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Nazi Gold
This story of the theft of the Nazis' hoard of more than $2.5 billion in gold, currency, and jewels reveals, after a nine-year investigation, how the gold was moved, how it vanished, and who dipped into the booty
544 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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March 28, 2024Nach 1/3 abgebrochen
Theoretisch interessantes Thema, aber gar nicht gut umgesetzt. Viel zu viele komplett unnötige Details bekommen zu viel Raum. Zu viele Personen bzw. ihre Biografien werden erwähnt, die zT nur im entferntesten mit der Story zu tun haben. Riesiger Rechercheaufwand, aber leider überhaupt nicht mehr gesehen, was relevant und interessant zu lesen ist.
Theoretisch interessantes Thema, aber gar nicht gut umgesetzt. Viel zu viele komplett unnötige Details bekommen zu viel Raum. Zu viele Personen bzw. ihre Biografien werden erwähnt, die zT nur im entferntesten mit der Story zu tun haben. Riesiger Rechercheaufwand, aber leider überhaupt nicht mehr gesehen, was relevant und interessant zu lesen ist.
September 25, 2013
It's the only book on WWII which I was not able to put down.
Purchased in London and kept reading all the way into Budadest.
Be careful to only read / watch stories from the victors!
This book is more about what the allies (USA soldiers) did after the fall of Germany,
while in Germany (and Austria) than it is about the Third Reich.
A MUST READ FOR WWII BUFFS!
Purchased in London and kept reading all the way into Budadest.
Be careful to only read / watch stories from the victors!
This book is more about what the allies (USA soldiers) did after the fall of Germany,
while in Germany (and Austria) than it is about the Third Reich.
A MUST READ FOR WWII BUFFS!
December 13, 2018
A long journey into denial
This is a genuinely fascinating story and a remarkable achievement given the huge cover up and institutional resistance to acknowledge any wrong doing. That aspect is both depressing and illuminating given we're in the Trump era US political climate that has more than a whiff of the 1930's?
It couldn't happen now, really?
This is a genuinely fascinating story and a remarkable achievement given the huge cover up and institutional resistance to acknowledge any wrong doing. That aspect is both depressing and illuminating given we're in the Trump era US political climate that has more than a whiff of the 1930's?
It couldn't happen now, really?
September 20, 2021
That was one serious ride.
You never know what to expect before you start reading.
Nazi Gold by Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting has me considering where I would go if life gave me time enough to go to Germany and leave the airport in Frankfurt. I've been through there four times, but never into the countryside. Garmish-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, and Merkers strike me as more interesting than Berlin nightclubs, the famous old university towns, and other potential tourist traps. Those first noted Bavarian-area cities have interesting old post-war stories to tell if they would.
An awful lot of money, gold, coins, currency, stocks, and such went through there, some evidently went into Swiss bank accounts, some may still be buried in the mountains. I now know that it wasn't necessarily limited to the wild social life that ex-occupation GIs smiled about in conversations when I was a boy. Some were in an almost SciFi wild west. The Black Market was a major player.
Sayer and Botting admitted that their book was complex, and I had previously noted here on Goodreads that some of the editing was lacking, but it remained a page-turner throughout. Sometimes I really hated to put it down, and get the sleep I needed for other things, and sometimes four or five pages was enough to put me to sleep. But, I had no desire to quit reading this one.
Their epilogue is a must, but not enough to skip the rest of the content.
Do not look for a movie version in a theater near you.
"Despite the movie rights having been sold on no less than five occasions there was no big screen interpretation of Nazi Gold. The story is true, but complex, having outwitted a succesion of screenwriters over the last decade," they said. "The search for Nazi Gold is fraught with dead-ends and misleading trails. What awaits us may be yet another chapter, but never an ending, to this infinite tale. no, never an ending."
You never know what to expect before you start reading.
Nazi Gold by Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting has me considering where I would go if life gave me time enough to go to Germany and leave the airport in Frankfurt. I've been through there four times, but never into the countryside. Garmish-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, and Merkers strike me as more interesting than Berlin nightclubs, the famous old university towns, and other potential tourist traps. Those first noted Bavarian-area cities have interesting old post-war stories to tell if they would.
An awful lot of money, gold, coins, currency, stocks, and such went through there, some evidently went into Swiss bank accounts, some may still be buried in the mountains. I now know that it wasn't necessarily limited to the wild social life that ex-occupation GIs smiled about in conversations when I was a boy. Some were in an almost SciFi wild west. The Black Market was a major player.
Sayer and Botting admitted that their book was complex, and I had previously noted here on Goodreads that some of the editing was lacking, but it remained a page-turner throughout. Sometimes I really hated to put it down, and get the sleep I needed for other things, and sometimes four or five pages was enough to put me to sleep. But, I had no desire to quit reading this one.
Their epilogue is a must, but not enough to skip the rest of the content.
Do not look for a movie version in a theater near you.
"Despite the movie rights having been sold on no less than five occasions there was no big screen interpretation of Nazi Gold. The story is true, but complex, having outwitted a succesion of screenwriters over the last decade," they said. "The search for Nazi Gold is fraught with dead-ends and misleading trails. What awaits us may be yet another chapter, but never an ending, to this infinite tale. no, never an ending."
June 30, 2009
History is written by the victors - and we children of the Allies learned what the victors wanted us to know. But in reality, as in all wars, the aftermath is not a tidy story.
This book details the Allied robbery of incredible wealth and cultural treasures in the early post war years before it was easy to trace greed prompted theft...large scale and to date still mostly unsolved.
I read all 341 pages non-stop. It may not compell you the same way but even at a more leisurely pace it will leave you thoughtful.
This book details the Allied robbery of incredible wealth and cultural treasures in the early post war years before it was easy to trace greed prompted theft...large scale and to date still mostly unsolved.
I read all 341 pages non-stop. It may not compell you the same way but even at a more leisurely pace it will leave you thoughtful.
July 14, 2014
This book chronicles the large scale corruption that existed in the American zone of occupation in southern Germany post W.W.II. It also exposes the subsequent shameful cover-up that was so successful most people nowadays have no knowledge of the extent of the crimes. Nazi Gold was first published in 1984 and since that time there has been remarkably little new research on the matter. Sayer and Botting's book remains the master of the subject.
February 20, 2011
REad this sometime? My ed is different by Granada.Brought home to re-read.
January 12, 2020
This is one of those books that could have been great, but fell flat. Why? Let’s get right into. We are led to believe the heist was is excess of 400,000,00! That is a lot of dough. But that isn’t the case at. In chapter 13, The reckoning, when one takes the time to do the math, this is summation:
Total involved $424,354,340, An impressive amount to say the least. But upon further examination we find that $404,468,958 is accounted for. The Russians took, $403,434,620, Skorzenzy $850,143.00, and stolen returned amounted to $184,195.00. That leave a balance of $10,064,577.00 That’s it. No more no less, not this Headline grabbing amount of $400,000,000 and the author does his best to hang the blame on the United States Army.
It is obvious that there was mass corruption around Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen during the allied occupation. And yes, there appears to be, and I say appears, that members of the US CIC, CDD where involved. But to damn the entire US Army is ridiculous!
Anyone who has studied postwar Germany is well aware of the thriving black market and how German females survived by using their bodies as collateral for food, stocking, cigarettes and basic survival. Nothing shocking here, but the author does his best to blame this on US opportunists. Seriously? Every population has a small percentage or thugs, thieves and scallywags. Again, nothing ground breaking.
What is researched and detailed in point is how a majority of the trade in the American zone centered around Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It reminded me of Old Chicago and New York City during the days of prohibition; the Wild West returns. It appears this area was a hot bed for all types of nefarious activity: drugs, metals, prostitution, theft and murder, Yep, Old Chicago was alive and thriving.
The story itself is way too long. All of the material could have been handled in 250 pages instead of the 353 we are subjected to. Why? At times the book reads more like a travel guide with unnecessary and useless descriptions of the mountains, building’s interior and exterior, weather, flows of rivers, etc. Total fluff and utterly not required. And let us not overlook the redundancy of backtracking of events Mr. Sayer is so fond of recounting. I understand in a book of this nature it is necessary to refresh the score card in case readers have forgotten a character or two, but Sayer overdoes it to fill up pages. Again, unnecessary.
When you get to the end of the book, waiting for the great bombshell to drop, we get a small fuse with a rather dull explosion. Everything in the book comes down to only two bars of gold that resurfaced. They had been returned but not properly categorized. That’s it. Over 353 pages of over sensationalized fluff.
I can see why this book was a best seller back in day. I’m sure many of the readers were hoping to get an idea where all the stolen booty could be buried so they could plan an expedition and be the ones who unearthed the hidden treasures and become instant millionaires. It’s no different than when Gold was discovered in California and the Klondike. Many ventured out, but few his it rich and of course, we have no idea to date who, if anyone benefited from the hidden booty.
So, who benefited from the heist of the Reichbank? Easy, the Russians and Skorzenzy. At no time can the author pinpoint what Americans lived a lavish life after they were demobilized. Did many of the US officers live high on the hog after The Third Reich collapsed? Duh, Yes. To the victor go the spoils which has been heavily chronicled through the history of man. Even the Germans, especially Colonel Pfeiffer, who was initially approached with the Gold, currency and jewels, to be hidden in the German Redoubt, eked out a modest life in Argentina.
Again, who benefited from the great heist? The Russians and Skorzenzy-end of story.
Three star push.
Total involved $424,354,340, An impressive amount to say the least. But upon further examination we find that $404,468,958 is accounted for. The Russians took, $403,434,620, Skorzenzy $850,143.00, and stolen returned amounted to $184,195.00. That leave a balance of $10,064,577.00 That’s it. No more no less, not this Headline grabbing amount of $400,000,000 and the author does his best to hang the blame on the United States Army.
It is obvious that there was mass corruption around Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen during the allied occupation. And yes, there appears to be, and I say appears, that members of the US CIC, CDD where involved. But to damn the entire US Army is ridiculous!
Anyone who has studied postwar Germany is well aware of the thriving black market and how German females survived by using their bodies as collateral for food, stocking, cigarettes and basic survival. Nothing shocking here, but the author does his best to blame this on US opportunists. Seriously? Every population has a small percentage or thugs, thieves and scallywags. Again, nothing ground breaking.
What is researched and detailed in point is how a majority of the trade in the American zone centered around Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It reminded me of Old Chicago and New York City during the days of prohibition; the Wild West returns. It appears this area was a hot bed for all types of nefarious activity: drugs, metals, prostitution, theft and murder, Yep, Old Chicago was alive and thriving.
The story itself is way too long. All of the material could have been handled in 250 pages instead of the 353 we are subjected to. Why? At times the book reads more like a travel guide with unnecessary and useless descriptions of the mountains, building’s interior and exterior, weather, flows of rivers, etc. Total fluff and utterly not required. And let us not overlook the redundancy of backtracking of events Mr. Sayer is so fond of recounting. I understand in a book of this nature it is necessary to refresh the score card in case readers have forgotten a character or two, but Sayer overdoes it to fill up pages. Again, unnecessary.
When you get to the end of the book, waiting for the great bombshell to drop, we get a small fuse with a rather dull explosion. Everything in the book comes down to only two bars of gold that resurfaced. They had been returned but not properly categorized. That’s it. Over 353 pages of over sensationalized fluff.
I can see why this book was a best seller back in day. I’m sure many of the readers were hoping to get an idea where all the stolen booty could be buried so they could plan an expedition and be the ones who unearthed the hidden treasures and become instant millionaires. It’s no different than when Gold was discovered in California and the Klondike. Many ventured out, but few his it rich and of course, we have no idea to date who, if anyone benefited from the hidden booty.
So, who benefited from the heist of the Reichbank? Easy, the Russians and Skorzenzy. At no time can the author pinpoint what Americans lived a lavish life after they were demobilized. Did many of the US officers live high on the hog after The Third Reich collapsed? Duh, Yes. To the victor go the spoils which has been heavily chronicled through the history of man. Even the Germans, especially Colonel Pfeiffer, who was initially approached with the Gold, currency and jewels, to be hidden in the German Redoubt, eked out a modest life in Argentina.
Again, who benefited from the great heist? The Russians and Skorzenzy-end of story.
Three star push.
December 18, 2024
Interesting story, but a slog to finish. So many names and situations are repeated over and over.
What interested me most was the state of Germany during the last three weeks of World War II, and the subsequent four years of Allied occupation, as the authors present it from the perspectives of the US Army (in occupation), and the German people (soldiers, Nazis, SS, and ordinary citizens). The central theme revolves around gold bars, coins, and paper currency that were and were not acquired by the US government after the war.
Worth a read, but really worth it if you are an accountant, an economics major, or a serious Nazi conspiracy theory enthusiast.
What interested me most was the state of Germany during the last three weeks of World War II, and the subsequent four years of Allied occupation, as the authors present it from the perspectives of the US Army (in occupation), and the German people (soldiers, Nazis, SS, and ordinary citizens). The central theme revolves around gold bars, coins, and paper currency that were and were not acquired by the US government after the war.
Worth a read, but really worth it if you are an accountant, an economics major, or a serious Nazi conspiracy theory enthusiast.
July 22, 2023
This book is meticulously researched but gets bogged down in irrelevant description. The authors also unnecessarily repeat themselves several times which devalued my interest in what should have been a gripping true story. For me a disappointing read which should not have been given the subject matter.
November 13, 2019
This book starts out well but then goes off on tangents. While it is interesting it leaves one with more questions than answers. The gold heist begins to fade and US Army corruption becomes far more central.
May 15, 2019
Not so much "Nazi Gold" as "American 'cowboys' go wild in Garmisch (Germany) after WW2." Disappointing.
March 7, 2017
This is a very interesting book about the final days of WWII in Germany. It centers on what happened to millions of dollars of gold and currency in the closing days. But it also tells where some of it ended up and where some historians think hidden caches are still. It also talks about the collaboration between so GI's and German solders to heist a large portion of it. The movie "Kelly's Heroes" was based on that collaboration. I only gave it two stars because, like many history books, it is somewhat hard to get to the story because of the minute details.
April 27, 2023
BOOK REVIEW – Nazi Gold by Ian Sayer & Douglas Botting
A few Saturday's ago, I decided to watch Kelly's Heroes for the umpteenth time. The movie is about a group of GIs near the end of World War 2 that learn about a hoard of Nazi gold being held a few towns away. They are currently on leave and have decided to steal it. The group grows and is ultimately successful only after bribing some Nazis guarding the gold. It's an entertaining movie with an elemental truth.
Watching Kelly's Heroes led me to track down and read Nazi Gold by Ian Sayer & Douglas Botting. The book is a well-documented, perhaps too well-documented, account of how over $2.5 billion in gold, currency, and jewels was stolen at the war's end.
It is a fact that the Nazis looted billions from individuals, companies, and countries during World War 2. Then, as they started to lose the war, upper-level Nazis started to hide their booty like pirates burying treasure to buy their freedom from prosecution for war crimes and to support a lavish lifestyle after the war. Some funds were allegedly supposed to fund the rise of the Fourth Reich.
At the war's end, the Allies began the most complex occupation of a defeated country ever attempted. One of the objectives of the occupation was to locate, secure, and inventory all that the Nazis stole so that it could be returned to its rightful owners. The book tells a story of how corrupt military and non-military elements of the occupying force illegally absconded with treasure worth millions. These crimes were still being investigated and unresolved into the late 1990s.
Lessons from the book:
Some of the good guys are often as bad as or worse than the back guys.
The Allies were unprepared to occupy and govern Germany after the war. NATO needs to be planning for the occupation of Russia now so that after the Ukrainians win their war with Russia, we can do a better job than we did with the Nazis.
Sayer and Botting wrote a detailed book because they hoped it would prompt the governments involved to do the right thing. The document the numerous botched investigations, some of which were called off by those in authority. This may be the largest robbery of record and may also be the biggest cover-up in history. It is suggested that many governments, including the Swiss, were complicit in this affair. While the amount of detail may scare off the average reader, I understand the need to document what was an extremely serious crime.
A few Saturday's ago, I decided to watch Kelly's Heroes for the umpteenth time. The movie is about a group of GIs near the end of World War 2 that learn about a hoard of Nazi gold being held a few towns away. They are currently on leave and have decided to steal it. The group grows and is ultimately successful only after bribing some Nazis guarding the gold. It's an entertaining movie with an elemental truth.
Watching Kelly's Heroes led me to track down and read Nazi Gold by Ian Sayer & Douglas Botting. The book is a well-documented, perhaps too well-documented, account of how over $2.5 billion in gold, currency, and jewels was stolen at the war's end.
It is a fact that the Nazis looted billions from individuals, companies, and countries during World War 2. Then, as they started to lose the war, upper-level Nazis started to hide their booty like pirates burying treasure to buy their freedom from prosecution for war crimes and to support a lavish lifestyle after the war. Some funds were allegedly supposed to fund the rise of the Fourth Reich.
At the war's end, the Allies began the most complex occupation of a defeated country ever attempted. One of the objectives of the occupation was to locate, secure, and inventory all that the Nazis stole so that it could be returned to its rightful owners. The book tells a story of how corrupt military and non-military elements of the occupying force illegally absconded with treasure worth millions. These crimes were still being investigated and unresolved into the late 1990s.
Lessons from the book:
Some of the good guys are often as bad as or worse than the back guys.
The Allies were unprepared to occupy and govern Germany after the war. NATO needs to be planning for the occupation of Russia now so that after the Ukrainians win their war with Russia, we can do a better job than we did with the Nazis.
Sayer and Botting wrote a detailed book because they hoped it would prompt the governments involved to do the right thing. The document the numerous botched investigations, some of which were called off by those in authority. This may be the largest robbery of record and may also be the biggest cover-up in history. It is suggested that many governments, including the Swiss, were complicit in this affair. While the amount of detail may scare off the average reader, I understand the need to document what was an extremely serious crime.
August 16, 2021
Książkę oceniam na 3,5 (dałem 3, bo nie można wystawiać ocen połówkowych). Moja ocena byłaby jeszcze niższa, ale doceniam jednak pracę autorów i to że zbierając informacje do książki sami się też narażali (rewelacje w niej opisane były bardzo niewygodne i niebezpieczne dla wielu osób; autorzy otrzymywali różne ostrzeżenia, pogróżki, próbowano ich zastraszyć, zdyskredytować - próbowano ich nawet powiązać ze sprawą morderstwa). Po tej książce spodziewałem się wyjaśnienia co stało stało się ze złotem i innymi dobrami zrabowanymi przez nazistów w czasie II wojny światowej. Odpowiedzi tej nie uzyskałem.. Co prawda w książce rzeczywiście opisywane są losy części nazistowskiego złota (a dokładniej oficjalnych rezerw Reischsbanku w złocie i w walutach), jednak moim zdaniem pokazany jest tutaj jedynie wierzchołek góry lodowej, przy tym wcale nawet nie wyjaśniono dalszych losów tego złota.. (do kogo ono ostatecznie trafiło, co z nim zrobiono). Większa część książki to opis (mniej lub bardziej) bezczelnych oszustw, korupcji, różnych machinacji czynionych w celu wzbogacenia się, które miały miejce w amerykańskiej strefie okupacyjnej po wojnie i które były robione przez różnych ludzi (wszelkiego rodzaju cwaniaków, przestępców, byłych nazistów, we współpracy ze skorumpowanymi i zdegenerowanymi Amerykanami). Nie dowiemy się z tej książki na pewno o tym co stało się z prywatnymi majątkami różnych nazistów.. gdzie to wszystko zniknęło..
January 13, 2021
Perhaps it's only fitting that a book that is in large part about the chaos of post-war Germany is itself chaotic and messy. In the end there is some interesting information contained in the book but its presentation distracts more than it informs. Save your $9.99 and read a Wikipedia article on the subject instead.
June 3, 2022
книга очень красиво написана и интересна, если вам нравятся темы истории, в частности Вторая мировая война.
Я многому научился у нее!!
Я даже не знал, какая валюта была тогда в Германии, а теперь знаю!
Я многому научился у нее!!
Я даже не знал, какая валюта была тогда в Германии, а теперь знаю!
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June 5, 2013Very interesting. Something I had never considered but too much detail.
October 1, 2016
Very good book about the history of the American Army Government in Germany. The book is filled with information and weaves a very familiar picture of crime and cover-up.
May 3, 2017
Reads as if an accountant wrote it, extremely detailed to the point of boring.
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