It was a difficult time for all as currency issues, shipping and trading concerns as well as bank crashes only served to intensify the work of Rygg, who had set a priority of restoring the gold value of the Krone to its pre-war value. This was achieved in the spring of 1928, but by 1931 Norway had followed Britain and abandoned the gold standard. It was a judicious financial repositioning and by 1932 the economic issues had eased considerably. Rygg then focused his attentions elsewhere.
Still standing today, from the outside the bank’s imposing grey stone architecture appears somewhat unfeeling and functional. The interior, by contrast, is opulent with a striking black and white marbled hall entrance with curved elevated archways. The high walls are adorned with the inscribed motifs of past grandeur and lead to a grand staircase flooded with light that long ago echoed to the footsteps and dignified discussions of the banking and business fraternity. It was in this ordered environment that past incumbents went about their day-to-day banking tasks, unhurried and precise. Rygg’s domain afforded him excellent opportunities to plan, but even he as a visionary would have struggled to envisage what was about to befall Norway. The dark, ominous clouds of war were once again looming on the horizon and Rygg, along with other far-sighted members of the world’s financial and political institutions, took steps to preserve and protect the longterm prospects of his country’s gold reserves. Norway was neutral; Norway was safe…for now. Rygg though, decided to take no chances.
Norges Bank interior, 1906. Picture credit: Norges Bank
Nicolai Rygg in 1939. Picture credit: Norges Bank
Two years prior to the invasion Rygg sat in his spacious office with its vast windows exploiting the daylight that flooded the stark, high ceilinged square room. Undisturbed and unhindered, he began planning for the removal of Norway’s gold reserves. As with other countries carrying out similar acts of safeguarding their bullion interests, secrecy was of the utmost importance and Rygg ensured that no undue publicity would surround his carefully crafted plans. For Rygg, it really was a case of in pace, ut sapiens, aptarit idonea bello – in peace, like a wise man, he appropriately prepares for war.
Early in the New Year volunteers were called for and the packing of the gold began in earnest. The vault, with its vast, solid, dark door studded with brass rivets stood sentinel in front of two very robust, heavy-duty wheeled vertical bar gates; access to the inner vault was via lock and dial. Over the course of several days white painted boxes were filled with bars of gold and sealed with an iron band; smaller kegs were packed with bags of coins. Movement of the gold began, but transporting the heavy crates through the narrow passageways was difficult and cumbersome. Fortunately, there was just sufficient space to shift and slide the sealed bullion cargo through the heavy wooden doors of the bank to the waiting lorries. The gold inside the vault of the Bank of Norway at that time was around some 421 million Krone (Kr). However, a significant amount of the gold was left undisturbed in the vault because under Norwegian law not all the gold could be removed from the country at once; a percentage had to remain and thus a total of 300 million Kr was shipped to the USA leaving behind around 120 million Krone.45
Ironically, the movement of some of the gold reserves out of Norway came to the attention of the British, in particular the Ministry of Economic Warfare. Norwegian merchant ships, along with other nonbelligerent nations’ ships were victims of the stop and search routines of the Royal Navy. On February 5th 1940 the Treasury received the following message:46
Ministry of Economic Warfare
February 5th, 1940
My Dear Waley,
The naval report of a Norwegian ship, Randsfjord, which was examined at sea by the Northern Patrol, was found to be carrying gold marks to the value of 4 million dollars. The gold is stated to have been with the National Bank of Denmark since 1919 and was consigned by the Norges Bank for the account of National Bank of Denmark to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
It was signed by an enigmatic figure known only as ‘BOBBIE’: it would seem that the British were keeping a careful watch on what was going on in the northern waters.
Later, with over 300 million Kr safely in the USA, Nicolai Rygg turned his attentions to another urgent matter…that of paper money not in circulation. Rygg contacted the Norwegian Finance Minister Oscar Torp, requesting that with Europe at war and the newspapers full of alarming news, paper money should be sent out of the country to a safe place. A speedy decision was required, but Rygg’s request fell upon deaf ears. The Norwegian Government, perhaps absorbed in maintaining the country’s neutral status hesitated in their answer, perhaps understandably as the war seemed far away from their shores. Nevertheless, their prevarication and, some would argue, their blindness to international developments, caused avoidable delay.
During the early hours of April 9th, Rygg’s concern rapidly mounted with the desperately worrying news that a force of German warships was steaming up Oslo Fjord. Knowing that not all the bullion had been removed and that the Germans would welcome a golden windfall to finance their war machine, coupled with the frustration that the decision he had so wanted had not been forthcoming, Rygg immediately sought contact with the Commander-in-Chief of military forces, General Laake, suggesting that the bullion be moved as soon as possible. Laake agreed and ordered Rygg to commence the evacuation of the gold at once to Lillehammer as the bank there had a brand new vault where the gold could be stored. The pace of events rapidly increased when just moments later Oscar Torp telephoned Rygg confirming to him that Norway had indeed been invaded and the Germans were already occupying the major cities, although they had not yet reached Oslo.
Gold bars in the vault in Oslo. Picture credit: Norges Bank
Rygg immediately set about contacting various bank officials to help organise the urgent evacuation of the remaining gold bullion. The race was on to move the bullion out before the Germans could get their hands on it. It must have been clear to all that but for Rygg’s prudence and persistence in moving the major part of the Norwegian gold reserves to America prior to the invasion, the task that faced the bank workers would have been insurmountable. As it was, the job in hand would be demanding enough. Arrangements were hastily made for the removal of the bullion by truck. The race had begun, but the Germans were not yet quite at the start line.
4
Flight to Lillehammer
April 9–10th
At 7am Rygg telephoned Andreas Lund, the bank manager of Norges Bank at Lillehammer, to warn him of the disaster that had befallen Norway and instructing him to prepare immediately for the arrival of gold bullion now being evacuated out of the city. Rygg declared that the new vaults at the bank would be ideal for the bullion and that it would be brought over on a couple of trucks. Rygg though, had been somewhat conservative in his calculations for exactly how much transport was needed and eventually 26 lorries were required to haul the precious cargo 115 miles over snow laden roads to Lillehammer. For Lund, and many others an adventure was about to begin. The amounts of gold packed were:
818 large crates @ 40kg each
685 smaller crates @ 25kg
39 kegs @ 80kg – filled with bags of coins equating to 1000 coins per bag with 5 bags per keg. The total weight of the cargo was 53 tons, but the weight of the bullion alone was approximately 49 tons. It was valued at 120 million Krone.
The lorries needed to haul the bullion were chartered from local merchants in Oslo, with the majority of the trucks being hired from the Christiana Coal & Firewood Company. The truck drivers, with no idea as to the nature of their load and journey, were directed to the side entrance of the bank where loading of the gold began in earnest.
Snow was still lying on the ground and it made for hazardous driving conditions. The cab comforts of the lorries were extremely basic and conditions cold and bleak.
The drivers looked on quietly as the bank employees loaded the heavy boxes and kegs on to the load-beds of the trucks with Rygg carefully noting and recording each box and b
arrel in his register.
Rygg and his bank officials decided that security would be best served by placing bank guards at strategic points close to the bank to ward off prying eyes whilst still maintaining control over the area. The military, although aware of the operation, were not used as it was considered too great a risk of drawing unnecessary attention to what was happening and besides it was thought that their services were needed elsewhere in defence of the country.
The bank employees worked hard at their task loading the bullion, growing weary as the hours wore on, but they toiled on relentlessly until all the lorries were fully stowed with the precious metal. As each lorry was loaded and secured it was immediately driven away; there really was no time to lose.
Onboard escorting the driver and cargo were two armed bank guards.47 Rygg’s tactics of sending each lorry off in turn so that a significant distance was kept between each vehicle was inspired. A convoy of lorries would have surely aroused the Luftwaffe’s suspicions exposing the convoy to possible attack and the chances of getting through would have been seriously reduced. A single lorry though, would not attract much attention.
The first truck was recorded as leaving at 08:15 on April 9th with the last driving away from the bank just before 13:30 – exactly the same time that the Germans were marching their way down Karl Johan Gate – the main street in Oslo that leads from the King’s Palace. Indeed at 14:00 that day the Commander of Oslo garrison at Akershus Fort, Colonel Hans Petter Schnitler, declared the surrender of Oslo to the Germans at the fort. The location of the bank is only a couple of hundred yards away from the Akershus Fort, but with German attentions focused elsewhere in the city the gold transport had slipped away unnoticed. It had been a narrow, if fortuitous escape made possible only by the actions of Colonel Eriksen at Oscarsborg Fort, the sinking of the Blücher, Rygg’s prudent planning and the gargantuan effort of the bank employees.
Refugees flooded out from the capital. Pedestrian and vehicle traffic hindered the progress of the lorries as the evacuees sought refuge away from Oslo. People became angry at not being given help by the bullion trucks as they trundled past, but of course the trucks could not stop for anyone, whatever their needs. At one point some of the lorries were apprehended by a Norwegian military detachment, but once it was hastily explained that the mission was vital to Norway the lorries were allowed to continue their journey. The exodus of evacuees also caused a shortage of food as many of the shops had quickly sold out of provisions with the refugees buying all they could afford. As a result the unfortunate lorry drivers were only able to consume coffee, if they were lucky, at hotels along the route. Nonetheless, despite the grim conditions all the lorries successfully completed their journeys to Lillehammer. The final truck arrived that same night at 20:00. It could only have been a very cold and miserable experience for the bank guards sitting at the back of a covered truck with little to do except stare at boxes and kegs.
The drivers and guards, totally exhausted by the journey, wearily made their way to various hotels for rest and some food. Ragnar Groth Nilsen, a bank employee later recounted in the bank’s in-house magazine, ‘Orienteering’.48
I sat at the back of the truck (No 14) all the way to Lillehammer. A younger guy from the Mint was in the lorry with the driver, but I didn’t know either of them. Those who worked in the bank security should have been trained in small arms with at least 20 shots per year. I had been at Akershus, but it was more fun than serious training.
Nilsen’s shelter for that night was at the Grand Hotel in Lillehammer and he returned to Oslo the next day. Knut Romdahl, another Norges Bank employee detailed to be a guard duly took up the position on Lorry No 17, a small grocery truck. However, because of the load layout of the truck there was only space for 18–20 kegs, which were loaded correctly at the sides of the load-bed. The two guards then sat between the kegs in the gangway doing their utmost to keep warm. For Romdahl the mission to take the gold to Lillehammer would be straightforward, but matters were a little different on his return to Oslo. Romdahl takes up the story.49
Everything was fine until we reached a roadblock manned by two Germans. Two Norwegians were arrested, but they were later released without charge. We eventually walked home alone along dark and deserted Oslo streets.
Meanwhile, in Lillehammer, Lund had been busy preparing his bank for the nation’s wealth. Staff were briefed on events and space made in readiness for the gold. Later that day, the lorries began to arrive and unloading began in earnest. However, work could only take place when the Luftwaffe was not flying overhead – the bank staff did not want to draw unwarranted attention to their endeavours and so it was a very careful, if somewhat drawn out process. Passers-by had earlier watched as the lorries trundled into Lillehammer towards the bank, but that was the least of the concerns of the armed and alert bank officials as the event had not gone unnoticed by the media and soon there were reports on Norwegian radio of lorry loads of gold arriving in Lillehammer. There were also reports of the shipment in a Trondheim newspaper, but incredibly the messages did not reach the straining ears of the Germans, who by now must have furious that their much sought after war booty had disappeared, along with the Royal Family and the Norwegian Government.
By nightfall, the last of the 26 lorries had its valuable load deposited in the vaults of the Lillehammer Bank. The bullion had been moved out just in time and the Germans had missed their prize by a whisker. It had been a very close run thing, but the Norwegians now had the upper hand.
At the bank in Lillehammer, Andreas Lund personally counted the bullion boxes and casks: 818 large cases, 685 smaller cases and 39 casks. The figures tallied exactly with Rygg’s account. The bullion was safely locked away and the bank manager from Lillehammer was breathing a little easier by nightfall. The Germans had not the slightest inkling where the bullion was despite the Norwegian media’s very best efforts, albeit unintentionally, to inform them. If the Germans had been more observant of the media then matters may well have been different. Fortune was smiling on the gold smugglers.
Lillehammer Bank
Rygg arrived at Lillehammer Bank later that evening of the 9th April to check all was well and that the bullion was secure in the vaults. The locks to the vaults were activated and Rygg ordered that in the event of the Germans taking the bank they were only to be shown the upper vaults, not the lower vault where the gold was kept. It is difficult to imagine the Germans not carrying out a thorough check of the bank and only being satisfied with the meagre contents of the upper vaults, such was the innocence of the Norwegians.
Later that evening, Rygg was notified that King Haakon and the Norwegian Government were now safe having left Oslo early in the morning by train. Their journey away from the capital had been perilous and fraught with danger. As the party attempted to make good their escape the train happened to trundle past the airfield of Kjeller just as a battle was raging overhead. German bombs rained down close to the train bringing it to a shuddering and sudden halt. The passengers quickly disembarked the train and ran to seek shelter in a nearby subway horrified at what was happening. The bombing intensified and it was decided to move away from the subway as there was no point in waiting for a direct hit to land on them. The Germans wanted to smash the airfield and were not searching for a small, seemingly harmless passenger train. The escapees climbed back on to the train and carried on with their journey. Later, that morning, and without further incident, the party arrived safely at Hamar. Rygg joined them there after visiting the gold at Lillehammer, although strangely he did not meet up with Torp, but rather Halvdan Koht, the Norwegian Foreign Minister. Hurried discussions took place with various officials as the government attempted to make sense of the situation they found themselves in. As a result of his talks with Koht, Rygg was requested to return to Oslo, but strangely it wasn’t to be until April 15th that he duly arrived back in the capital after taking a rather circuitous route including a return to Lillehammer to ensure all was well. There is no reco
rd of why Rygg took so long to return to Oslo.
Rest and recuperation for the assembled throng at Hamar was out of the question as grave military debates and sombre political discussions took place with those members of the government that had travelled in the train. Anxious Norwegian eyes looked skyward as German bombers passed overhead, but no bombs were dropped and the discussions continued.
King Haakon and the Royal party sought refuge in a house outside of Hamar whilst the members of the Government assembled in a local meeting hall. Storting President Hambro, Prime Minister Nygaardsvold and Foreign Minister Koht addressed the members and gave an account of events to date to a mute and apprehensive audience. The Prime Minister offered to resign, but Hambro and others thought it was the wrong time for major changes and that level heads were needed in desperate times. Some discussed whether it was viable to negotiate with Germany, whilst others considered it fruitless given Germany’s past record in dealing with the occupants of conquered countries. The meeting broke up just after 19:30 that evening. Word had been received that German troops were on their way to Hamar by bus to capture the King and his loyal government. Hastily, but wearily, the party boarded the train once more and headed east to Elverum. King Haakon and the royal family had already left earlier for Elverum at 18:30 travelling by car.
As those chaotic scenes unfolded at Hamar, Vidkun Quisling, a name that was to become forever synonymous with the word traitor, was trying to steal a march on the elected Norwegian Government, and the Germans, by announcing on air via Oslo radio, that it was ‘his duty and right’ to take over the government.50 He stated that the government had failed to protest vehemently to the British after they had carried out mine laying off the Norwegian coast and that they, as a consequence of their actions, had now fled the country in utter humiliation. Quisling further announced that it would be his party, National Samling, that would now govern the people of Norway and that he, Vidkun Quisling, would be Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Any resistance would be futile and ‘equal to criminal destruction and life’. The German government, Quisling said, had offered ‘its inoffensive assistance accompanied by a solemn assurance to respect national independence and Norwegian life and property’, in return for acceptance of the situation.51
Gold Run: The Rescue of Norway’s Gold Bullion from the Nazis, 1940 Page 7