Holocaust-Era Assets

Civilian Agency Records

1. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, New York has custody of the Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Diaries. These diaries contain information relating to a variety of subjects covered in this finding aid, including the Bank for International Settlements, Bretton Woods, Chase National Bank, Lauchlin Currie, the Currie Mission, Foreign Funds Control, Intenational Monetary Conference, Samuel Klaus, Thomas H. McKittrick, Postwar Planning, Orvis A. Schmidt, Switzerland, and Treasury Representatives Abroad. Researchers may find useful Henry Morgenthau, Germany Is Our Problem (New York: Harper, 1945); John Morton Blum, ed. From the Morgenthau Diaries. Vol. II Years of Urgency 1938-1941 and Vol. III Years of War 1941-1945 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1959); John Morton Bloom, Roosevelt and Morgenthau (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972). [Back to text]

2. The Inter-Allied Declaration Against Acts of Dispossession Committed in Territories Under Enemy or Control stated that "The Union of South Africa, the United States of America, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, the Czechoslovak Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Greece, India, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia, and the French National Committee: Hereby issue a formal warning to all concerned, and in particular to persons in neutral countries, that they intend to do their utmost to defeat the methods of dispossession practiced by the governments with which they are at war against the countries and peoples who have been so wantonly assaulted and despoil Accordingly the governments making this declaration and the French National Committee reserve all their rights to declare invalid any transfers of, or dealing with, property, rights and interests of any description whatsoever which are, or have been, situated in the territories which have come under the occupation or control, direct or indirect, of the governments with which they are at war of which belong or have belonged, to persons, including juridical persons, resident in such territories. This warning applies whether such transfers or dealings have taken the form of open looting or plunder, or of transactions apparently legal in form, even when they purport to be voluntarily effected. The governments making this declaration and the French National Committee solemnly record their solidarity in this matter." Foreign Relations of the United States, 1943, Volume I, pp. 443-444. [Back to text]

3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1944 Volume II, pp. 213-214. During 1944 Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey did not declare publicly their adherence to the declaration or notify the Department of State of their acceptance of its principles and their intention to implement the declaration. ibid., p. 214n.6. [Back to text]

4. The preparer of this finding aid located these records on the afternoon of April 1, 1997. [Back to text]

5. Harry E. Hesse, Memorandum for the Files, January 16, 1953. Record Group 56, Accession 56-70A6332 Box 54; Foreign Exchange Depository Daily Journal for June 16, 1948, RG 260, Office of the Finance Adviser, Box 400 Folder 910.92 Daily Journal 1948. [Back to text]

6. Foreign Exchange Depository Daily Journal for July 2, 1948. RG 260, Office of the Finance Adviser, Box 400 Folder 910.92 Daily Journal 1948. [Back to text]

7. Foreign Exchange Depository Daily Journal for July 3, 1948. RG 260, Office of the Finance Adviser, Box 400 Folder 910.92 Daily Journal 1948. [Back to text]

8. Foreign Exchange Depository Daily Journal for July 7, 1948. RG 260, Office of the Finance Adviser, Box 400 Folder 910.92 Daily Journal 1948. William G. Brey to Bank Deutscher Laender, July 8, 1948 memorandum entitled "Books, folders, and papers of the Previous Metals Department of the Reichsbank, Berlin." RG 260, Office of Financial Division and Financial Advisor, Box 470 File "Reichsbank books, Precious Metal Department." Attached to this memorandum is a listing (primarily in German) of the records microfilmed and the records not microfilmed. Among the non-microfilmed records given to the Bank Deutscher Laender were 26 folders dealing with Melmer deposits, photostats of bar book pages, Prussian Mint photostats, statistical information, work papers regarding Belgian gold, records relating to Italian gold. On July 8, 1948, a representative of the bank signed a receipt for "87 books, folders and papers, or microfilms thereof, of the Precious Metals Department of the Reichsbank, Berlin..." and in separate documents, dated July 8, 1948, the representative of the bank wrote Colonel Brey "We acknowledge the receipt of books, folders and papers of the Precious Metals Department of the Reichsbank, Berlin, as per list attached in duplicate marked 'Annex A' and thank you for the favourable settlement of this matter." On July 16, 1948, Colonel Brey wrote the Bank Deutscher Laender that the records turned over the bank were to "be held in custody on the Bank premises for the Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.) and subject to instructions pertaining to their future disposition issued by that office." Furthermore, he notified the bank that "this letter replaces our previous letter dated 8 July 1948 where it was indicated that these records were to be held by the Bank 'for permanent retention.'" The bank, on July 16, 1948, endorsed the letter acknowledging receipt and the conditions pertaining to their custody. The above documents contained in RG 260 Records Relating to Tabulations and Classification of Deposits 1945-1949, Box 555, File Shipping Tickets 74-81. In a letter to the National Archives, dated March 19, 1997, the Deutsche Bundesbank, the successor to the Bank Deutscher Laender, it was indicated that the Deutsche Bundesbank was unable to locate most all the records turned over to them, filmed and not filmed. [Back to text]

9. William G. Brey to Harry E. Hesse, July 7, 1948, Memorandum entitled "Index of Microfilm of Gold Records of Reichsbank, Berlin." RG 260, Office of Financial Division and Financial Advisor, Box 470 File "Reichsbank books, Precious Metals Department." [Back to text]

10. Frank J. Roberts to Sheppard Morgan, Finance Adviser, OFA, OMGUS, "Report on Current Status of Foreign Exchange Depository," September 2, 1949. RG 260 Central Files of the Foreign Exchange Depository Group," Box 394 File 900.10 "Org. & History of the FED." [Back to text]

11. The TFR-500 Reports can be found in the Records of the Foreign Assets Control (Record Group 265), that are described in this finding aid. [Back to text]

12. The alphabetical index to the TFR-300 Reports, the TFR-300 Reports, the TFR-300 Reports (Series C-1), and TFR-300 Reports correspondence were legally destroyed in July 1987 after having been appraised as disposable by NARA and approved for destruction by the Department of Justice. Duplicate copies of the TFR-300 reports can be found scattered throughout the records of many Record Groups, partlicularly within the Records of the Foreign Funds Control that are described later in this finding aid with the Records of the Office of Alien Property (Record Group 131). [Back to text]

13. The duplicate TFR Form-100 Reports and the duplicate originals TFR Form 100-Reports were legally destroyed in July 1987 after having been appraised as disposable by NARA and approved for destruction by the Department of Justice. The forms were used to report property situated in the United States on April 8, 1940, in which certain countries or any national thereof had at any time on or since April 8, 1940, had any interest. These reports were filed in triplicate on or before May 15, 1940, at any Federal Reserve Bank, in accordance with Executive Order 8389 of April 10, 1940, and regulations of the same day. [Back to text]

14. During World War II Dwork worked with the Jewish Desk of the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services. [Back to text]

15. Researchers may find additional information on the case in Higham, Trading With the Enemy, op. cit., especially chapter 3, "The Secrets of Standard Oil." [Back to text]

16. The TFR-600 Reports and related records were legally destroyed in July and November 1987 after having been appraised as disposable by NARA and approved for destruction by the Department of Justice. [Back to text]

17. A good introduction to the Bosch empire is Gerard Aalders and Cees Wiebes, The Art of Cloaking: The Case of Sweden Ownership: The Secret Collaboration and Protection of the German War Industry by the Neutrals (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1996), especially pp. 37-53. [Back to text]

18.Also known as the Attorney General's Subject Index. An example: Under "Nazi," card #26, there is a March 5, 1947, reference to heirless assets in the United States of Nazi victims. The card indicates that the State Department will address Governor Thomas Dewey of New York to try to get cooperation between the New York legislature and the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees. The Card references DOJ case file 9-21-012. [Back to text]

19. There are two collections of personal papers at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri that contain pertinent information. These are the Papers of Abijah U. Fox who served as the Deputy Director of the Foreign Funds Control from 1941 to 1944 and the Papers of Bernard Bernstein who served as an Assistant General Counsel of the Treasury Department from 1938 to 1942. Included in the Fox papers are 6 boxes relating directly to Foreign Funds Control activities, with information on blocking, census reports, Proclaimed List, patents, trademarks, copyrights, securities, trusts and estates, trade and shipping, and trading with the enemy. Also included in his papers are publications and printed matter pertaining to Foreign Funds Control. Included in the Bernstein Papers is information on foreign-owned assets in the United States, Swiss assets, wartime controls, Proclaimed List, and the General Aniline and Film Company. [Back to text]

20. Please note that at some time these records will be reboxed, renumbered, and relocated. [Back to text]

21. In late 1982, when the litigation case files were appraised by the preparer of this finding aid, the Department of Justice still physically and legally retained about 100 cubic feet of another large case, the Bonnar or General Dyestuff case. [Back to text]

22. Researchers may also wish to consult the U.S. District Court records for related records. Additionally researchers may find useful the description of important cases in the published annual reports of the Alien Property Custodian and the Office of Alien Property, as well as those of the Department of Justice. Copies of these annual reports may be obtained from the National Archives Library at College Park, located within the Archives II building. Some 500 significant cases are described in Martin Domke's The Control of Alien Property: Supplement to Trading with the Enemy in World War II (New York: Central Book Company, 1947). [Back to text]

23. Please consult the staff in Room 2600 about pertinent box numbers and locations before attempting to view these records.[Back to text]

24. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, has among its holdings the Herbert Brownell Papers (Attorney General 1953-1957), which contain information in seven boxes relating to the GAF case. [Back to text]

25. Public Papers of the President of the United States: John F Kennedy; Containing the Public Messages, Speeches and Statements of the President January 1 to November 22, 1963 (Washington, DC, United States Government Printing Office, 1964) pp. 240-241. [Back to text]

26.This administrative history of the Interhandel case was based on information contained in the records; the brief for the respondents in the Supreme Court of the United States (October Term, 1957, case number 348); and the last chapter of Joseph Borkin's book The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben (New York: The Free Press, 1978). [Back to text]

27. This index was last seen by the preparer of this finding aid in the basement of the Todd Building in Washington DC in the fall of 1983. The Todd Building was being used by the Department of Justice for several of its units at that time. The index consisted of 28,697 4-by-6-inch index cards giving document number and summary of the contents of the documents. It appears this index is stored at the Washington National Records Center in Suitland, Maryland under accession number 131-94-0001 and is scheduled to be accessioned into the National Archives in the near future. [Back to text]

28. Researchers interested in FBI activities in Latin America will find cited throughout this finding aid references to records relating to the Special Intelligence Service activities in Latin America. Researchers may also find helpful Stanley E. Hilton, Hitler's Secret War in South America 1939-1945 (New York: Ballantine Press, 1982). Additionally, the FBI should still have in its possession a significant body of Special Intelligence Service records. In 1981, the National Archives and Records Service (now NARA), including the preparer of this finding aid, reviewed the FBI's records and identified in a report to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the FBI had some 50,000 case files in headquarters (i.e., Washington, DC) in file Classification 64 ("Foreign Miscellaneous"). The SIS program is well-documented in the Classification 64 holdings. [Back to text]

29. Researchers may find useful Elmer Davis and Byron Price, War Information and Censorship (Washington DC: American Council on Public Affairs, 1943) and Clayton D. Laurie, The Propaganda Warriors: America's Crusade Against Nazi Germany (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1996); Allan Winkler, The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978). [Back to text]

30. Researchers may finding useful Elmer Davis and Byron Price, War Information and Censorship (Washington DC: American Council on Public Affairs, 1943). [Back to text]

31. Clarke, "Safehaven Study," pp. 96-99 [Back to text]

32. Clarke, "Safehaven Study," pp. 99-100. [Back to text]

33. During the fall of 1998, the CIA intends to transfer to NARA (1) the "record set" of National Intelligence Surveys (NIS). The records cover the period from the late 1940s to 1973/4, when the NIS was discontinued. There are about 373 archives boxes of records. (2) The "record set" of Joint Army Navy Intelligence Studies (JANIS). The records date from the early 1940s to about 1948. There are 28 archives boxes of records. JANIS reports are seen as the predecessor to the NIS and the review and marking is being handled in the same manner. (3) Country Studies produced by the Office of Current Intelligence (OCI) and successor organizations. This is an on-going series and the CIA plans to transfer those dating through 1975. There are 10-12 archives boxes of records. Please check with the staff in Room 2400 to ascertain if these records have been accessioned and available for research. [Back to text]

34. Researchers may find useful Alexander S. Cochran, Jr., The Magic Diplomatic Summaries: A Chronological Finding Aid (New York: Garland, 1982); James L. Gilbert and John P. Finnegan, eds., U.S. Army Signals Intelligence in World War II; A Documentary History (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1993). [Back to text]

35. Researchers may find useful Duncan McDowall for the Bank of Canada, Due Diligence: A Report on the Bank of Canada's Handling of Foreign Gold During World War II, (Ottawa: Bank of Canada, November 1997). [Back to text]

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