportation, 678 00:31:27,368 --> 00:31:31,406 and sale of all valuables taken from Holocaust victims. 679 00:31:33,098 --> 00:31:37,585 - And so as the SS begins implementing the final solution, 680 00:31:37,688 --> 00:31:42,659 and they start killing off entire households and families, 681 00:31:43,487 --> 00:31:44,661 they do it in a way 682 00:31:44,764 --> 00:31:48,320 where the people now come to them, 683 00:31:48,423 --> 00:31:50,805 as opposed to those mobile killing units 684 00:31:50,909 --> 00:31:53,428 when they were just shooting people in the back of the head. 685 00:31:53,532 --> 00:31:55,396 Now the people are, quote, 686 00:31:55,499 --> 00:31:58,778 "evacuated to assembly areas." 687 00:31:58,882 --> 00:32:01,850 They come with all their valuables, 688 00:32:01,954 --> 00:32:05,130 including the dental gold in their mouths, 689 00:32:05,233 --> 00:32:07,580 their wedding rings, watches, 690 00:32:07,684 --> 00:32:10,929 any kind of jewelry that could be liquid, 691 00:32:11,032 --> 00:32:12,447 in the case of emergency, 692 00:32:12,551 --> 00:32:16,141 perhaps sewn into their clothing even, hidden away. 693 00:32:16,244 --> 00:32:19,109 And once the SS get their hands on them, 694 00:32:19,213 --> 00:32:21,146 they're, of course, stripped of all that. 695 00:32:21,249 --> 00:32:23,942 [dramatic music] 696 00:32:26,254 --> 00:32:29,568 Shoes, leather, fountain pens, eyeglasses, 697 00:32:29,671 --> 00:32:34,331 and every single item is carefully cataloged. 698 00:32:34,435 --> 00:32:38,404 5,000 alarm clocks in working condition. 699 00:32:38,508 --> 00:32:43,478 3,750 alarm clocks requiring repair. 700 00:32:44,859 --> 00:32:48,035 The dental gold is extracted from their teeth. 701 00:32:48,138 --> 00:32:49,864 They even shave their hair 702 00:32:49,968 --> 00:32:52,384 because there's an industrial use for hair. 703 00:32:52,487 --> 00:32:55,697 They make slippers for submarine crews out of human hair. 704 00:32:55,801 --> 00:32:58,010 [dramatic music] 705 00:32:58,114 --> 00:33:01,220 The property is then distributed into the German economy. 706 00:33:02,566 --> 00:33:06,329 - Melmer is the single cog in this machine 707 00:33:06,432 --> 00:33:09,988 that is extracting treasure and wealth. 708 00:33:10,091 --> 00:33:14,578 - Nazi Germany had entire organizations dedicated 709 00:33:14,682 --> 00:33:18,341 to tracking and cataloging their stolen goods. 710 00:33:18,444 --> 00:33:22,000 - That may have been there to counteract human greed. 711 00:33:22,103 --> 00:33:24,519 Things go missing. Oops, something goes in my pocket. 712 00:33:24,623 --> 00:33:26,521 Oh, it goes over to my house instead of, 713 00:33:26,625 --> 00:33:28,316 you know, over to the bank. 714 00:33:28,420 --> 00:33:30,042 If you have everything tracked, 715 00:33:30,146 --> 00:33:34,391 you can ensure that people aren't stealing from the system. 716 00:33:34,495 --> 00:33:36,773 [ominous music] 717 00:33:36,876 --> 00:33:38,533 - [Narrator] The total worth of Melmer's shipments 718 00:33:38,637 --> 00:33:41,743 is estimated at 36 million reichsmarks. 719 00:33:43,228 --> 00:33:45,506 - He's got this transport now that he's responsible for. 720 00:33:45,609 --> 00:33:46,886 He's gotta hide it. 721 00:33:46,990 --> 00:33:48,612 - [Narrator] When the Allies begin to close in 722 00:33:48,716 --> 00:33:51,408 and Nazi assets are rushed away from Berlin, 723 00:33:51,512 --> 00:33:53,824 he oversees much of the relocation. 724 00:33:53,928 --> 00:33:55,481 He even personally delivers 725 00:33:55,585 --> 00:33:58,898 many high-ranking Nazi officials' personal stashes. 726 00:34:00,038 --> 00:34:01,349 - Although it's American troops 727 00:34:01,453 --> 00:34:03,248 that have discovered this cash 728 00:34:03,351 --> 00:34:06,389 of gold and currency and art, 729 00:34:06,492 --> 00:34:08,391 they know that, sooner or later, 730 00:34:08,494 --> 00:34:13,223 this part of Germany is gonna be occupied by Soviet forces. 731 00:34:13,327 --> 00:34:16,916 - If the vast store of wealth and art, 732 00:34:17,020 --> 00:34:19,436 which was stored in the Merkers Mine, 733 00:34:19,540 --> 00:34:21,404 had fallen into the Soviet hands, 734 00:34:21,507 --> 00:34:23,923 right, it would've been a catastrophe for the Allies. 735 00:34:24,027 --> 00:34:26,374 - So you have decades of animosity and tension 736 00:34:26,478 --> 00:34:28,514 between the West and the Soviet Union. 737 00:34:28,618 --> 00:34:30,447 Mutual fear and suspicion. 738 00:34:30,551 --> 00:34:33,968 Frankly, downright hatred in the minds of some people. 739 00:34:34,072 --> 00:34:35,383 - There was a worry that 740 00:34:35,487 --> 00:34:38,214 as soon as the Nazis laid down their arms, 741 00:34:38,317 --> 00:34:40,216 the Soviets and the Americans would start shooting 742 00:34:40,319 --> 00:34:41,493 at one another. 743 00:34:41,596 --> 00:34:43,564 - So that develops a really, you know, 744 00:34:43,667 --> 00:34:45,980 profound sense of urgency at the end of the war. 745 00:34:46,084 --> 00:34:47,499 If you're in a territory 746 00:34:47,602 --> 00:34:48,983 and you realized there's something 747 00:34:49,087 --> 00:34:51,779 that you could use or take, you're gonna do it. 748 00:34:51,882 --> 00:34:54,471 That involves things like treasure, gold, 749 00:34:54,575 --> 00:34:55,990 but also involves people. 750 00:34:56,094 --> 00:34:58,026 It involves scientists, technicians, right, 751 00:34:58,130 --> 00:35:01,168 that can be really useful to them in a postwar settlement. 752 00:35:02,514 --> 00:35:04,930 - [Narrator] The US Army has to act quickly. 753 00:35:05,033 --> 00:35:06,414 The Merkers Mine is squarely 754 00:35:06,518 --> 00:35:08,589 in what will soon become Soviet territory, 755 00:35:08,692 --> 00:35:10,556 as agreed by the Allies. 756 00:35:10,660 --> 00:35:11,971 They hurry to move the treasure 757 00:35:12,075 --> 00:35:13,835 from the Merkers Mine to Frankfurt, 758 00:35:13,939 --> 00:35:16,976 which is part of the American occupation zone. 759 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:21,498 - This was a mind-boggling task as far as logistics goes. 760 00:35:21,602 --> 00:35:25,295 - The Americans move the gold out of the Merkers Mine, 761 00:35:25,399 --> 00:35:28,471 and then they have to make a decision what to do with it. 762 00:35:28,574 --> 00:35:30,645 - [Narrator] Here, a power struggle ensues. 763 00:35:30,749 --> 00:35:33,131 The fortune in the Merkers Mine is so great 764 00:35:33,234 --> 00:35:35,685 that it threatens to corrupt even the most prominent 765 00:35:35,788 --> 00:35:37,342 among the Allied forces. 766 00:35:38,860 --> 00:35:41,380 - General George Patton, one of the US Army commanders, 767 00:35:41,484 --> 00:35:44,797 wants to keep the money for the United States Army. 768 00:35:44,901 --> 00:35:47,593 He knows that when the war ends, 769 00:35:47,697 --> 00:35:49,733 the funds going to support 770 00:35:49,837 --> 00:35:52,046 the American war machine might dry up. 771 00:35:52,150 --> 00:35:54,082 And he wants to use this money 772 00:35:54,186 --> 00:35:56,533 to strengthen the United States military. 773 00:35:56,637 --> 00:35:58,156 - He's been the man on the ground 774 00:35:58,259 --> 00:36:00,813 to see exactly what's happened, 775 00:36:00,917 --> 00:36:03,368 and to him, the war, the atrocities, 776 00:36:03,471 --> 00:36:06,164 and everything there is still very, very paramount. 777 00:36:06,267 --> 00:36:08,200 And that means that it's going to be harder 778 00:36:08,304 --> 00:36:11,548 for him to believe that this is done. 779 00:36:11,652 --> 00:36:13,723 It's a we need to make sure 780 00:36:13,826 --> 00:36:15,725 that we can keep this from happening again. 781 00:36:15,828 --> 00:36:17,520 And to do that, we need a strong military. 782 00:36:17,623 --> 00:36:18,935 And to do that, 783 00:36:19,038 --> 00:36:20,833 we need the funds to keep the military going. 784 00:36:20,937 --> 00:36:24,527 - But Patton's plan leaks, and it gets shot down. 785 00:36:24,630 --> 00:36:26,908 The United States Army does not keep 786 00:36:27,012 --> 00:36:28,876 the gold found at Merkers. 787 00:36:28,979 --> 00:36:31,982 Instead, the United States government returns this money 788 00:36:32,086 --> 00:36:34,847 to different central banks in Europe, 789 00:36:34,951 --> 00:36:38,437 with a portion of the money going to a fund 790 00:36:38,541 --> 00:36:40,198 for victims of the Holocaust. 791 00:36:41,923 --> 00:36:43,994 - [Narrator] It's estimated that billions of dollars worth 792 00:36:44,098 --> 00:36:45,824 of gold and treasure, 793 00:36:45,927 --> 00:36:48,275 along with hundreds of thousands of priceless works of art, 794 00:36:48,378 --> 00:36:49,724 are still missing. 795 00:36:51,036 --> 00:36:53,107 - With due respect to all soldiers 796 00:36:53,211 --> 00:36:55,385 who fought the Second World War, you know, 797 00:36:55,489 --> 00:36:57,629 the average composition of the soldiers 798 00:36:57,732 --> 00:36:59,700 in the field are generally young, 799 00:36:59,803 --> 00:37:02,668 not terribly well-educated individuals, 800 00:37:02,772 --> 00:37:04,670 who have been through hell. 801 00:37:04,774 --> 00:37:06,189 There's a lot of revenge. 802 00:37:06,293 --> 00:37:08,950 There's a lot of, you know, personal gratification 803 00:37:09,054 --> 00:37:11,229 that they want to get at the end of the war. 804 00:37:11,332 --> 00:37:14,370 Many people knew that this came from a population, 805 00:37:14,473 --> 00:37:17,165 Jewish population, that had been murdered. 806 00:37:17,269 --> 00:37:18,926 So I'm sure in their own heads they said, "Well, 807 00:37:19,029 --> 00:37:21,031 it's not gonna go back to the rightful owners 808 00:37:21,135 --> 00:37:23,724 because the rightful owners are gone." 809 00:37:23,827 --> 00:37:26,968 - The Germans themselves, military and civilians, 810 00:37:27,072 --> 00:37:31,041 also had the propensity to steal gold 811 00:37:31,145 --> 00:37:32,353 and keep it for themselves. 812 00:37:32,457 --> 00:37:34,217 So there was a real motivator, 813 00:37:34,321 --> 00:37:37,393 if you will, to enhance their own lives. 814 00:37:37,496 --> 00:37:40,188 - There's just so much material that the Nazis have removed 815 00:37:40,292 --> 00:37:43,675 from occupied territories and resituated 816 00:37:43,778 --> 00:37:45,953 and then moved again into hiding places near the end 817 00:37:46,056 --> 00:37:48,921 of the war that I think it must have been quite impossible 818 00:37:49,025 --> 00:37:52,235 at the end of the story for anyone on the German side 819 00:37:52,339 --> 00:37:55,342 to account for where all of this stuff ends up. 820 00:37:55,445 --> 00:37:57,861 - Once the fact becomes absolutely clear 821 00:37:57,965 --> 00:38:00,416 that there was no way for Germany to win this war, 822 00:38:00,519 --> 00:38:01,900 then panic ensues. 823 00:38:02,003 --> 00:38:03,971 And under those circumstances, 824 00:38:04,074 --> 00:38:06,767 the whole organization breaks down. 825 00:38:06,870 --> 00:38:09,321 - Much of the authority structure is collapsing on itself, 826 00:38:09,425 --> 00:38:11,944 and more and more of the senior leaders are either fighting 827 00:38:12,048 --> 00:38:13,498 to the death, so to speak, 828 00:38:13,601 --> 00:38:16,155 or making a point of disappearing. 829 00:38:16,259 --> 00:38:17,536 In which case, they may not be able 830 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,020 to take very much with them. 831 00:38:19,124 --> 00:38:21,195 - This keeps alive the possibility 832 00:38:21,299 --> 00:38:23,439 that there might be treasure, there might be wealth, 833 00:38:23,542 --> 00:38:27,166 which were hidden and are awaiting discovery. 834 00:38:27,270 --> 00:38:28,582 - Across the world, 835 00:38:28,685 --> 00:38:30,894 there are still areas where people are looking, 836 00:38:30,998 --> 00:38:34,277 trying to find the Nazi gold that is still missing. 837 00:38:34,381 --> 00:38:36,106 [tense music] 838 00:38:36,210 --> 00:38:38,005 - [Narrator] The extreme measures the Nazis took 839 00:38:38,108 --> 00:38:40,973 when hiding their gold took a great deal of effort. 840 00:38:42,423 --> 00:38:44,322 The Nazis were meticulous with their record keeping 841 00:38:44,425 --> 00:38:47,532 and organization when it came to stolen artifacts. 842 00:38:48,740 --> 00:38:50,604 Specially appointed art historians 843 00:38:50,707 --> 00:38:53,641 and theorists ran whole looting organizations, 844 00:38:55,436 --> 00:38:57,611 like the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute 845 00:38:57,714 --> 00:38:59,302 for the occupied territories 846 00:38:59,406 --> 00:39:00,993 and Sonderauftrag Linz 847 00:39:01,097 --> 00:39:03,168 to track and store objects. 848 00:39:04,618 --> 00:39:07,552 The internal banking systems were just as structured. 849 00:39:07,655 --> 00:39:11,072 The SS made sure that all the money and gold accumulated 850 00:39:11,176 --> 00:39:13,661 through the pillaging operations was accounted for 851 00:39:13,765 --> 00:39:15,456 in their Reichsbank records. 852 00:39:17,424 --> 00:39:22,014 - Gold is melted down into state bars, 853 00:39:22,118 --> 00:39:27,088 stamped with the Reichsbank as official German gold, 854 00:39:28,158 --> 00:39:31,334 and then very quietly assembled 855 00:39:31,438 --> 00:39:35,096 and exported into Switzerland. 856 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:37,961 And there, it's deposited 857 00:39:38,065 --> 00:39:41,827 with a bank called the Bank of International Settlements. 858 00:39:41,931 --> 00:39:43,450 Once it's in Switzerland, in the BIS, 859 00:39:43,553 --> 00:39:46,314 it's no longer Nazi gold or German gold, 860 00:39:46,418 --> 00:39:48,040 it's neutral gold. 861 00:39:48,144 --> 00:39:50,180 - [Narrator] This means that while popular culture likes 862 00:39:50,284 --> 00:39:51,734 to imagine vast hordes 863 00:39:51,837 --> 00:39:55,289 of Nazi gold hidden around formerly occupied territory, 864 00:39:55,393 --> 00:39:57,256 the truth is that much of this gold went 865 00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,776 into the international banking system, 866 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:02,986 finding its way into Swiss and Turkish banks, 867 00:40:03,090 --> 00:40:05,437 before eventually moving out of Europe, 868 00:40:05,541 --> 00:40:09,027 where it continues to circulate indirectly to this day. 869 00:40:09,130 --> 00:40:11,374 - It's in Ottawa, it's in Washington. 870 00:40:11,478 --> 00:40:14,342 It's in the economies of all these nations. 871 00:40:14,446 --> 00:40:17,311 It's working for us. It's collecting interest. 872 00:40:17,415 --> 00:40:19,900 It's been taken and not returned. 873 00:40:20,003 --> 00:40:20,866 [tense music] 874 00:40:20,970 --> 00:40:22,212 [metal detector beeping] 875 00:40:22,316 --> 00:40:23,524 - [Narrator] As treasure hunters continue 876 00:40:23,628 --> 00:40:25,940 to explore parts of former Nazi Germany, 877 00:40:26,044 --> 00:40:29,116 the meaning of treasure has slowly changed. 878 00:40:29,219 --> 00:40:33,431 Today, intact pieces of German weaponry, tanks, uniforms, 879 00:40:33,534 --> 00:40:36,744 or even former soldiers' personal belongings can be sold 880 00:40:36,848 --> 00:40:38,746 for huge profits. 881 00:40:38,850 --> 00:40:40,023 - It's my understanding 882 00:40:40,127 --> 00:40:42,094 that this has become increasingly common 883 00:40:42,198 --> 00:40:45,201 in Poland and Eastern Europe more generally, 884 00:40:45,304 --> 00:40:48,618 particularly since the collapse of Soviet authority 885 00:40:48,722 --> 00:40:50,137 and the Communist Bloc. 886 00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:54,141 Has left a lot of these localities more accessible 887 00:40:54,244 --> 00:40:57,765 to treasure hunters who often arrive in the guise 888 00:40:57,869 --> 00:41:02,080 of pursuing archeological expeditions that, 889 00:41:02,183 --> 00:41:04,151 really, for all practical purposes, 890 00:41:04,254 --> 00:41:06,291 are little more than grave robbing. 891 00:41:06,394 --> 00:41:08,500 I've seen some of the techniques that they use 892 00:41:08,604 --> 00:41:11,814 when they're excavating sites and looking for war material. 893 00:41:11,917 --> 00:41:14,126 In most cases, they're either putting their own lives 894 00:41:14,230 --> 00:41:16,819 in danger by excavating areas 895 00:41:16,922 --> 00:41:19,097 where there's lots of unexploded ordinance, 896 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:22,514 without any sort of sensible safety protocols, 897 00:41:22,618 --> 00:41:27,208 and/or in engaging in what are essentially acts 898 00:41:27,312 --> 00:41:29,728 of desecration of war graves. 899 00:41:29,832 --> 00:41:31,937 They're unmarked, forgotten burial sites, 900 00:41:32,041 --> 00:41:33,249 in a lot of instances. 901 00:41:33,352 --> 00:41:36,079 Looking for rings and pieces of insignia 902 00:41:36,183 --> 00:41:37,736 that might be of some value 903 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,256 to collectors of that kind of material. 904 00:41:40,359 --> 00:41:42,569 This is a sort of example of, 905 00:41:42,672 --> 00:41:44,881 in the case of German graves, at least, 906 00:41:44,985 --> 00:41:46,952 of a looting kleptocracy, 907 00:41:47,056 --> 00:41:49,990 who are now being looted in death, in a way. 908 00:41:50,093 --> 00:41:51,923 - [Narrator] Yet still, some hunters are determined 909 00:41:52,026 --> 00:41:54,788 to find the most precious Nazi remnants of all: 910 00:41:54,891 --> 00:41:55,720 Gold. 911 00:41:56,790 --> 00:41:58,516 - The Nazi regime was built 912 00:41:58,619 --> 00:42:00,897 on the ruthless pillaging of both individuals 913 00:42:01,001 --> 00:42:03,175 and entire states, 914 00:42:03,279 --> 00:42:06,558 and it's estimated that the fortunes stolen 915 00:42:06,662 --> 00:42:10,838 by the Nazis would be around $19 billion 916 00:42:10,942 --> 00:42:12,391 in today's money. 917 00:42:12,495 --> 00:42:14,566 - The idea that some Nazi leaders 918 00:42:14,670 --> 00:42:16,292 were actually keeping private 919 00:42:16,395 --> 00:42:19,916 and secret treasures has fueled the idea 920 00:42:20,020 --> 00:42:23,230 that there's still more Nazi gold left to find. 921 00:42:23,333 --> 00:42:25,266 - These are interesting examples 922 00:42:25,370 --> 00:42:27,959 of how even 75 or 80 years after the fact, 923 00:42:28,062 --> 00:42:30,340 the war still isn't quite finished, isn't it? 924 00:42:30,444 --> 00:42:32,204 Whether it's searching the bottom of a lake 925 00:42:32,308 --> 00:42:34,379 or a ship that might have gold, 926 00:42:34,482 --> 00:42:36,864 or some individual looking for something that a father 927 00:42:36,968 --> 00:42:39,004 or grandfather might have left somewhere, 928 00:42:40,005 --> 00:42:41,386 it goes on. 929 00:42:41,489 --> 00:42:43,353 - [Narrator] As we continue to unpack the extent 930 00:42:43,457 --> 00:42:45,045 of the Nazis' looting today, 931 00:42:45,148 --> 00:42:46,287 the scope of their pillaging 932 00:42:46,391 --> 00:42:49,014 leaves many questions unanswered. 933 00:42:49,118 --> 00:42:51,810 Considering how carefully the Nazis' loot was stored during 934 00:42:51,914 --> 00:42:53,605 the Second World War, 935 00:42:53,709 --> 00:42:56,953 what might their hoarding tell us about their ambition? 936 00:42:57,057 --> 00:43:02,027 - The Nazis were, if anything, megalomania personified. 937 00:43:02,890 --> 00:43:04,271 There was this belief 938 00:43:04,374 --> 00:43:06,722 that they were building a world empire, 939 00:43:06,825 --> 00:43:07,964 and they were building a reich 940 00:43:08,068 --> 00:43:10,242 that would last for 1,000 years. 941 00:43:11,761 --> 00:43:14,350 Even though they were very practical, in one sense, 942 00:43:14,453 --> 00:43:17,836 these were people who did not have realistic goals. 943 00:43:17,940 --> 00:43:20,563 So definitely their looting plans 944 00:43:20,667 --> 00:43:24,463 and their storage plans were done from that perspective. 945 00:43:24,567 --> 00:43:26,258 - [Narrator] Were they already planning 946 00:43:26,362 --> 00:43:29,468 for a new economic system in the supposed 1,000-year reich? 947 00:43:29,572 --> 00:43:31,988 And can we even begin to imagine a world 948 00:43:32,092 --> 00:43:35,267 in which the Nazis were able to keep hold of this wealth? 949 00:43:36,372 --> 00:43:38,857 [tense music]