Nazi Treasure: Sunken Boxes, Looted Gold and the Files Locked After the War

In July 1959, divers in Austria’s Lake Toplitz brought up wooden boxes filled with counterfeit British banknotes. The Bank of England confirmed that the notes were linked to Operation Bernhard, a Nazi programme that forced concentration-camp prisoners to produce forged money in an attempt to damage Britain’s financial system. A lake almost 100 metres deep, boxes dumped as the war collapsed and a real counterfeiting operation created the story of a huge treasure below the water.

The rumour then grew beyond counterfeit notes. It began to include gold, diamonds, stolen paintings, Swiss bank accounts and files that could have embarrassed officials after the war. Another branch connected the treasure to the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German ship torpedoed by a Soviet submarine on 30 January 1945 while carrying evacuees. Stories said sealed boxes of gold and the Amber Room had been loaded before the ship left port.