Nazi Gold

by Douglas Botting

  265 ‘“I arranged for him to be released into my custody”’ Kulka: op. cit., Tape No. 2

  266 ‘In Buxell’s memory’ Garmisch-Partenkirchner Tagblatt: op. cit.

  266 ‘“I brought up the subject of a certain Garmisch resident”’ Kulka: op. cit., Tape No. 2

  267 ‘“The gold bullion which was in mahogany boxes”’ Kulka op. cit., Tape No. 2

  268 ‘“I disappeared for 18 days”’ Ivar Buxell: Correspondence, 18 June 1976

  268 ‘“The non-commissioned officers of the Military Police department in Garmisch Kulka: op. cit., Tape No. 2

  269 The Military Police claimed Kulka: op. cit., Tape No. 2

  269 ‘the “almost incredible power”’ Guenther Reinhardt: 55-page memorandum (Washington, December 1947), p. 20

  270? ‘“I didn’t feel that I had co-operation in the post”’ Smith: Telephone transcript, op. cit.

  270 ‘Colonel Smith testified in 1948’ Smith: Testimony, op. cit.

  271 ‘“I felt like a mushroom”’ Kulka:. op. cit., Tape No. 2

  271 ‘One morning Kulka telephoned Smith in Garmisch’ Smith: Testimony, op. cit.

  271 ‘“The amount of information we received was overwhelming”’ Kulka: op. cit., Tape No. 2

  272 ‘“My investigation led to the pointing of suspicion”’ Smith: Testimony, op. cit.

  272 ‘The preliminary evidence alone’ Guenther Reinhardt: 55-page memorandum, p. 20

  273 ‘On 18 July General Clay expressed an order’ Smith: Testimony, op. cit., p. 14

  273 ‘“I had reasonable concern for my own life”’ Smith: Telephone transcript, op. cit.

  273 ‘“The entire story got awfully hot”’ Kulka: Transcript of telephone interview (San Francisco, 20 March 1978)

  273 ‘“must have gotten too close to home”’ Kulka: Correspondence, 24 April 1978

  273 ‘“When Colonel Smith and I were ordered back”’ Kulka: Telephone transcript, op. cit.

  274 ‘“I found him sitting there putting them all in the fireplace . . .”’ OMGB officer, Elmer Pralle, commented on the phone from Stuttgart on 23 March 1978, ‘A lot of the files just disappeared, you know’

  274 ‘For 26-year-old Lt Kulka worse was to follow’ Kulka: Telephone transcript and taped reminiscences (San Francisco, 1978)

  274 ‘“Even while I was separated from the Service”’ Kulka: Telephone transcript, 20 March 1978 and Tape No. 1

  275 ‘“my first gut reaction was to let sleeping dogs lie”’ Kulka: Correspondence, 3 March 1978

  275 ‘“I wonder if at my age”’ Kulka: Correspondence, 14 April 1978

  Chapter 18

  276 ‘Frank Gammache’s Court-Martial’ Record of Trial: Frank J. Gammache (General Court-Martial, Bad Tölz, 9–11 September 1947)

  276 ‘The charges against Frank Gammache were so absurdly trivial’ Record of Trial: op. cit.

  276 ‘US Army judiciary’s Pre-Trial Report’ Record of Trial: op. cit.

  277 ‘I think it was General Eisenhower’ Col. Clifton H. Young: Transcript of telephone interview (New Harbour, Maine, 18 November 1978)

  277 ‘Peccarelli was a “typical BTO”’ William C. Wilson: Correspondence, 12 July 1979

  277 ‘“very very bombastic type Bob Shawe”’ Transcript of telephone interview (Pebble Beach, California, 28 February 1978)

  278 ‘WANTED! $2.50 REWARD’ In the possession of William C. Wilson, Douglasville, Georgia

  278 ‘“It was gold from the German National Treasury”’ Alice Peccarelli: Transcript of telephone interview (Stockton, N. Jersey, 20 December 1981)

  279 ‘“We were not investigating narcotics”’ Frank Purcell: Transcript of telephone interview (Granada Hills, California, 24 January 1982)

  279 ‘Philip Benzell confirmed’ Philip Benzell: Testimony before Inspector General’s inquiry into allegations by Guenther Reinhardt (Munich, January 1948) (Exhibit ‘B-7’, pp. 30–32, National Archives Record Group 159. 333–9)

  279 ‘“It was in Switzerland that we lost control on that Elmer Pralle”’ Transcript of telephone interview (Stuttgart, 23 March 1982)

  279 ‘Even Col. Franz Pfeiffer’ William C. Wilson: Correspondence

  280 ‘Subject: Frederick Siegfried Neumann’ FBI, Memorandum to Director, FBI (San Francisco, 19 September 1947) (FBI Archives, Washington, DC)

  281 ‘“absolute rock-bottom factual information on McCarthy . . . This reluctance . . . was attributed to fear”’ Benzell: Testimony before Inspector General, op. cit. (Exhi bit ‘B-7, p. 31)

  281 ‘“McCarthy suddenly moved out”’ Benzell: idem (B-7)

  281 ‘“MG PRESSING WIDE SEARCH FOR HIDDEN NAZI TREASURE”’ Stars and Stripes, Frankfurt, 28 December 1947

  282 ‘Victor Peccarelli reported’ Victor H. Peccarelli Jr.: Preliminary Report of Narcotics Trafficking in Upper Bavaria (Garmisch, 2 December 1947) Exhibit “O” in IGD investigation of Reinhardt allegations.

  282 ‘Five hundred grams of cocaine’ Philip P. Benzell: Concluding Report on Narcotics Traffic king in Upper Bavaria (Office of the Provost Marshal, Eucom, 10 January 1948)

  283 ‘Guenther Reinhardt’ Guenther Reinhardt: Dossier XI 446319 (Investigative Records Repository, CIC, US Army)

  283 ‘Loyalty and Character Report’ War Department, Office of the Provost Marshal General, 29 November 1943

  284 ‘six Hungarian SS guards’ Guenther Reinhardt: ‘I Spy . . . You Spy . . . He Spies’ (Pageant, November 1948)

  284 ‘A confidential report on Reinhardt’ Col. F. J. Pearson: Reports of Investigation of Allegations Made by Mr Guenther P. Reinhardt (Office of the Inspector General, Eucom, 22 April 1948)

  285 ‘“General Gailey told me”’ Reinhardt: Crime without Punishment, p. 229 (New York, 1952)

  286 ‘“full of crap”’ William C. Wilson: Correspondence

  286 ‘“He was unbalanced up to a point”’ Tom Agoston: Transcript of telephone interview (Hamburg, 6 February – 1948)

  286 ‘“There was a crazy German girl”’ Agoston: op. cit.

  286 ‘He would react strangely’ Pearson: Reports of Investigation, op. cit.

  286 ‘“Chief of the American Intelligence in Germany”’ Paul H. Marvin: Letter to Commanding General, CIC Centre, Camp Holabird, Baltimore, Maryland (8 December 1948)

  287 ‘“Being on the operations level”’ Guenther Reinhardt: Correspondence with Tom Agoston (New York, 12 February 1949)

  289 ‘“another Pearl Harbor in Germany”’ Quoted in Orville J. Taylor: ‘Reinhardt Report’ 9th Part, 29 March 1948

  289 ‘“I met Mr Reinhardt at the billets of the 13th CID”’ Philip Benzell: Testimony before Inspector General. Exhibit ‘B-2’ (Munich, January 1948) For another version of this meeting, Dave Gallant: Testimony in Exhibit ‘B-6’ of the Reinhardt papers (National Archives Record Group No. 159 333.9 Guenther Reinhardt. Box 527)

  289 ‘According to Reinhardt “there were terrific personnel shake-ups”’ Reinhardt: Letter to Agoston, op. cit.

  290 ‘a floating appendage of the US Occupation Zone’ Reinhardt: 55-page memorandum, p. 4

  290 – When I got back to the States Reinhardt: Letter to Agoston, op. cit.

  290 ‘Gray was later Secretary of the Army’ Stephen E. Ambrose: Ike’s Spies (New York, 1981)

  291 ‘Reinhardt’s second and principal memorandum’ Guenther Reinhardt: 55-page memorandum (National Archives Record Group No. 159. Decimal File 333.9)

  291 ‘“greedy American wives”’ Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 11

  291 ‘“the lavish private railroad trains”’ Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 49

  292 ‘“an exceptionally beautiful and clever German woman”’ Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 26

  292 ‘“there were available on 1 October 1947”’

  292 Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 28

  292 ‘“Organised large-scale black-market activities”’ Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 19

  293 ‘“The CID investigation b
y a special team”’ Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 23 In subsequent testimony during the Inspector General’s inquiry into the Reinhardt allegations, the charges against Peccarelli and other CID agents were denied (see Exhibits ‘B-2’ and ‘B-6’)

  293 ‘“It was established that one of the headquarters”’ Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 21

  294 ‘“Also implicated were three colonels”’ Reinhardt: Memorandum, op. cit., p. 22

  294 ‘“I dictated everything”’ Reinhardt: Letter to Agoston, op. cit.

  Chapter 19

  296 ‘When it was reported that she was ferrying dope’ Carl Sussmann: Memorandum for the Commanding Officer, Garmisch Sub-Region, CIC, 19 October 1946

  296 ‘When she was on the point of being arrested’ Carl Sussmann: op. cit.

  296 ‘clandestine meetings of the local Communist Party’ Carl Sussman: op-cit.

  296 ‘one of her associates in the dope trade . . . Ernst Ellinghaus’ 420 Benzell: Report, op. cit.

  297 ‘“Was gescheht mit unserer Liebe? . . .”’ William C. Wilson: Correspondence

  297 – She was just about to pull off a big schnapps deal Moss: op. cit., p. 115

  297 ‘it was established that five other people’ Orman: op. cit. Wochenend, 12 November and 19 November 1952 According to the Bavarian State Prosecutor, the Munich CID file on the case – ‘Diary – München Staatsanwaltschaft beim Landgericht 11 Gn 2Js 1142/48’ – has been destroyed

  298 ‘Karl Roesen’ CIC File X-2771-IV-G

  300 ‘A reward notice’ Original in Sayer archives in German, English, French, Polish and Greek

  301 ‘struck him across the face with her riding whip’ 427 Garmisch-Partenkirchner Tagblatt: ‘Dunkle Rätsel’, Pt 11 (Garmisch, 17–18 March 1956)

  301 ‘made a crime plan of the White Horse flat’ Original plan in Sayer archives

  301 ‘the little black notebook’ Wochenend: ‘Dunkel bleibt urn Zenta Hausner’ (Nuremberg, 26 November 1952)

  301 ‘Zenta Hausner’s diary’ Philip Benzell: Concluding Report on Narcotics Trafficking in Upper Bavaria (Office of Provost Marshal, Eucom, 10 January 1948)

  301 ‘Michael Hugo Knoebel’ CIC File on Knoebel, XE 216143-1-9A-059

  302 ‘A CIC report on Knoebel’ CIC: op. cit.

  302 ‘“not in control of his mental faculties”’ CIC: op. cit.

  302 ‘“as a threat to German society”’ CIC: op. cit.

  303 ‘Ernst Virnich’ Charles B. Dyer: Narcotics Situation in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Public Health Branch, OMGB, Munich, 3 April 1948)

  303 ‘“I was hearing Christmas Eve Mass in a little church”’ Edward E. Bird: Transcript of telephone interview, Mary land, 26 November 1977

  303 ‘In 1950 it seemed a breakthrough had been made’ Wochenend: op. cit.

  303 ‘Then in the summer of 1952 came a fresh development’ Wochenend: op. cit.

  303 ‘Michael Knoebel was re-arrested’ Wochenend: op. cit.

  304 ‘The Germans believe she was murdered at the instigation of an American’ Ivar Buxell: Correspondence

  304 ‘“Five hundred people cleared out of Garmisch”’ Moss: op. cit., p. 115

  306 ‘A Soviet-run East German newspaper’ The document in the National Archives is a translation and carries no title or clue as to the provenance of the article. It was, however, located with papers relating to a raid on the offices of the SED (Socialist Unity Party) in the Soviet Sector of Berlin

  307 ‘The American Embassy in Prague immediately protested’ Note of Protest from the Office of Political Affairs in the American Embassy in Prague, forwarded to Public Safety Branch, OMGUS, 4 February 1948

  Chapter 20

  308 ‘New Year’s Day’ Col. F. J. Pearson: Reports of Investigation of Allegations made by Mr Guenther P. Reinhardt (Office of the Inspector General, Eucom, 22 April 1948) AG Box 16

  308 ‘through Army channels to Berlin’ ibid.

  309 ‘the sensational Kronberg jewel robbery’ Trial by General Court-Martial, Frankfurt, 11 December 1946-30 April 1947 CM 234235. United States v. Jack W. Durant Also: David F. Watson, Charge Sheet, Frankfurt, 31 August 1946 David Rowan: Famous European Crimes (London, 1955)

  309 ‘Captain Victor J. Haig’ Record of Trial: General Court-Martial of Captain Victor J. Haig, Garmisch, 11-18 March 1947

  310 ‘“Secret” message to the European Command’ Lt-Col. Clarke: Secret Message War Department from CSGID Security Group to HQ Eucom, Frankfurt, 12 January 1948

  311 ‘134 separate incidents grouped into nine main categories’ Pearson: op. cit.

  311 ‘“exerting all possible influence Message concerning Gammache case”’ from HQ Eucom, Frankfurt. Signed Huebner, 7 January 1948. CS019 333.9

  311 ‘“There is no factual basis for the allegations”’ Major General Louis A. Craig: Report of Investigation of Allegations of Guenther Reinhardt Covering Suppression of Information (Office of the Inspector General, Eucom, 3 February 1948)

  311 ‘Major Hensley’s investigation’ Major Robert B. Hensley: Alleged Black-Market Activities of American Personnel (Office of the Deputy Inspector General, Eucom, February 1948)

  312 ‘“It is evident . . . that the writer”’ Hensley: op. cit., p. 15

  312 – Germany . . . still is in the backwash of World War II”’ Hensley: op. cit., p. 15

  313 ‘“By such generally unfounded and fanatical allegations”’ Hensley: op. cit., p. 16

  313 ‘General Conclusion’ ibid.

  313 ‘“That the matters contained in the allegations”’ ibid.

  314 ‘Recommendation’ ibid.

  314 ‘“The vast majority of Mr Reinhardt’s allegations”’ Pearson: op. cit. p. 2

  315 ‘“While serving in Munich”’ Pearson: op. cit., p. 3

  317 ‘“I always felt that Peccarelli”’ Zucker: Correspondence, 3 and 29 May 1979

  318 ‘“Rives came back on 18 January”’ Reinhardt: Letter, op. cit., p. 4

  318 ‘“FOR RELEASE IN A.M. PAPERS”’ Taylor Report: Department of the Army, Publication Information Division, press Section, 6 May 1948

  319? ‘The first Taylor Report’ Orville J. Taylor: Reinhardt Report I (9th part) Wholesale Irregularities in the Counter-Intelligence Corps in the European Theatre (29 March 1948)

  319 . . . It is regrettable”’ Taylor Report: op. cit., p. 24

  320 ‘“90% of the newspapers refused to print it”’ Reinhardt: Letter, op. cit., p. 6

  321 ‘“if $3 million in gold”’ General Lucius D. Clay: Letter to H. L. Hammond-Seaman (New York, 2 January 1978)

  321 ‘“I don’t have any recollection”’ Gordon Gray: Transcript of telephone interview (2 December 1977)

  321 ‘“That’s all news to me”’ Murray van Waggoner: Transcript of telephone interview (26 November 1977)

  321 ‘“Based upon repeated research of the official records”’ Lt-Col. Hugh G. Waite, Chief, News Branch, Public Information Division, Department of the Army: Letter to Norris McWhirter, Editor, Guinness Book of Records (Washington, DC, 10 January 1975)

  322 ‘That no further action be taken’ Hensley: op. cit.

  Chapter 21

  323 ‘“In December 1948”’ Reinhardt: Letter, op. cit., p. 6

  324 ‘For ten years he worked as a private eye’ Reinhardt Obituary in New York Times, 3 December 1968

  325 ‘One of the five . . . “is now roaming Europe”’ Young: op. cit., p. 75

  325 ‘“The defence is willing to call several high ranking officers”’ Young: op. cit., p. 76, quoting Lt-Col. Marion Beatty of OMGB Legal Field Team, Augsburg Area, at the Court-Martial of Sergeant Helen C. Cobb in Munich

  325 ‘“The confusion and dismay”’ Young: op. cit., p. 78

  325 ‘“There has been a failure”’ Young: op. cit., P. 80

  326 ‘We have already seen’ Philip Benzell: Testimony before the Inspector General’s inquiry into allegations by Guenther Reinhardt (Exhibit ‘BV, pp. 30–32)

  326 ‘So when the CCD t
apped his private phone’ Benzell: op. cit.

  326 ‘McCarthy was forewarned and destroyed them’ Benzell: op. cit.

  326 ‘“Not much doubt as to his dishonesty”’ William C. Wilson: Correspondence

  326 ‘McCarthy had provided false testimony’ Benzell: op. cit.

  327 ‘The circumstances leading to the de-Nazification of ‘“the Doctor”’ Exhibit ‘K’, Reinhardt papers. Includes de-Nazification ‘Certificate’ from Major John R. McCarthy and related charge sheet of de-Nazification court in Garmisch

  327 ‘“It is highly desirable”’ This certificate appears as Exhibit ‘K’ in the papers relating to the IGD investigation into the allegations made by Guenther Reinhardt

  465 ‘“The Doctor”’ the clue to McCarthy William C. Wilson: Correspondence, 12 July 1979

  328 ‘the I. G. Farben case’ The official papers relating to this case have been destroyed. Information comes from surviving correspondence between Clay, Eucom, OMGB and the IGD, and from William C. Wilson, one of the investigators on the case

  329 ‘Lord and McCarthy would have become millionaires’ William C. Wilson: Correspondence, 26 November 1979

  329 ‘“The Augsburg Property Control officer had a German mistress”’ William C. Wilson: Monograph – Property Control (Douglasville, Georgia, October 1979)

  329 ‘In early December 1948 General Clay’ Col. Harold R. Booth: Letter to General Clay re Investigation of Property Control Officer (Office of Inspector General, Berlin, 22 March 1949) AG 49 box 64 6

  329 ‘“He was one of the most brilliant and astute investigators”’ Wilson: op. cit., fourth monograph

  330 ‘AG audit teams and JAGC and German auditors’ Booth: op. cit.

  330 ‘“Having a piece of this kind of action”’ Wilson: Correspondence, 26 November 1979

  331 ‘“by concentrating on certain accounts”’ Booth: op. cit.

  331 ‘“The investigation does show on the part of Mr Lord and Mr McCarthy”’ Brigadier General W. B. Palmer: Investigation Report re Lt-Col. Russell R. Lord et al. (Office of Chief of Staff Eucom, 17 August 1949)

  331 ‘“I have reviewed the attached case involving Mr Russell Lord et al”’ Robert M. Barnett: Memo re Mr Russell Lord (Office of the Personnel Officer, OMGUS, 31 August 1949) 102–3/19 259 9