Nazi Gold
In early April 1945 the little German village of Merkers fell to the lead elements of General Patton’s 3rd Army. Soon after, two military policemen stopped a pregnant French woman on the road to Merkers and gave her a ride into town. As they passed the entrance to a mine, the woman told them that this was the place where the Nazis stored their treasure. The soldiers passed this comment up the line, setting off an amazing chain of events.
It was soon discovered that the mine did indeed hoard the wealth of the Third Reich. There were more than eight thousand bars of gold bullion, more than two thousand bags of gold coins from various nations, and billions of Reichmarks stored in boxes. More than four hundred paintings were found, including works by Rembrandt, Raphael, van Dyck, Monet, Manet, and Renoir. In a separate cache, more than two hundred suitcases, trunks, and boxes were found containing jewelry, watches, dental work, gold and silver items of all kinds, and currency. This was identified as S.S. loot from private dwellings throughout Europe and from concentration camp victims.500
The contents of the Merker mine were removed to Frankfurt, Germany, where the long postwar process of restitution began. A Tripartite Gold Commission was established to get this wealth back into the hands of its rightful owners. In 1998 the Commission performed its final act by turning over its last stock of gold to the Nazi Persecution Relief Fund for Holocaust survivors.
There has probably never been a more pointed demonstration of the futility of amassing great material wealth in this life. Jesus warned that we should not store up treasures on Earth. Lasting wealth is found only in our spiritual lives. By making daily deposits of prayer and service to God, we build our accounts in his kingdom and accumulate the wealth that only comes from a relationship with him.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
—Matthew 6:20–21
Liberation of Paris. (National Archives)
Allied commanders toast victory. (National Archives)