I can only guess at the total amount involved. I think it exceeds thirty million dollars.”
The members looked at each other. It was a staggering sum. The criminals must be made to pay, was the initial reaction.
“I was eventually able to positively identify some of these traitors. I also have enough material to warrant questioning many others. In total I can provide about two hundred names to the Swiss. All people who I suspect have, or had, secret Swiss bank accounts or depositories where they stashed their ill-gotten gains. In many cases they knowingly traded on the misery of the Jews.”
Hjalmar Schacht confirmed what Erhard had disclosed. “There was blatant collaboration between the Swiss and the Nazis. I was effectively fired as Minister of Finance by Hitler in the late thirties when I expressed my concern about the gold sales. After that I kept my ears and eyes open, and my mouth shut. I think the swindling of the Jews was much greater that that uncovered by Ludwig, but we have to start somewhere.”
There was silence for a few minutes as everybody paged through Erhard’s document. Everybody present knew at least several of the names listed therein. When this became public knowledge it would open up old wounds and once again reflect badly on the German people, even if the crimes were committed by the discredited Nazis. It was a shameful period.
It was von Brauchitsch that asked the question, “Where do we go from here?”
It was Buch, the Justice Minister, who answered. “We have two priorities here. The return to us of whatever money and valuables these criminals have. And their trial for fraud, and possibly treason.” No compromise from this man.
Erhard, anxious to avoid anyone blundering in and ruining their chances of getting the money back, interrupted. “I have already met with the Swiss Economics Minister last week. He stonewalled me. He was adamant that the Swiss banks respected their strict banking laws, and they are unable to assist us. I could not help having the feeling that he knew something of this matter already.”
Schacht now added to the discussion. “May I suggest a course of action?” he asked quietly. All looked at him. Erhard had a slight smile. The two of them had planned this strategy together. “Let Herr Buch’s legal experts examine the evidence in this case. If it is deemed to be sufficient, on the face of it, we should quietly arrest all the alleged guilty parties. Under questioning, some of the two hundred will co-operate. These collaborators can then be prevailed upon to give our Economics Minister signed letters of authority, addressed to their Swiss Bank, ordering them to give full disclosure of their banking affairs to ourselves, as well as to accept our instructions as to the disposal of any of their Swiss assets.
Ludwig should then prepare himself for an unfriendly meeting with his Swiss counterpart, who no doubt will have a legal expert in attendance. The list of suspects is again presented by him to the Swiss, with a firm written request from the German Government for their assistance. At the same meeting one of the letters from the collaborators will be handed over as an example of the ‘ammunition’ we have. We see what reaction we get to that.
The Swiss will probably still stall. That is when Ludwig tells them that we have over two hundred Nazis detained most of whom have admitted culpability and are co-operating with us. If the Swiss do not co-operate as well, it will all go public and they will have a public relations disaster on their hands. And for what? We will still pursue our objectives through all legal channels and almost certainly win.
They could perhaps also be subtly reminded that a concerted bad press campaign in Germany, and any resulting breakdown in trust, could have a negative effect on trade between our two countries.
These Swiss bankers have profited greatly from their deals with the Nazis. Let them keep their profit, but they must be made to return the money of the criminals that illegally benefitted from them.”
Nobody could think of a better plan. Buch confirmed his part in it. Erhard would only ask for a meeting in Bern when he knew the results of the criminal interrogations.
Following a preliminary review at the evidence prepared by Erhard, the Justice Minister’s police operation went into action two days later. The status of the suspects ranged from minor civil servants to industrialists. They were treated politely but firmly when they were arrested, and taken to a disused, and hastily cleaned up, army camp. They were kept separated from each other. Within ten minutes of the start of questioning, the first suspect broke.
The teams of interrogators worked throughout the night and ended up with fifty collaborators. More would eventually give in.
This was enough for Erhard. His secretary phoned Bern the following morning asking for a meeting. She realised straight away that something was not right when she was told the Minister would be unavailable for at least two weeks. She was very experienced and knew when she was being given the run around!
Once again, Erhard and Schacht had been prepared for this. General Beck’s spies had already confirmed that the Swiss Economics Minister had a schedule that was in no way out of the ordinary. In anticipation of this, they had hatched a plot with Albert Speer.
As luck had it, the Swiss Transport Ministry were anxiously awaiting a trainload of urgently needed spare parts crucial for the continued safe running of their transport system . This delivery train was due at the German-Swiss border that evening. As Minister of Transport, Speer had one of his minions inform the Swiss transport authorities that the urgently awaited train could not be cleared through German customs.
It took half an hour for a harassed Swiss manager to phone Berlin to find out what the problem was. The spare parts were really urgently required! He was informed that there seemed to be some problem with customs duties that needed to be cleared up before the train was allowed through. In the meantime it had been shunted into a siding at the border.
Half an hour later a senior Swiss manager was on the phone. He was able to obtain no more information than the previous people.
The problem must have travelled higher very quickly, because one hour later the Swiss Transport Minister himself telephoned Albert Speer asking what the hell was the problem? They had known each other for several years and respected the work of each other.
Now it was Speer’s turn to play games. He professed not to know that a problem existed but he would find out and phone back within half an hour. He replaced the receiver and sat back smiling. He didn’t like politics or pettiness in any form, but the Swiss were always so smug. It would be good to take them down a peg or two.
After exactly half an hour they were speaking again. Speer explained that there were some issues about customs duties and other things that Germany’s Economics Minister was trying to speak to Switzerland’s Economics Minister about, but that gentleman was apparently unavailable for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately the law is the law, and the train could not move until the matter was resolved. One very irate Swiss Transport Minister promised to sort out the problem immediately or ‘he would have somebody’s guts for garters’. Later it was discovered that he had contacted the Swiss President who in turn simply instructed the Economics Minister to make himself immediately available to the German Minister.
Erhard accepted the call from Muller. The Swiss was coldly polite and asked if they could meet the following afternoon. Erhard confirmed this was in order. Muller, who was nobody’s fool, now asked if it was possible, even before they met, to allow the damned train through the border? The German was smiling as he replied that it was always a pleasure to assist his opposite number. Asshole!
He laughingly informed Speer of the success of their little ploy.
BERN - THE NEXT DAY
It had been Schacht’s idea that he accompany Erhard to Bern. He would not take much part in the discussions, but he thought that his presence would remind the Swiss about their past Nazi dealings. And that Schact knew all about them.
A normally cool Muller displayed no animosity to the Germans. He had been outfoxed and accepted it with good grace. He had never met Schach
t but knew of him. He welcomed him to Bern.
Erhard wasted no time telling Muller about the arrests of over two hundred former Nazis throughout Germany. Almost half of them had already admitted to the allegations. These people were detailed in the dossier which was in Muller’s possession. More names were now being uncovered. He placed copies of some of the criminal’s letters to their Swiss banks in front of the Swiss Minister.
Muller knew he could try to stall the matter again, but he also knew it would not go away. Furthermore it was not a good idea to offend the Germans. They always played things straight since the demise of the Nazi regime, whereas he knew that the Swiss banks did indeed have bank accounts of supposed Nazis, almost certainly a good portion of which, contained illegally earned monies. The Germans would not allow them to continue to turn a blind eye to these.
He decided to give his co-operation. “What you have before me, Herr Erhard, would appear to be firm proof to support your contentions. In the light of this, I consider it my duty to take the matter further. Tomorrow I will discuss this with the President of the Swiss Reserve Bank and the Minister of Justice. After I receive their advice, I will inform you of the next step. Is that in order?”
‘I wonder what happened to your busy two weeks schedule’ thought Erhard before answering, “Very good. Thank you for your co-operation Herr Muller. We look forward to hearing from you.” He and Schacht were shown out of the Minister’s office.
‘Operation plunder’ as this came to be known took another six months before the file was finally closed. All Swiss banks had been instructed by their authorities to search their records for active or dormant accounts, and safe depositories, which may belong to suspected Nazis.
The end result was the Swiss banks between them admitted to thirty two million dollars of cash on deposit, together with valuables totalling another ten million. The Swiss Government offered to pay the money and deliver the valuables to Germany in return for the Germans signing an agreement confirming that all outstanding issues had been settled and the matter was now permanently closed.
It was both Erhard’s and Schacht’s contention that this meant the Swiss had much more hidden away. But proof would be hard to find. The deal was accepted.
The valuables, jewellery and works of art, once they had been received, were duly advertised to see if any claimants came forth with the necessary proof of ownership. In the event, half of the stuff ended up being returned to their grateful and delighted rightful, mostly Jewish, owners. The unclaimed remainder was sold at public auction. A cheque, equivalent to five million dollars, was placed into the government welfare department that assisted previously wrongly imprisoned citizens, and displaced people, who had suffered financial loss as a result of Nazi persecution.
The other thirty two million was a nice addition to the German monetary reserves.
The more than two hundred criminals exposed by Erhard were brought to trial. Those that pleaded guilty and had co-operated, received relatively light one to three year jail sentences, together with fines, depending on their culpability. The remainder were found guilty anyway, and had their personal possessions including their homes, confiscated, and all received between three and six year jail sentences.
Erhard and Schacht were content. Their three year secret project had not been a waste of time.
PARIS - FEBRUARY
Charles de Gaulle reviewed the results of his de-colonising programme with satisfaction. Almost all of the French citizens who had lived in Indochina, Syria, Africa, Morocco and Tunisia, had left the regions and re-settled in France.
Nearly half a million metropolitan French had already been accommodated, and another four hundred thousand were expected over the next twelve months.
Enormous sums of money had been spent to ensure all arrivals had a roof over their head, a job, and a small settling in allowance in cases of need. Without certain loans provided by Germany, this would not have been possible. As it was, tough deadlines for housing and schools construction, together with expansion of industry and commerce, had been met. In the main, the new arrivals had blended into French life with little to grumble about.
De Gaulle had prevailed upon the French Government to allocate scarce financial resources for this programme to allay to some degree, the resentment harboured by the large number of pied noirs returning from the previously privileged life in Algeria.
Following the notice of intent to quit Algeria two years earlier, there had been an orchestrated campaign of civil disobedience by the pied noirs, including bombings and terrorist activities. De Gaulle’s reaction was a massive reinforcement of French forces in Algeria, and a rapid expansion of the new, mainly French officered, Algerian army. A curfew had been imposed and many suspected resistance leaders detained indefinitely. Gradually order was restored and the prospect of open rebellion by the white French settlers receded.
Many pied noirs began to accept the fait accompli and started to trickle back to mainland France. In Paris, de Gaulle and the French Government started to breathe easier. A crisis had been averted!
Now, two years later, the French had discovered something positive from their de-colonising experiment. The returning settlers had proved to be very hard working and industrious. They were making a significant contribution to the French economy. And despite their recent upheaval, they were even more patriotic than the rest of the French population. A good result of the law of unintended consequences!
LONDON - MARCH
James had finished work for the day and was about to exit the bank building. It was five thirty and he usually worked later than this, but tonight he was going home to face Fiona.
Since their magical holiday in Venice six months earlier, he had acquiesced with Magda’s suggestion to wait and see how they felt about things the following year. He had certainly not changed his mind about what he wanted. But as far as Magda was concerned, he felt that his approach would have to be different. He would only talk to her of marriage and their future together, after Fiona had agreed to a divorce. This is what he wanted to get agreement from his wife tonight.
He and Magda had not been in touch for the past two days or three days. If all went well, he would telephone Magda at her home tonight and make arrangements to spend the weekend with her. He could then tell her he was a free man.
James stepped outside and hesitated for a moment. Perhaps a quick scotch to calm his nerves would be a good idea. Before he moved again, a well-dressed, middle aged, man came up to him. “Mister Blackstone?” He peered at James while waiting for a response.
“Yes.” James smiled. He assumed it was someone he had met on a previous occasion.
“My name is Carter. Detective Chief Inspector Carter. Special Branch.”
The Special Branch of the British Police Force was responsible for matters of national security within Britain. It had been in existence since 1883 having originally been formed to combat the Irish terrorism of that time.
James was a little slow. His brain was still full of thoughts of Fiona and Magda. Divorce and divorce settlements. Child custody. “Yes?” Was his only response.
“May I have a word with you, Mister Blackstone? Somewhere at least off the street. I won’t take up too much of your time. And I assure you it is important.”
Mystified and at the same time intrigued, James led him to a nearby local pub that he sometimes used. It was in a nearby side street and he knew that it would be more or less empty at this time of the day. They sat in a secluded corner after James purchased two whisky and sodas from the bar.
It was Carter who spoke first. “I am sorry to ‘accost’ you in the street like that, Mister Blackstone, but I thought it best not to go to your office or home. The reason I am here is somewhat delicate.”
James waited for him to continue.
“You know a German lady called Magda Reinhard.” It was a statement, not a question. James suddenly felt apprehensive. He silently nodded in reply and the policeman continued.
“Would you care to tell me what you know of her?”
James had now developed butterflies in his stomach. Before he realised it, he had finished his drink. Carter’s was still untouched. He slid it across the table to James.
“Well Chief Inspector, I suppose I know many things about Magda. It might help me to answer your question better, if I know what the problem is. Is she is some sort of trouble?”
“Yes. A lot of trouble. However, I would prefer to hear what you know about her before I say anymore.” His look and tone said, Stop wasting time and talk!
The German Peace Page 32
