Nazi looting

I am doing research into the looting of Western Europe and and some questions regarding the organizations involved. From what I have read within the ghettos the German Kripo, Criminal Investigations Dept., was responsible for most of the assets taken. Within the SS camps the SS had control over the items taken and deposited them in the Melmer account at the Swiss National Bank. There was also another account used just for the proceeds of the gold sold that was under the name of Max Heiliger. How did this work. On the front line there was a special task force that basically took control of everything, in most cases paying for it with Reichsmarks to be only used for German goods. The central banks were directly looted by the Reichsbank and all the private assets were under the control of the foreign exchange protection task force. To my understanding the Army's assets were supposed to be turned over to the main trusteeship office east set up by Goring. Were the SS obliged to turn over there looted assets as well or were they under their own control? What happened to the assets that did not include gold, were they sold on the black market or sold to Switzerland and laundered from there?

Concerning Safehaven and the measures they took to stop the movement of German finances are there any accounts on the specific operations or tactics that they used? I know that they tried to buy up materials at highly inflated prices and sabotaged trade routes but did these any of the sabotage take place in neutral countries or was it confined to occupied territories? I came across an account that the Allies accidentally bombed a Swiss munitions factory but have been unable to find and other sources to corroborate this.

This is a third-hand report, but I know where it came from: it was told to my father, an 8th AF veteran, by 'Larry', a former 8th AF B-24 pilot (whom I have met).

One day, a brigadier general showed up at the base, and took over the lead plane. He had his own navigator with him. At the pre-flight briefing, the general told the other pilots 'Just follow me and bomb where I bomb. And keep strict radio silence.'

The group took off and headed east over France. After about two hours flight, Larry's navigator told him that the group seemed to be off course, heading toward Switzerland. Larry radioed the general with a query. The response was 'Follow me. No more talk on the radio.'

After another hour or so, the group was on the verge of entering Swiss airspace. Larry's navigator pointed this out. Larry again radioed to the general. The response was 'Follow me. If I hear you on the radio again, you will be court-martialed.'

The general led them to a Swiss city, where there was a large factory supposedly producing ball-bearings or some other critical material for Germany. He had the group bomb this factory - with great effect, since there were no defenses whatever.

Afterwards, the Allies said it was an accident and 'apologized'.

I haven't read this. The Kriminalpolizei (Amt V of the RHSA) had no formal jurisdiction outside the 'Old Reich'. The ghettos were run under the authority of the Higher SS and Police Leader for the particular territory in which the ghetto lay, using special staffs drawn mainly from the Security Police and SD for administration and the Waffen SS as guard forces.

The WVHA main office of the SS ran all SS concentration, work and death camps and was responsible for appropriating all assets from Jews, other than cultural assets (artworks and so on), which were confiscated by Rosenburg's Special Staff authorised by Hitler to do so.

Melmer was head of the Finance Office in the Troop Administration Department (Amtsgruppe A/II) of the WVHA. He administered the arrangement between the SS and the German Reich finance department whereby the Reichsbank would receive, value and pay the SS for all assets received from Jews, including dental gold. Goods received by the Reichsbank were credited initially to an ordinary government account at the Reichshauptkasse (Reich Main Accounting Office) in the Reich Ministry of Finance codenamed 'Melmer'. There was no 'Melmer account at the Swiss National Bank'.

'Max Heiliger' was the codename for the specific SS account at the Reichshauptkasse into which was paid all proceeds from realised assets held in the Melmer account.

I'm sorry: I don't know what you mean by this. Do you mean in the west or east?

Broadly true. Monetary gold from the central banks of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands was traced to the Reichsbank post war and the equivalent value returned.

Sorry, whose private assets?

The Haupttreuhandstelle ost (Main Trusteeship Office East), took charge of confiscated Jewish property only from the areas of Poland annexed to the Reich. Outside of the Reich, the SS had responsibility.

Under their own control.

The disposal of all assets seized from Jewish people which came into the hands of the SS were managed through the Reichsbank as explained above. Gold and other precious metals and most jewellery was smelted into bars, transferred to the nominally private Deutsche Bank and traded in Switzerland. The proceeds came back to the SS through the usual banking system. Very high quality jewellery was sent to state-run auction houses for sale abroad for foreign currency.

Safehaven, begun in spring 1944, aimed primarily to restrict and prevent German economic penetration of and the transfer of assets to neutral countries. Behind it was a rather wild US idea that Germany might hide in neutral countries, particularly in Spain, Switzerland and Latin America, the wealth and knowledge needed to start another war. In the end, the Safehaven programme came to pretty much nothing.

I guess I should have made some of the background a little clearer. As I understand it, this brigadier general showed up with _written_ _authority_ _from_ _higher_ _command_, directing the commander of Larry's bomb group to do whatever the general ordered - and no previous notice or further explanation.

Which is what I meant by 'showed up [and] took over'. Chain of command was not violated - nonetheless the action was extraordinary. Generals, even 'lowly' brigadier generals, did not lead missions. This general was previously unknown to the group. And in place of the usual pre-flight briefing, he just told the other pilots 'follow me'.

Going back to the original question, about Nazi looting, you might try a web search on 'merkers salt mine' or 'merkers mine.' The Merkers mine in what would become east Germany, near the Werra River, was the site of a huuuuge cache of Nazi loot, millions of dollars in gold bars, priceless artworks, large amounts of currency from several nations. It was captured by the 90th Infantry Division in early April of 1945. A book, 'Beneath the Salt,' was written a couple of years ago by a veteran of the 90th Division who was there, you might be able to find it at abebooks or amazon, it was independently published through one of the Internet publishers.