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by Fiona G. Holter, USAICoE Staff Historian
On April 4-5 1945, personnel with the 90th Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Detachment attached to the 90th Infantry Division, Third Army, learned of recent German activity near the Kaiseroda salt mine in Merkers. After interviewing displaced persons in the region, they forwarded their notes to the division G-2, who opened an investigation that uncovered a hoard of German gold, silver, and valuables totaling well over two billion Reichsmarks.
On April 4, 1945, the village of Merkers fell to the 90th Infantry Division as U.S. forces pressed their way northwest through central Germany. As the Third Army advanced, agents with the 90th CIC Detachment, under the command of Capt. Walter D. Osborne, interviewed displaced persons and civilians to identify blacklisted personnel, denouncers, enemy informants, and others deemed to be security risks. Through their interviews, the agents heard rumors the Germans had moved gold from the Reichsbank in Berlin to the Kaiseroda mine in Merkers. The CIC team forwarded this information on to Lt. Col. James O. Boswell, G-2, 90th Infantry Division. On April 5, Colonel Boswell received an additional report from Military Intelligence Team 404-G attached to the 358th Infantry Regiment in Bad Salzungen, six miles from Merkers, supporting claims of a hoard of gold within the mine.
On April 6, officials from the 90th Infantry visited the Kaiseroda Mine. After speaking with people in the area, Lt. Col. William A. Russell, the division’s civilian affairs officer, was confident they had discovered Germany’s hidden gold reserves. The next day, some of the division’s officers entered the mine where, 2,100 feet below the surface, they discovered 550 bags of Reichsmarks stacked against the walls in the main haulage way of the mine. They also found tunnels full of valuable artwork, priceless antiquities, and countless suitcases and containers filled with jewelry and valuables stolen from Holocaust victims. The team also located the main vault, an 11,250 square foot room filled with gold and other valuables. A complete inventory of the vault included: 8,198 bars of gold bullion; 55 boxes of crated gold bullion; hundreds of bags of gold and silver coins; 1,300 bags of gold Reichsmarks, British pounds gold, and French gold Francs; 711 bags of American twenty-dollar gold pieces; hundreds of bags of foreign currency; 9 bags of valuable coins; 2,380 bags and 1,300 boxes of Reichsmarks; 20 bags of silver; and 40 bags of silver bars.
After the inventory was complete, the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) oversaw the removal of the hoard from the mine. Because of agreements made at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Merkers would soon fall under the jurisdiction of the Soviet Union. To prevent the hoard from falling into the hands of the Soviets, SHAEF arranged to have the contents of the mine transferred to the Frankfurt Reichsbank building. Eventually, allied currencies were returned to their respective countries and, in early 1946, the gold was turned over to the Inter-Allied Reparation Agency to be distributed to the countries whose central bank gold had been stolen by the Nazis.
The 90th CIC played a small but essential role in locating the Nazi treasure. Through their reports, the U.S. was able to block Nazi leaders from continuing to fund their war with gold and goods stolen from their victims and ensured that victims of Nazi aggression and persecution received some restitution.
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.05.2022 13:01 |
| Story ID: | 417857 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 541 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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