The information summarizing these various men and the bureaucracies within which they labored has been presented to help establish the background of both, and the overall framework within which these men and thousands of others operated during World War II. As most readers will have already recognized, most of the managers of these governmental entities were college graduates. In other times and in other places, these lawyers, professors, bank managers, civil engineers, and economists would have led ordinary and productive lives. History would never have found them. But the times within which they lived were not ordinary. Records from around the world and across the centuries reflect the sad fact that often, when men grip the reins of life and death over their fellow man, they devolve into beasts of evil. Just the authority to commit murder often leads to extermination on a massive scale. Few are truly ideologically motivated. Power and treasure are the aphrodisiacs that drive them.
The insatiable quest for profit ran on a parallel track with these bureaucracies of mass murder and intelligence gathering. As millions of people from across Europe were loaded onto trains and deported, lined up along ditches and executed, or stuffed into gas chambers and suffocated, men in positions high and low scrambled to line their pockets with gold. This was especially true for officers holding prominent positions of authority. SS officers in particular—because of their close association with the Final Solution and all that entailed—looted hundreds of millions in currency, bullion, jewels, artwork, and antiques. Others came into possession of valuable letters, documents, diaries, and other written memorabilia pertaining to important Nazi leaders.
The tide of war turned irrevocably against Germany in 1944 when the Allies landed in Normandy. Perhaps it turned even earlier. Regardless, by that time the final push to free Europe from the Nazi yoke was underway. As the Allies drove eastward, the Soviets were forcing the Germans, mile by bloody mile, out of the Soviet Union and back into Poland and ultimately, Germany. By the spring of 1945, Hitler’s troops still held a sizeable chunk of territory, but the German war machine had been marched and bled to the point of exhaustion. It was no longer able to coordinate an effective resistance to the multitude of Allied advances. While Berlin and a score of other cities crumbled building by building under Allied bombing runs, trucks, jeeps, railroad cars, and planes loaded with treasures and other personal property stolen from death camp victims and conquered cities were on the move. Most of this moveable wealth was being shipped into the mountains of Austria. It was there that many of the SS’s worst criminals hoped to wage a successful, or at least prolonged, resistance. Others concerned themselves with escape. Few prominent leaders trapped in Austria at war’s end had any illusions of their final fate if captured.
The ensuing pages will introduce you to, and follow the fortunes of, some of the more fascinating characters associated with the Reich Security Main Office and the stolen treasures over which these men presided. Many were caught, their fortunes confiscated. Many more escaped with their treasures intact. A sizeable number managed to conceal their bullion and currency for subsequent unearthing. Millions remain unaccounted for and will perhaps never be found.
Chapter 3
“If one of my SS men takes only as much as a pin from the Jewish properties, I shall punish the man with the death sentence.”
— Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler to Franz Konrad
Franz Konrad: The King of the Ghetto
Schloss Fischhorn, or Castle Fischhorn, is nestled deep within the breathtaking Alps of Austria near the town of Zell am See. Its walls tower over the shores of a deep crystal blue glacier lake of the same name. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the 12th century fortress and surrounding farmland was owned by Henrique E. Gildemeister, the Peruvian Minister to Austria. Peru, however, severed its diplomatic relations with Germany following Hitler’s declaration of war against the United States. Fearing for their safety, Gildemeister took his family back to their native land. The SS eventually seized the castle and grounds and evicted its land manager. They had refrained from taking title to the land and ousting him earlier in fear that the Peruvian government would take similar steps against German property within its own borders. During the latter months of World War II, Fischhorn served as both a repository for stolen loot and SS Headquarters for Equine Matters.1
Even before the Germans overran Europe, a plan had been crafted to create a race of superior horses bred from the best blood on the European continent. The intention was to form an elite cavalry corps—the finest ever fielded on any battlefield. These black riders from central Europe, so the fantasy went, would cut through rough terrain, move behind an enemy, and hold him until powerful mechanized units could be brought up for the kill. The improbable scheme was initiated as early as 1938 in Austria. The most famous stables in the world were looted, one by one, as country after country fell beneath the twisted cross of the Nazi banner. In France, two outstanding stables belonging to Baron Edouard Rothschild and the Aga Khan were seized. Every one of Poland’s privately owned Arabians, generally recognized as the finest Arabian stock in the world, was confiscated. From Hungary, the Germans stole all the horses owned by the Hungarian government, including Pax, the winner of the Hungarian Oaks, and Taj Akbar, who came in second in the English Derby. To these were added the finest blooded horses the Germans had been able to purchase from England and America before the war. Most of these magnificent beasts were transported to Fischhorn castle during the final year of war. The result of this grand-scale horse thievery was a Salzburg province, Austrian stable complex that produced some of the purest and most magnificent foals in horse breeding history.
Neither adjective, pure nor magnificent, would ever be associated with the administrative officer who oversaw the equine operation during its final months of existence. SS Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Franz Konrad’s road to Schloss Fischhorn was paved with crime, hardship, blood, death—and gold.
The early years of Franz Konrad’s life were unremarkable. He was born in Vienna on March 1, 1906, into a middle class existence. After he finished school and obtained a business degree, he worked for a time as a bookkeeper for various export firms. He soon demonstrated his proclivity for criminal action when he was caught stealing money from his employer. Not only did he lose his job but he was also imprisoned for three months in 1932. Out of jail and out of work, Konrad drifted for a few weeks until his former defense lawyer helped him join the illegal Austrian SS in January 1933. Membership in the Nazi party followed before the end of the year. Party officials provided him with living expenses and helped land him a job with a highway construction firm. As the years passed Konrad advanced, rung by rung, up the party ladder. In December of 1939 he joined the elite Waffen SS and was assigned to Berlin.
Of the many characters covered in some detail in the study, Franz Konrad is perhaps the most physically unremarkable. Everything about him was ordinary. He was of average height, a bit frumpy looking with a tendency toward paunchiness; his hairline had receded above his chubby and round, but not altogether unpleasant, face. If he walked by on the street not a single head would turn to take a second glance. Unlike Otto Ohlendorf, Heinrich Himmler, or Franz Six, Konrad did not project an icy cold demeanor. Looks are indeed deceiving.2
In the German capital, Konrad’s administrative duties brought him into close association with Hermann Fegelein, a callous SS officer about to be promoted to Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel). Fegelein was tasked with organizing Waffen-SS cavalry units in Poland. Hitler’s attack against that country on September 1, 1939, launched without any declaration of war following false claims that the Poles had assaulted Germany territory, had triggered the war’s outbreak in Europe. To the surprise of Poland’s leadership, Soviet troops swept in from the east seventeen days later. The Fascist and Communist armies smashed Polish opposition quickly. By the end of the month the country was partitioned by Hitler and Stalin in a treaty signed in Moscow. Now, the difficult task of administering the newly conqu
ered territory began.
Germany assumed control of the western provinces, which were formally annexed in early October. Some 35,000 square miles and almost 10,000,000 new people were now officially part of Hitler’s Third Reich. A far larger area, however, including the major cities of Warsaw, Cracow, and Lublin—100,000 square miles and 12,000,000 souls—was given a general government listing and classified as a “labor colony.” As one writer describes it, “the Nazi occupation marked the beginning of almost six years of unspeakable horror for Poles.” Intellectuals, political activists, Jews and other undesirables were rounded up and either shot or imprisoned. Polish culture was on the block and scheduled to be dismantled, piece by piece; those remaining alive in the end would be thoroughly Germanized. Concentration camps were established. Hell had come to Poland.3
In January 1940, four months after Poland fell to the Nazis, Konrad and Fegelein traveled by car from Berlin to Warsaw. Konrad’s initial assignment was “Leiter für Werterfassung in the Warsaw Ghetto” —the official in charge of seizing possessions in the Warsaw Ghetto. His job was to provide furnished and decorated apartments for SS officers. In other words, he was ordered to steal homes and property. To accomplish this odious task, Konrad was assigned a Warsaw-born, Polish turncoat who worked for the Germans as a translator. According to Konrad, the Pole “knew where the rich Jews of Warsaw lived.” On a typical outing Konrad and his associate would drive up to an apartment building and ask around if Jewish families were housed in the building. If the answer was “no,” they simply looked at the directory mounted at bottom of the staircase. If a Jewish name appeared, they called in an SS military squad and confiscated the apartment and all its belongings. The family was thrown out in the streets, deported, or sent into the Ghetto. Konrad also used the telephone directory to search for Jewish-sounding names. He knew how the game was played, and he played it well. Konrad regularly pilfered items for his own use and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle of wealth and pleasure. His ability to produce exquisite wines, antiques, jewelry, and artwork at the snap of a finger was put to good advantage and cemented his relationship with Hermann Fegelein, SS Captain Albert Fassbender, and Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.4
Albert Fassbender, nicknamed “sweetie” because his adoptive father owned a chocolate factory in Berlin, was a shiftless crook and drunk before the war. His association with Fegelein, whose morals and scruples were as low as his own, landed him the position of battalion commander of the 1st Reiter Regiment. The command, coupled with Fegelein’s assistance, helped him achieve notoriety as one of the leading looters, womanizers, and criminals in all of Warsaw. And he had plenty of competition.5
Fassbender moved into an upscale department store owned by Maksimillian Apfelbaum, who had fled the country soon after the beginning of the war. One of his first acts was the seduction of former Apfelbaum model Slawa Mirowska. The beautiful model was half-Russian and the wife of a Polish officer. Like Fassbender, Mirowska delighted in a life of riches and luxury, especially if they were the result of the hard efforts of others. Realizing an opportunity to live well in the middle of a hard war, Mirowska signed on as both Fassbender’s lover and accomplice. The pair transformed the Apfelbaum showrooms into a den for drinking parties and sex orgies. Many of the younger models, out of work and hungry, were enticed with food and expensive presents to ply their wares for German officers. Before long the once-respected Warsaw store was the best bordello in Warsaw. At some point during their liaison Fassbender discovered Mirowska was pregnant. He had her husband arrested by the Gestapo. A few days later he was shot in his prison cell. Fassbender’s behavior, already horrendous, spiraled out of control.6
While German officers stole, drank, and engaged in debauchery, factory workers labored feverishly to keep up with the growing demand for luxury items—especially fur coats. Every friend of “Sweetie” Fassbender had a sweetheart or wife (or both) who wanted an expensive fur. Like other commodities, furs proved to be an effective way to buy friends and loyalty. Even Hans Frank, Hitler’s appointed governor of Poland, pressed Fassbender to supply him with endless numbers of the expensive coats. Like Fassbender, the immoral duo of Konrad and Fegelein often ignored their duties in favor of endless playtime. Both also took girlfriends, although only the former officer was married. When Fegelein’s mistress announced she was pregnant, he forced her against her will to abort the child.7
Ironically, it was the SS that clamped down on these activities. In early 1940 Dr. Konrad Morgen, an SS officer and judge, was put in charge of investigating cruelty and black market activities in conquered towns and concentration camps. Morgen’s inquiry eventually wound itself to the doorsteps of Fegelein and Fassbender, as well as a number of other SS officers. Konrad, somehow, fell outside the shadow of suspicion. Fegelein’s crime, or at least the only one deemed serious enough to investigate, was sending cash and other stolen Polish valuables to the SS cavalry school at Reim. A Gestapo search of Fegelein’s home and grounds uncovered a plethora of purloined goods including a customized Mercedes, furs, antiques, furniture, and many other items of value. Demands were made for their return to their owners. Fortunately for Fegelein, Himmler intervened to discourage the investigation in an attempt to protect one of his favorite officers. The embarrassed Reichsführer was angry only because many of the officers involved were his beloved SS men. He scribbled “impossible conduct” in the margin of the final report, but refused to take any additional action against his young protégé. Himmler was not about to sacrifice Fegelein, one of the SS’s rising stars, over stolen goods and sexual transgressions.8
As a result, the embarrassed Fegelein and Fassbender (with Fegelein’s assistance), escaped serious punishment. Thus Konrad, as Fegelein’s close associate and general thief, also managed to avoid Dr. Morgen’s dragnet. For political reasons, however, Himmler had to at least pretend he was concerned about the level of corruption Morgen’s investigation had discovered within his SS. Swift punishment, ordered the Reichsführer, must be meted out against unscrupulous SS officers. One of those unable to wriggle free was SS Obersturmführer (Lieutenant) von Sauberzweig, who, according to Dr. Morgen’s report, was working hand-in-hand with Fegelein and Fassbender. The lieutenant was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. When other SS officers were accused of similar crimes, they demanded to be treated by the precedent set by the Fegelein-Fassbender case, i.e., let off the hook. Himmler, however, showed little mercy.9
Even with Dr. Morgen’s judicial inquisitions, life in Warsaw was wonderful—if you were a German. SS cavalry officers spent much of their time riding stolen thoroughbreds on Warsaw’s famous racetrack, drinking wine, eating fine food—and rounding up Jews. Morgen’s “investigation” did nothing to slow down SS criminal activities in Poland or elsewhere. A large section of Warsaw had been cordoned off to hold a growing population of Jews. By the summer of 1941 it was the largest such ghetto in Europe. There, 400,000 to 500,000 people awaited their fate, crowded, hungry, sick, and frightened. There was still money to be made in Warsaw—especially from the new Jews who arrived daily from other occupied countries. Each family, blissfully unaware of what was planned for them, carried with them their transportable valuables. Most of this currency, gold, and jewelry was confiscated within hours of their arrival in Warsaw.10
As both Konrad and Fegelein were about to discover, all goods things come to an end. On June 22, 1941, the gigantic German blitzkrieg known as Operation Barbarossa was launched against Soviet Russia. Fegelein was dispatched east with his 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer to participate in the massive invasion. To his dismay, Konrad was shipped out as well and assigned to Fegelein’s outfit. The bureaucrat with a taste for cruelty was put in charge of a light truck transport responsible for supplying troops and horses with provisions. He remained in this position for about a year, experiencing combat largely behind the lines while Fegelein’s troops mopped up bypassed enemy forces and carried on a ruthless extermination campaign against partisans and civilians ali
ke.11
Hermann Fegelein was enough of a crook to realize that while he fought in the East, others were collecting millions in loot from the rapage of Poland. Together with his friend and assistant SS Standartenführer (Colonel) Kurt Becher, Fegelein arranged a closed-door meeting with Ferdinand von Sammern, the SS Police Führer of Warsaw. Fegelein informed von Sammern that he was “going to transfer Franz Konrad back to Warsaw.” Konrad, he continued, was the best administrator of the SS Cavalry. His job would be to seize ghetto valuables. Kurt Becher, meanwhile, explained the details of the arrangement Fegelein was foisting upon von Sammern. A cut of the take, he said matter-of-factly, would be handed over to Fegelein for assigning Konrad to the project. Von Sammern, who was not in much of a position to disagree, quietly acquiesced to the new arrangement. And so Konrad departed the front lines of Russia in July 1942 and returned to Warsaw, which had by now become one of the primary logistical centers for the Eastern invasion. He threw himself back into his work with a new gusto. The valuables—rugs, paintings, antiques, and everything else normally found inside well-to-do homes—were plucked from their owners and loaded into cavalry trucks provided by Fegelein. Colonel Becher often accompanied Konrad on his rounds. After all, he too was slicing off a percentage for his own pockets.
Colonel Becher also ordered (probably with Fegelein’s blessing) that Konrad assume the reins of Kohn & Heller, a Polish company that before the war produced a line of toiletry articles. Forced Jewish labor was utilized to enlarge the establishment and equip it to produce writing paper, cigarette paper, razors, shoe polish, batteries, uniforms, and the many items needed by German foot soldiers on the Russian Front.12
Nazi Millionaires: The Allied Search for Hidden SS Gold Page 6