All language subtitles for Secret.Nazi.Bases.S03E05.Nazi.Gold.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] During
the Second World War,

the Nazis rampage through
the homes of millions.

As they systematically
displace, torture,

and murder Jewish
populations

in Germany and
occupying Europe,

they steal everything they
can lay their hands on.

The Nazis' ruthless pillaging
is a crucial component

of the Holocaust.

- The Nazis really
make a fine art out

of this nationally
sanctioned theft.

Everything of
potential value goes.

- [Narrator] Over the
course of the war,

the Nazis steal billions of
dollars worth of valuables,

including precious
artwork, silver, and gold.

- Billions of dollars.
You can't wrap your
head around that.

- What happens to
all that wealth

after the Nazis
lose the war?

- [Narrator] Despite
efforts to return the
stolen property

to its rightful owners, much
of it still remains missing.

- Could there yet still
be gold onboard this ship

at the bottom of the sea?

- [Narrator] To this day,

hoards of Nazi-stolen
goods are being uncovered

around the world.

- We all love hidden
treasure stories.

- Are there hidden
fortunes still out there

that we've yet
to discover?

- [Narrator] How did
the Nazis manage

to hide such a
vast fortune,

and what could they possibly
have planned to do with it?

- Complete world
domination

and a 1,000-year
reign was their idea.

[air whooshes]

[tense dramatic music]

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] In
late March 1945,

the United States Army begins
its push into Nazi Germany.

Within two weeks, they
arrive at Merkers,

a small town of
roughly 3,000 people.

Many of these
locals are part

of the 40 million Europeans
displaced by the German Army

and not from the
area at all.

- As the American forces
advance into Germany,

they're really
entering the unknown.

They have to be
extremely careful

because there are rumors
and real suggestions

that there may be
Nazis hiding out,

ready to attack these
American forces.

- [Narrator] Little do the
American soldiers know,

they're about to
stumble upon one

of the greatest treasure
troves of all time.

- Some of the troops
encounter two women

who tell a story
of a salt mine

that the Nazis had
filled with gold.

Over time, this
rumor repeats itself

and more civilians keep on
suggesting the same thing.

After enough rumors,

there seems to be something
worth investigating here,

and the United
States forces

then go to check out
this abandoned salt mine.

- [Narrator] Half a stick
of dynamite is all they need

to blast through
the walls.

[dynamite explodes]

- Just imagine what it
must have been like

for those
American soldiers

who probably quite
tentatively went

into this disused
salt mine

and were confronted with
a veritable treasure trove

of what happened to
be stolen goods.

Like something out
of a movie, really.

- [Narrator] Thousands
of bags lined the inside

of the 75-by-150-by-12-foot
vault,

stacked knee-high in
more than 20 rows.

As the bags are
broken open,

the full extent of the
loot becomes clear.

- Thousands of sacks
of German currency,

boxes of gold bullion,
bags upon bags of silver,

and vast amounts of gold.

- Looted paintings,

paintings of the great
masters like Monet,

that the Nazis have
pilfered from around Europe.

- And the US
Treasury Department

and the Bank of England
valued the gold alone

at around $4 billion
in today's money.

- [Narrator] As
enormous as the gold
stores are at Merkers,

they are only a fraction
of the whole Nazi fortune.

- The Nazis, of course,

are a criminal enterprise,
in all senses of the word.

[tense music]

It's a criminal
enterprise with a very
systematic process

of looting everybody
they invade and occupy.

- [Narrator] The Nazis'
plundering dates back

to the earliest
days of the regime,

when Hitler
becomes chancellor of
Germany in 1933.

[crowd cheers]

Baked into Nazi ideology
right from the beginning,

the state-sanctioned
seizure of Jewish businesses

and land only intensifies
as the war looms closer.

- First, we have to
understand the nature

of the Nazi conquest.

They understand it
as an expression of
their superiority.

These are not people who have
any sense of human rights

or anything of that sort,

so it was perfectly
consistent

for them to pillage
everything.

They could not have a
moral qualm about this

because they
did not believe

that the defeated
were also human.

[tense music]

- [Narrator] Nazi
hoarding wasn't solely

about the cultural
erasure of their victims

or even about
individual greed.

Not only did the Nazis
want gold, they needed it.

Beginning in 1933,

Hitler is desperate
to portray Germany

as a global
financial power,

especially coming
out of the context

of the Treaty
of Versailles,

which has gone
to great lengths

to limit the country's
economic growth.

- There is a sort
of mythology

that's developed around the
appointment of Adolf Hitler

as chancellor
and the measures

that his regime took to
repair the German economy.

These measures were
largely achieved

through what we would
describe as massive
deficit spending

on infrastructure
projects and rearmament.

Who was going
to pay for it?

The Germans were practically
insolvent by 1938

as a function of
all this spending.

So in a pattern of
circular logic,

going to war to steal from
one's neighbors was a way

for paying for
revitalization

of the German economy
during the depression years.

- [Narrator] Hitler dreams of
bringing Germany to autarky,

complete economic
self-sufficiency.

This proves to be
overly ambitious.

Although the Nazis succeed in
lowering unemployment rates

and restoring a degree of
national pride in the 1930s,

they still can't afford
to fund the war effort

on the scale
Hitler envisions.

Autarky is made
further impossible

by Germany's dependence
on other countries

for raw material parts.

For instance, they need:

tungsten from Portugal

for armor-piercing
bullets and shells,

chrome from Turkey
for manufacturing
tanks and aircraft,

high-grade oil as fuel
for tanks from Romania,

and ball bearings
from Sweden.

However, none of
these countries accept
German currency.

Gold becomes the only way

the Nazis can keep their
military ambitions afloat.

- German currency
was not welcome

throughout most
of the world.

When the Germans needed
resources, goods,

things that they could
not make at home,

they needed to buy
them from abroad,

and they needed to pay
for them with gold.

[gentle music]

- Gold is really interesting
when it comes to our brains.

We like shiny things.

Gold is very shiny.

We like things that
are warm colors.

Gold is a nice warm
color like the sun.

Gold is soft
and malleable.

You can make
thread out of it.

You can make
jewelry out of it.

You can show it off
and show your wealth.

We've placed a lot
of value on gold.

- Gold is coveted
by humans

because we've made it
something to covet.

- It wasn't useful
like aluminum

and iron and all
these other things,

but it was useful in
terms of a status symbol,

in terms of wealth.

- The gold standard.
That's the saying, right?

Like, it's built
right in there.

[artillery blasting]

- [Narrator] When the
Nazis invade Poland

on September 1st, 1939,

they continue to take
virtually anything of value

from the homes of
private citizens

and move on to bank
vaults and museums.

- It starts at
the top with the gold
reserves of a nation.

Because often Nazis
attacked without a
declaration of war,

nations did not
prepare to evacuate
their gold reserves,

and the Nazis
overrun them.

They're also seizing
artwork from museums.

So there is a kind of
nation-to-nation looting

that is taking place.

- From the Jewish people,

they took anything that
they had on their person.

They would melt it down if it
was gold and repurpose it.

They showed no respect to
person, place, or thing.

- [Narrator] But less than a
month after the war begins,

this mass looting and
smuggling operation

would hit its first
stumbling block.

[ominous music]

- In the early
months of the war,

a German ship,
the SS Minden,

left Brazil en
route to Germany.

- [Narrator] On
September 24th, 1939,

the ship was positioned
between Iceland

and the Faroe Islands
when it was intercepted

by two British cruisers.

To prevent British troops
from seizing the ship,

along with all its cargo,

the SS Minden was
scuttled by the crew,

following orders
from either the captain
or Hitler himself.

- It was sunk on
purpose by its crew.

It suggests that there was
something important on it.

- [Narrator] According to
the official ship manifest

of the SS Minden at the
time of its sinking,

the vessel was carrying
resin from Brazil,

intended for
industrial use,

having unloaded any precious
cargo in South America.

But what if this
isn't the full story?

- If they had something
really important,

of course the logs
would say that they
weren't carrying it.

- German banks were
global enterprises

that had branches
around the world.

And some of these German
banks actually had branches

in South America, in
Argentina and in Brazil.

When war broke
out in 1939,

Germany and German banks were
recalling gold to Germany.

A legend has developed

that the Minden's crew
actually took this step

because it was carrying
treasure, that it was
carrying gold.

- [Narrator] Nazi
Germany's relationship

to South America
proved crucial during
and after the war.

Argentina and Brazil were
particularly important,

as they had strong
political and economic ties

to Germany dating
back decades.

- You know, you have the
dictatorial systems there

that are very sympathetic
with fascism.

You also have large
German populations
in South America.

- [Narrator]
In the 1930s,

the German and Brazilian
economies are complementary,

both lack foreign
exchange,

and agree to non-standard
trade policies.

Germany is especially
interested

in the large
untapped resources of
iron ore in Brazil

and wants to
establish itself

as the country's chief
trading partner.

The SS Minden represents
just one link

in the strengthening chain
between South America

and the Third Reich.

- In the lead-up to
the second World War,

the Nazis made a
number of modifications
to the SS Minden.

Firstly, they extended
its length from 109
to 116 meters,

and they also added
a steam turbine

for its journeys back and
forth across the Atlantic,

which would've not
only increased its
capacity as a vessel,

it would also have made it a
faster, more efficient ship.

- [Narrator] We know the
SS Minden was designed

to carry heavy loads
across the Atlantic.

So the question remains:

At the time of
its sinking,

was the SS Minden carrying
gold back to Germany,

or had it already
deposited gold in Brazil

and was carrying resin, as
the ship manifest stated?

- The SS Minden was
all but forgotten

as an early
casualty of the war

until its
rediscovery in 2017.

[mysterious music]

- [Narrator] The
UK-based Advanced Marine
Services conducts

a survey off the
Icelandic coast and
finds the wreckage.

Its known Nazi origin makes
this a compelling site

for further exploration.

What could it have
been carrying?

- The only reason
they would sink it

that makes sense
to us as a mystery

is that there's
something of value.

- [Narrator] The search
of the ship is halted

by the Icelandic
Coast Guard

for not having the
right license.

During this time, rumors
of a chest containing

approximately $130
million worth

of Nazi gold are
widely reported.

But when the search
is finally completed
a year later,

nothing is found.

[mysterious music]

Despite the
official report,

the great lengths
Nazis went to

in hiding their stolen
loot leaves us wondering,

could researchers have
missed something?

Might there still be
stolen treasure waiting

to be discovered off
the Icelandic shore?

- Could there yet still
be gold onboard this ship

at the bottom of the sea?

And if not, then why are we
still so fascinated by it?

- Shipwrecks have
been associated with
treasure ever

since people have been
sailing the seas.

- And I think the
historicity adds to it,

especially if it
comes from something

as dark and sinister
as the Nazi era.

It has that much more
appeal to some people.

- There's something
about our psyche

that we like to
hold onto the hope

that this could be true,

that it really is
out there somewhere.

[tense music]

- [Narrator] As the
Nazi regime worked hard

to establish
international links

through trade and
treasure smuggling,

individual officers
were also careful

to secure their own
personal stashes

of stolen assets all
over the occupied world.

- On the one hand, as
the Nazis are extracting
this wealth,

they're keeping
very good records of
what they've taken

and where they're
keeping it.

But at the same time,

we don't know if those
records are complete.

- Because of the power and
the authority they wielded,

many top Nazi officials
were in the perfect position

to collect their own private
stashes of stolen gold.

- [Narrator] Erwin
Rommel is one

of Nazi Germany's most
infamous generals.

His leadership of German
and Italian forces

in the North African campaign
established his reputation

as a gifted tank commander
and military tactician.

He earned the
nickname Desert Fox

and was even respected
by his Allied enemies

for his relative chivalry
and popular motto,

"War without hate."

- Because of his achievements
in the First World War,

his achievements
in Africa,

he was a very
well-respected soldier,

well-respected general.

He had written books
on infantry tactics
and so forth.

So he was a legend.

- [Narrator] During his
campaigns in North Africa,

Rommel's unit is said

to have amassed more than
20 million pounds worth

of gold and other precious
objects looted primarily

from Jewish people
in Tunisia.

The treasure was supposedly
loaded aboard a ship

to be sent to Germany,
but the fate of that
gold is unclear.

Some believe the vessel sank
near the coast of Corsica,

and others think it may have
been purposefully hidden

by retreating Nazis.

- It would be
crazy for it

to just be a normal
random act of chance

that caused this
thing to sink.

We downplay
natural causes

because most of
the things we do

in our lives are based
on choices we make

or the choices people
around us make.

And so when something
goes missing,

somebody caused
it to go missing.

We know it wasn't
enemy action,

so it had to be somebody
who was involved.

And that means in the case
of an awful lot of gold,

it's about greed
and thievery.

- Is it possible
that Erwin Rommel

or other senior Nazis
stole gold and were
trying to hide it?

For sure, it's possible. I
mean, these were the Nazis.

- If you're told
that stealing is part
of your mandate,

it's built in, then
that becomes behavior
that's acceptable.

So whether everything
you steal you give
back to the state,

or you keep some of
it for yourself,

you've moralized yourself
that it's all right.

[tense music]

- [Narrator] In 1944,
Rommel is implicated

in the 20th of July plot
to assassinate Hitler.

- 20th of July plot is the
culmination of a series

of attempts on the part
of some German commanders

to basically unseat Hitler
through assassination

and steer the course of the
war in a different direction

that hopefully, from
their perspective,

would not result in the
complete destruction

of German society
as they knew it.

Perhaps through negotiated
settlement with the Allies.

- [Narrator] At the time of
the assassination attempt,

Rommel is serving as a
high-ranking field marshal.

His reputation prompts
Hitler to make him an
uncommon offer.

Rather than face a
humiliating trial

that would lead to a
certain death sentence,

Rommel is given the chance
to take his own life,

leaving his reputation intact
and his family unharmed.

- I think there
was some interest on
the part of Hitler

and others that Rommel
chose the second option

because it certainly
would not have been

a very good
public relations

if this commander
who would've been so
widely lionized

by the propaganda machine
turns out to be executed

as one of the 20th
of July plotters.

- [Narrator] On
October 14th,

Rommel swallows a
cyanide capsule and
dies minutes later.

- Only under those
circumstances

would the Nazis leave
his family alone.

- [Narrator] Any
secret information he

is holding dies with him,

leaving only the mystery
of his legendary gold.

- Rumors suggest that
Rommel's men took

six large steel cases
containing 440 pounds

of gold bullion with them
when they left North Africa.

Well, if those
rumors are true,

what happened
to all that?

- [Narrator] Some believe the
gold was smuggled to Italy,

while most think
it was likely sunk
close to the coast.

None of it has
ever been located

despite hundreds
of searches.

- Why we can't find
it is probably

because it has
disintegrated on the
ocean floor over time.

The containers in
which gold bars

would've been
kept are metal,

and that metal
erodes, especially in
the ocean depths.

So, you know,
it's quite likely

that everything sank
right into the sand.

- And one of the only
real effective means

of recovering it would be

through something called
vacuuming the sea floor,

which is incredibly
costly and incredibly
time consuming.

Which leaves
you wondering

whether this vast personal
fortune will ever be found.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] Over the
course of World War II,

the Nazis loot immense
amounts of gold, treasure,

and valuables across
Europe and Africa.

- Occupied Poland is
basically the clearing house

for all of these
deported individuals

who are being fed into the
extermination facilities

and for so much
looted material from
Eastern Europe.

- We have instances
of castles, palaces,

significant structures
becoming kind

of private store houses
or private stashes

for some of the
Nazi officials.

- After the war,

teams of historians
have traveled right

across the Lower Silesia
region of Poland

in search of stashes of
stolen gold and artworks.

And one such stash was found
in the former hunting lodge

of Hermann Goring,
the Paulinum Palace.

- [Narrator] This palace,

in the Lower Silesia region
of modern-day Poland,

was used for multiple
purposes by the Nazis.

In 1933, the palace
was purchased

for 70,000 marks
by the famous Nazi
German Labour Front

and used as a
training facility

to teach Nazi
anti-union ideology.

- In all of the
occupied territories,

the Nazis make use
of existing facilities
and structures.

So it would be pretty typical
for a building like that

to be repurposed
during occupation.

- [Narrator] It is
claimed that the palace
was also used

as a storage place
for top Nazi officials'
personal stashes

of stolen wealth.

Most notably,
Hermann Goring.

This is said to have
become the palace's
primary function

as the war came to an end

and the Russian Army
closed in on Berlin.

The SS officers,
including Karl Hanke,

the last gauleiter
of Lower Silesia,

are rumored to have
hidden their valuables

in a huge park that
surrounds the palace.

- So at the end
of the war,

where the invasion
is inevitable

and Germany knows
that they're going
to lose this war,

there's a scramble to try
to secure these assets

that they have attained,

to put them somewhere
safe where,

perhaps at a later date,

some can come back
and unearth them.

- [Narrator] The
questions of whether

or when these valuables were
recovered remain unanswered.

After the war, the
palace became a sort
of triage center.

The Nazis stole
tens of millions

of precious artifacts
from Poland,

and it was necessary to
create temporary warehouses

for the recovered
works of art.

Paulinum became the
most important one

and was dubbed the
Monuments Men Palace.

- The Monuments Men are a
team of American experts

and were brought
on to catalog the
tremendous amounts

of artifacts and
valuables that had been
taken by the Nazis

and found in
various locations.

The Americans understand,
to their credit,

that they need to rebuild,
not just economically,

but also in a
sense of political and
cultural integrity.

So the Dutch people
deserve the Dutch art back

and the French people
the French art back.

- The idea was to store and
catalog the pieces of art

before sending the
collections back

to their previous owners.

But the truth is that
many of them disappeared,

stolen by a local crew,
lost during transport,

or distributed among
some local museums

where they're still
stored in warehouses.

- Not surprisingly,

as the situation becomes more
disorganized and chaotic,

that central authorities
increasingly lose their grip

on where items
are ending up.

- Who has them?
Where are they?

Are they in an underground
bunker somewhere?

- It's a sad part of war

that we lose those
pieces of culture.

- [Narrator] As defeat
bears down on the Nazi Army,

high-ranking
officers scrambled

to keep track of their
stolen treasure.

Yet, across
occupied territory,

top-secret operations
are unfolding on a
much larger scale

to do the exact opposite.

In 1945, locals
surrounding Lake Toplitz

in the Austrian
Alps report seeing

heavily armored SS
vehicles approach the shore

under the cover of night.

- Put yourself in the shoes
of one of these locals.

All of a sudden,
these convoys are
arriving at night,

under guard, and you can
see them taking things

and dumping them
into this lake.

What are they getting rid
of? What are they hiding?

- [Narrator] Lake
Toplitz is stunning.

Surrounded by
dense woodland,

its idyllic appearance
contrasts sharply

with the eerie
depths of the water.

While fish swim happily
near the lake's surface,

any trace of life vanishes
just 20 meters down.

There is no oxygen here;

the water turns
from fresh to salt.

- The unique composition of
both seawater and freshwater

in Lake Toplitz has
created this almost barrier

of logs that are partially
floating 20 meters down

from the surface,

which makes it a
very difficult

and very dangerous
place to search.

- [Narrator] At least five
divers have lost their lives

in recent decades,

though the actual number
is thought to be higher.

One of these was
a US Navy diver,

who drowned in 1947 as
part of a team sent

to explore the lake.

As a result, diving
here is banned.

But what brought these
people to Toplitz?

And why were they willing
to risk their lives?

- Lake Toplitz
is an eerie lake

that really seems to
raise a lot of questions.

- [Narrator] Legend tells
of the Nazis sinking up

to $5 billion worth
of gold in the lake.

But with the water reaching
over 300 feet deep in areas,

combined with the
floating forest,

a thorough search is
practically impossible.

- It almost could
be something out of
Greek mythology,

where somebody has
to go on a quest

and pass through
the barrier of logs

or whatever to get down
to some mythical items

at the bottom of
the lake that might not
actually be there.

- Now, when we consider
that this place

is not particularly
suited for the recovery
of materials,

to my mind, it seems like it
was more of a dumping ground

than a place to
store stuff.

- And that changes the
narrative or the ideas

about what was
in those crates.

We're putting things
someplace inaccessible,

someplace no man will ever
be able to see it again.

So what is that?
Probably not gold.

- [Narrator] In 1959, a
shocking discovery is made

when investigators
successfully recovered

700 million pounds worth of
bank notes from the lake.

How did so much English
currency find its way

to the depths of
an Austrian lake?

Lake Toplitz was
initially part

of a Nazi naval
testing station.

Scientists experimented
with copper diaphragms,

detonating enormous
4,000-kilo charges at
various depths.

But the recovered
money was traced back

to a separate
Nazi initiative,

a master plan to tank
the British economy,

known as Operation
Bernhard.

- Operation Bernhard
is a German plan

to destabilize the
British economy,

principally by creating a
lot of counterfeit notes.

- [Narrator] Rather than
use expert counterfeiters,

prisoners from
various concentration
camps are taken

to Sachsenhausen to
produce the money.

The plan is to drop
the forged notes

over Britain by airplane.

However, most of the notes
are laundered instead

and used to fund the
German military.

- This plan goes awry.

The forgeries do not
break the British economy.

And yet, these forgeries are
so good that after the war,

the British have to
redesign their pound
notes to make sure

that it's no longer fake
Nazi pounds circulating

in British wallets.

- [Narrator] The production
of counterfeit bills stops

by March 1945 with the
advance of the Allies.

- People want to eradicate
any kind of evidence,

especially if you're
a senior Nazi or even
a mid-level Nazi.

You gotta be worried
about the paper trail

because you know damn well
that the Allies are coming.

This war is gonna
end poorly for you,

and if you survive,

you might be now the
focus of war crimes.

- Well, I'm a soldier.
I'm in charge of them.

My command
headquarters back

in Berlin has been
bombed into oblivion,

and nobody's answering
the phone for the
last two weeks.

Sounds like
I'm on my own.

Let me stick them in
the lake for now,

and in a couple of years,

I'll come back and
take a few thousand.

- Now, these
counterfeit notes

that were discovered
in 1959 were worthless,

but it still raised questions
about what else was lying

at the bottom of
Lake Toplitz and what
that might be worth.

- [Narrator] Efforts
to recover more

of this counterfeit
currency

and the famed gold loot
continues to this day.

In 2000, the submersible
that was used

to search the wreck of
the RMS Titanic was used

to survey the lake floor.

Even then, the complex
and treacherous topography

of Lake Toplitz
makes it impossible,

leading to widespread
speculation about
its contents

as people continue
to ask themselves,

what else could
be down there?

[mysterious music]

- One imagines
there's some great secret
to be discovered

at the bottom of a lake
or some great wealth.

It's hard to explain why
we have this propensity.

The realities
of what we know

about the war are
already dramatic enough

that I'm not really too
worried about what's

at the bottom of the
lake, if anything.

[tense music]

- [Narrator] While
sites like the SS Minden

and Lake Toplitz continue
to garner attention

as Nazi treasure troves,

neither compares to
the discoveries made

in the Merkers Mine.

- It is a collection
of treasures

that some troops compare
to Aladdin's cave.

- But the big
question remains,

how did all this
loot get here?

- [Narrator] For
most of the war,

the Nazis store the bulk
of their looted gold

in the Reichsbank
in Berlin.

By 1944, Allied bombings
escalate dramatically
in the city,

forcing the emergency
relocation of funds.

- They hid their gold,
and they had to hide it

where they didn't think

that the Allies would
ever go looking for it.

- [Narrator] On
February 11th, 1945,

most gold reserves,
approximately 1 billion
reichsmarks,

are brought to
Merkers and locked in a
vault known simply

as Room Number 8.

- This was a way of getting
the gold reserve out

from Berlin, which was
being basically flattened

by Allied bombardment.

- [Narrator] The
mine's location, far
from the capital,

makes it a safe
choice for the Nazis.

Further, the underground
structure makes it

relatively inconspicuous
from above ground,

while keeping it safe
from Allied air raids.

[tense music]

Merkers is deemed so secure
that even Heinrich Himmler,

the head of the SS,

asks for his own
personal treasure trove
to be stored here.

- Along with this
gold reserve of the
National Bank was

so many more tons of
looted materials.

- [Narrator] As the
US Army officers pour
over the contents

of Room Number Eight,

they notice that many of
the packing slips attached

to the loot bear
the same name:

Melmer.

Who is this man,

and why is his name on so
much of the Nazi's treasure?

- He's a captain, but his
function is not military,

neither it's policing.

It's strictly economic.

He's basically the
clerk. He's the teller.

- [Narrator] Bruno Melmer
was a German SS officer

who played a major role in
distributing stolen money

and jewelry throughout
Nazi Germany.

He was responsible
for the organization,
transportation,

and sale of all
valuables taken from
Holocaust victims.

- And so as the SS
begins implementing
the final solution,

and they start killing
off entire households
and families,

they do it in a way

where the people
now come to them,

as opposed to those
mobile killing units

when they were just
shooting people in the
back of the head.

Now the people
are, quote,

"evacuated to
assembly areas."

They come with all
their valuables,

including the dental
gold in their mouths,

their wedding
rings, watches,

any kind of jewelry
that could be liquid,

in the case of emergency,

perhaps sewn into their
clothing even, hidden away.

And once the SS get
their hands on them,

they're, of course,
stripped of all that.

[dramatic music]

Shoes, leather, fountain
pens, eyeglasses,

and every single item
is carefully cataloged.

5,000 alarm clocks in
working condition.

3,750 alarm clocks
requiring repair.

The dental gold is
extracted from their teeth.

They even shave
their hair

because there's an
industrial use for hair.

They make slippers
for submarine crews
out of human hair.

[dramatic music]

The property is then
distributed into the
German economy.

- Melmer is the single
cog in this machine

that is extracting
treasure and wealth.

- Nazi Germany had entire
organizations dedicated

to tracking and cataloging
their stolen goods.

- That may have been there
to counteract human greed.

Things go missing. Oops,
something goes in my pocket.

Oh, it goes over to
my house instead of,

you know, over
to the bank.

If you have
everything tracked,

you can ensure that
people aren't stealing
from the system.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] The total
worth of Melmer's shipments

is estimated at 36
million reichsmarks.

- He's got this transport now
that he's responsible for.

He's gotta hide it.

- [Narrator] When the
Allies begin to close in

and Nazi assets are
rushed away from Berlin,

he oversees much
of the relocation.

He even personally
delivers

many high-ranking Nazi
officials' personal stashes.

- Although it's
American troops

that have discovered
this cash

of gold and
currency and art,

they know that,
sooner or later,

this part of Germany
is gonna be occupied
by Soviet forces.

- If the vast store
of wealth and art,

which was stored in
the Merkers Mine,

had fallen into
the Soviet hands,

right, it would've been a
catastrophe for the Allies.

- So you have decades
of animosity and tension

between the West and
the Soviet Union.

Mutual fear
and suspicion.

Frankly, downright hatred
in the minds of some people.

- There was a worry that

as soon as the Nazis
laid down their arms,

the Soviets and the Americans
would start shooting

at one another.

- So that develops
a really, you know,

profound sense of urgency
at the end of the war.

If you're in a territory

and you realized
there's something

that you could use or
take, you're gonna do it.

That involves things
like treasure, gold,

but also involves people.

It involves scientists,
technicians, right,

that can be really
useful to them in a
postwar settlement.

- [Narrator] The US
Army has to act quickly.

The Merkers Mine
is squarely

in what will soon become
Soviet territory,

as agreed by the Allies.

They hurry to
move the treasure

from the Merkers
Mine to Frankfurt,

which is part of the
American occupation zone.

- This was a
mind-boggling task as far
as logistics goes.

- The Americans move the gold
out of the Merkers Mine,

and then they have to make a
decision what to do with it.

- [Narrator] Here, a
power struggle ensues.

The fortune in the
Merkers Mine is so great

that it threatens to corrupt
even the most prominent

among the Allied forces.

- General George Patton, one
of the US Army commanders,

wants to keep the money
for the United States Army.

He knows that when
the war ends,

the funds going
to support

the American war
machine might dry up.

And he wants to
use this money

to strengthen the
United States military.

- He's been the
man on the ground

to see exactly
what's happened,

and to him, the war,
the atrocities,

and everything there is
still very, very paramount.

And that means that
it's going to be harder

for him to believe
that this is done.

It's a we need
to make sure

that we can keep this
from happening again.

And to do that, we need
a strong military.

And to do that,

we need the funds to
keep the military going.

- But Patton's plan leaks,
and it gets shot down.

The United States
Army does not keep

the gold found
at Merkers.

Instead, the United
States government
returns this money

to different central
banks in Europe,

with a portion of the
money going to a fund

for victims of
the Holocaust.

- [Narrator] It's
estimated that billions
of dollars worth

of gold and treasure,

along with hundreds
of thousands of priceless
works of art,

are still missing.

- With due respect
to all soldiers

who fought the Second
World War, you know,

the average composition
of the soldiers

in the field are
generally young,

not terribly well-educated
individuals,

who have been
through hell.

There's a lot of revenge.

There's a lot of, you know,
personal gratification

that they want to get
at the end of the war.

Many people knew that this
came from a population,

Jewish population, that
had been murdered.

So I'm sure in their own
heads they said, "Well,

it's not gonna go back
to the rightful owners

because the rightful
owners are gone."

- The Germans themselves,
military and civilians,

also had the propensity
to steal gold

and keep it for
themselves.

So there was a
real motivator,

if you will, to enhance
their own lives.

- There's just so
much material that the
Nazis have removed

from occupied territories
and resituated

and then moved again into
hiding places near the end

of the war that I
think it must have been
quite impossible

at the end of the story for
anyone on the German side

to account for where all
of this stuff ends up.

- Once the fact becomes
absolutely clear

that there was no way for
Germany to win this war,

then panic ensues.

And under those
circumstances,

the whole organization
breaks down.

- Much of the
authority structure is
collapsing on itself,

and more and more
of the senior leaders
are either fighting

to the death,
so to speak,

or making a point
of disappearing.

In which case, they
may not be able

to take very
much with them.

- This keeps alive
the possibility

that there might be treasure,
there might be wealth,

which were hidden and
are awaiting discovery.

- Across the world,

there are still areas
where people are looking,

trying to find the Nazi
gold that is still missing.

[tense music]

- [Narrator] The extreme
measures the Nazis took

when hiding their gold took
a great deal of effort.

The Nazis were meticulous
with their record keeping

and organization when it
came to stolen artifacts.

Specially appointed
art historians

and theorists ran whole
looting organizations,

like the Reichsleiter
Rosenberg Institute

for the occupied
territories

and Sonderauftrag Linz

to track and
store objects.

The internal banking systems
were just as structured.

The SS made sure that all the
money and gold accumulated

through the pillaging
operations was accounted for

in their Reichsbank
records.

- Gold is melted down
into state bars,

stamped with the Reichsbank
as official German gold,

and then very
quietly assembled

and exported into
Switzerland.

And there, it's deposited

with a bank called
the Bank of International
Settlements.

Once it's in
Switzerland, in the BIS,

it's no longer Nazi
gold or German gold,

it's neutral gold.

- [Narrator] This means that
while popular culture likes

to imagine vast hordes

of Nazi gold hidden around
formerly occupied territory,

the truth is that much
of this gold went

into the international
banking system,

finding its way into
Swiss and Turkish banks,

before eventually
moving out of Europe,

where it continues
to circulate indirectly
to this day.

- It's in Ottawa,
it's in Washington.

It's in the economies
of all these nations.

It's working for us.
It's collecting interest.

It's been taken
and not returned.

[tense music]

[metal detector beeping]

- [Narrator] As treasure
hunters continue

to explore parts of
former Nazi Germany,

the meaning of treasure
has slowly changed.

Today, intact pieces
of German weaponry,
tanks, uniforms,

or even former
soldiers' personal
belongings can be sold

for huge profits.

- It's my understanding

that this has become
increasingly common

in Poland and Eastern
Europe more generally,

particularly since the
collapse of Soviet authority

and the Communist Bloc.

Has left a lot of these
localities more accessible

to treasure hunters who
often arrive in the guise

of pursuing archeological
expeditions that,

really, for all
practical purposes,

are little more
than grave robbing.

I've seen some of the
techniques that they use

when they're excavating
sites and looking
for war material.

In most cases, they're either
putting their own lives

in danger by
excavating areas

where there's lots of
unexploded ordinance,

without any sort of
sensible safety protocols,

and/or in engaging in
what are essentially acts

of desecration
of war graves.

They're unmarked,
forgotten burial sites,

in a lot of instances.

Looking for rings and
pieces of insignia

that might be
of some value

to collectors of that
kind of material.

This is a sort
of example of,

in the case of German
graves, at least,

of a looting kleptocracy,

who are now being looted
in death, in a way.

- [Narrator] Yet still,
some hunters are determined

to find the most precious
Nazi remnants of all:

Gold.

- The Nazi
regime was built

on the ruthless pillaging
of both individuals

and entire states,

and it's estimated that
the fortunes stolen

by the Nazis would be
around $19 billion

in today's money.

- The idea that
some Nazi leaders

were actually
keeping private

and secret treasures
has fueled the idea

that there's still more
Nazi gold left to find.

- These are
interesting examples

of how even 75 or 80
years after the fact,

the war still isn't
quite finished, isn't it?

Whether it's searching
the bottom of a lake

or a ship that
might have gold,

or some individual looking
for something that a father

or grandfather might
have left somewhere,

it goes on.

- [Narrator] As we continue
to unpack the extent

of the Nazis'
looting today,

the scope of
their pillaging

leaves many questions
unanswered.

Considering how
carefully the Nazis' loot
was stored during

the Second World War,

what might their
hoarding tell us about
their ambition?

- The Nazis were, if
anything, megalomania
personified.

There was this belief

that they were building
a world empire,

and they were
building a reich

that would last
for 1,000 years.

Even though they were very
practical, in one sense,

these were people who did
not have realistic goals.

So definitely their
looting plans

and their storage plans were
done from that perspective.

- [Narrator] Were
they already planning

for a new economic
system in the supposed
1,000-year reich?

And can we even begin
to imagine a world

in which the Nazis were able
to keep hold of this wealth?

[tense music]