Holocaust-Era Assets

Civilian Agency Records RG 56

Department of the Treasury Records

Records of the Department of the Treasury (RG 56)

The Department of Treasury was chiefly responsible during World War II, as before the war, for managing the financial affairs of the United States Government. All of its operations were greatly expanded during the war, and several special functions were assigned to the Department in connection with the war, such as the control of American assets owned by designated foreign governments and nationals.

The Department's war-related activities were handled for the most part by its regular organizational units, although special units were established, such as for the wartime control of foreign funds.

Henry Morgenthau, Jr., who served as the Secretary of the Treasury throughout the war, took a relatively active role in efforts to accomplish the return Axis looted assets. (Note 1)  On February 22, 1945, he issued the following declaration:

On January 5, 1943, the United States and certain others of the United Nations issued a 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 government with which they are at war against the countries and peoples who have been so wantonly assaulted and despoiled. (Note 2)  Furthermore, it has been announced many times that one of the purposes of the financial and property controls of the United States Government is to prevent the liquidation in the United States of assets looted by the Axis through duress and conquest.

One of the particular methods of dispossession practiced by the Axis powers had been the illegal seizure of large amounts of gold belonging to the nations they have occupied and plundered. The Axis powers have purported to sell such looted gold to various countries which continue to maintain diplomatic and commercial relations with the Axis, such gold thereby providing an important source of foreign exchange to the Axis and enabling the Axis to obtain much-needed imports from these countries.

The United States Treasury has already taken measures designed to protect the assets of the invaded countries and to prevent the Axis from disposing of looted currencies, and other looted assets on the world market. Similarly, the United States Government cannot in any way condone the policy of systematic plundering adopted by the Axis or participate in any way directly or indirectly in the unlawful disposition of looted gold.

In view of the foregoing facts and considerations, the United States Government formally declares that it does not and will not recognize the transference of title to the looted gold which the Axis at any time holds or has disposed of in world markets. It further declares that it will be the olicy of the United States Treasury not to buy any gold presently located outside of the territorial limits of the United States from any country which after the date of this announcement acquires gold from any country which has not broken relations with the Axis, unless and until the United States Treasury is fully satisfied that such gold is not gold which was acquired directly or indirectly from the Axis powers or is not gold which any such country has been or is enabled to release as a result of the acquisition of gold directly or indirectly from the Axis powers. (3) the United States Government formally declares that it does not and will not recognize the transference of title to the looted gold which the Axis at any time holds or has disposed of in world markets. It further declares that it will be the olicy of the United States Treasury not to buy any gold presently located outside of the territorial limits of the United States from any country which after the date of this announcement acquires gold from any country which has not broken relations with the Axis, unless and until the United States Treasury is fully satisfied that such gold is not gold which was acquired directly or indirectly from the Axis powers or is not gold which any such country has been or is enabled to release as a result of the acquisition of gold directly or indirectly from the Axis powers. (Note 3)

Correspondence of the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury

The Office of the Secretary of the Treasury included the immediate office of the Secretary, the office of the Under Secretary, the offices of the several Assistant Secretaries or other officials who exercised for the Secretary general supervision over particular bureaus or comparable units of the Department, and the offices of special consultants or advisers to the Secretary on various subjects. The Secretary, besides his other duties, served as an adviser to the President on fiscal and other aspects of the war. He was also a member of several Federal boards and committees, among them the Board of Economic Warfare and the War Refugee Board.

Transcripts of conferences, memoranda, personal correspondence, and copies of papers coming to the desk of the Secretary during the war are among the Morgenthau Papers in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library at Hyde Park, New York.

Central Files of the Office of the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries

Name and Subject Index to the Central Files [Entry 193] 1933-1956 (Entry 192)
Boxes 1-36

Central Files of the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury 1933-1956 (Entry 193)
Boxes 1-246 (includes a box 206A)

Box # File Title
13 Argentina 1938-1948
19 Belgium
20 Board of Economic Warfare 1941-1943
  War Refugee Board 1944-1945
60 France
61 Germany (Miscellaneous)
83 Netherlands
104 Poland
Portugal
122 Spain
122-123 State Department
123 Switzerland [1939-1946]
180 Treasury Department-Foreign Funds Control
203 War Department

Central Files of the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury 1957-1966 (Entry 193A)
Boxes 1-129

Office Files of Secretaries, Under Secretaries, and Assistant Secretaries 1932-1965

Records of Assistant Secretary John L. Sullivan

Box 191 contains folder entitled "General Counsel's War History." Included is a copy of a typewritten 78-page-history that was prepared early in 1947, and related records.

Records of Assistant to the Secretary John W. Pehle

Various series, including chronological and subject files. circa 1940-1945
Boxes 206-224

Miscellaneous Records of the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries

History of Treasury Participation in Formulation of German Occupation Program, ca. 1944-1946 (Entry 199C)

Activity Reports 1933-1961

Box # Office Name
10 Foreign Funds Control July 1946-July 1947
17 Office of International Finance 1946-1948
19 Division of Monetary Research 1946

Monthly Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury 1945-1961
Boxes 25-33

Records of the Legal Division

By section 512 of the Revenue Act of 1934, there was created the office of the General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury. The law provided that the General Counsel should be the chief law officer of the Department and perform such duties in respect to its legal activities as were prescribed by the Secretary or required by law. By order dated June 20, 1934, the Secretary prescribed the duties of the General Counsel and established the Legal Division, which was placed under the direct supervision and control of the General Counsel.

The General Counsel was responsible for and in charge of all legal activities of the Treasury Department, including all legislation pertaining to the affairs of the Department; rendered formal legal opinions for the information and guidance of administrative officers of the Department; prepared or reviewed material for publication, official regulations, Treasury Decisions, and other rulings and orders concerning laws administered by the Department, and cooperated with the Department of Justice with respect to litigation in which the Treasury Department had an interest.

Records of the Office of the General Counsel

Correspondence and Subject Files ca 1927-1963 (Accession 56-74-0001)
Boxes 1-17

Subject Files ca. 1940-1957 (Accession 56-58A845)
Boxes 1-6

Chronological Files ca. 1940-1957 (Accession 56-58A845)
Boxes 7-12

Subject Files ca 1940-1957 (Accession 56-58A845)
Boxes 13-31

General Correspondence 1934-1947 (Entry 352M)

Arranged in several alphabetically arrangements by subject.
Boxes 1-69

Records of the Assistant General Counsel (for the Office of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Accounts, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the Bureau of the Mint) 1903-1956

Subject Files ca. 1903-1956 (Accession 56-67A752)
Boxes 1-11

Records of the Assistant General Counsel (for Customs, Coast Guard, and Foreign Funds Control)

Subject Files 1941-1943 (Accession 56-61A331)
These records pertain almost exclusively to ship movements and seizures, and other customs matters. Boxes 1-3

Records of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs (OASIA) was, during the World War II period, named the Office of the Assistant Secretary in Charge of Monetary Research and Foreign Funds Control. The Assistant to the Secretary in Charge of Monetary Research supervised both the Division of Monetary Research and all matters relating to the management and operation of the United States Stabilization Fund. He also had general supervision of all foreign relations of the Department. In December 1944 the Assistant to the Secretary was replaced by the Assistant in Charge of Monetary Research and Foreign Funds Control. Both of these positions were held by Harry D. White. Records of the Division of Monetary Research

The Division of Monetary Research, established on March 25, 1938, supplied information and analyses and made recommendations to assist the Secretary of the Treasury and other Treasury officials in formulating and executing the international financial policies of the Department. The Division was headed by the Director of Monetary Research, a position held by Harry D. White until 1945, when Frank Coe became Director. Although the Division was essentially a research and not an operating unit, it was authorized to act for the Treasury Department in exchange stabilization and other international financial negotiations and to implement stabilization agreements through use of the United States Stabilization Fund. During the war the division had representatives stationed in various foreign countries to deal directly with the governments of those countries on financial matters, and emergency field officers to assist military authority on financial and currency problems related to invasion and occupation. The Division also represented the Treasury Department in interdepartmental groups concerned with international affairs.

At the outbreak of the war in Europe the Division was directed to prepare analyses of the international aspects of the fiscal policies of the United States and of foreign countries, and throughout the war it continued to make studies of the financial positions of foreign countries. When the Treasury Department's Foreign Funds Control was established in April 1940, the Monetary Research Division was assigned to do research for it.

In 1943 the Division began sending representatives to work directly with military headquarters in the various theaters and to establish Treasury representation in United States embassies and legations in a number of capitals. At the same time, it undertook work in the field of postwar planning. Its members performed research, prepared memoranda, and rendered technical assistance in connection with the numerous conferences of technical experts that culminated in the International Monetary Conference at Bretton Woods in June 1944.

With the end of hostilities it furnished economic analyses and provided most of the Treasury advisers for the United States representatives in the many postwar international economic conferences and organizations.

Records of the Deputy to the Assistant Secretary and Secretary of the International Monetary Group

Records of the Bretton Woods Agreements 1938-1946 (Entry 360O)

The Bretton Woods Conference, also known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was held during 1944. Economic and financial experts of 44 members of the United Nations met to discuss balanced economic relationships between nations. The American delegation was led by Henry Morgenthau, Jr. In August 1944 the United Nations represented at the Conference adopted Resolution VI, calling upon the neutral governments to take all necessary steps within their respective jurisdictions to (1) immobilize looted assets; (2) uncover and control enemy property; and (3) hold German assets for the disposition of the post-hostilities authorities in Germany. Boxes 1-59

Records of the Assistant Secretary relating to Monetary and International Affairs, 1934-1946

Chronological File of Harry Dexter White, 1934-1946 (Entry 360P)

There is a listing at the beginning of each folder of the subject content of Mr. White's correspondence. Boxes 1-13

Staff Memoranda of Harry Dexter White, 1941-1946 (Entry 360Q)
Boxes 14-15

Intra-Treasury Memoranda of Harry Dexter White, 1934-1945 (Entry 360R)
Boxes 16-20

Memoranda of Conferences held in the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, 1938-1945 Entry 360S)
Box 20

Memoranda of Conferences held in Harry Dexter White's Office, 1940-1945 (Entry 360T)
Boxes 20-21

RECORDS RECENTLY ACCESSIONED (November 1996)

Newly accessioned Department of Treasury records, mainly from the predecessor offices of the Office of International Affairs have recently been declassified and moved to an unclassified stack area. The most heavily used and pertinent records have then been moved to the Textual Research Room (Room 2000) hold area to make them more accessible. Thus the location for these newly declassified records is the "Research Room Hold Area."  The Compartment of the Hold Area is given, followed, In brackets [ ], by the eventual location. Because the records are not being thoroughly processed (e.g., reboxed into archives boxes), the records are being identified under the accession number under which the Treasury Department retired the records to the Federal Records Center. The records are presently contained in Federal Record Center boxes which hold a cubic foot of records, or the equivalent of three archives boxes. Researchers should note that at some point these records will be reboxed, renumbered, and relocated.

Access to the records temporarily stored in the Textual Research Room are governed by the following procedures issued on December 11, 1996, by Clarence F. Lyons, Jr., then Chief of the Archives II Textual Reference Branch. These procedures are still valid. Specifically:

  1. Many of the most frequently requested records will be placed in a location near the research room for easy retrieval by research room staff.....
  2. Researchers may request these records at any time during the day. These pulls are not limited to the normal record pull schedule.
  3. A researcher may charge out ONE box of these records at a time. When the box is returned to the research room attendant, a researcher may request and charge out another box.
  4. A researcher may charge out a box for ONE day only. All boxes must be returned by the end of the day.
  5. Requests for these records must be made in person. Records may not be reserved in advance.
  6. These procedures apply only to those records moved to the proximity of the Textual Research Room. Other records in their stack location will be pulled according to the usual pull schedule and remain subject to established research room procedures.

Mr. Lyons, in issuing these instructions, indicated that "these procedures are designed to meet the heavy demand for these records from many parties and ensure all interested researchers [receive] equal access to the materials."

TREASURY DEPARTMENT RECORDS IN THE RESEARCH ROOM HOLD AREA AND OTHER NEWLY ACCESSIONED AND DECLASSIFIED TREASURY DEPARTMENT RECORDS NOT MOVED TO THE HOLD AREA

Accession 56-66A-155

Correspondence with other Government Agencies, including the Alien Property Custodian, State Department, and Treasury representatives abroad ca. 1930s-1950s
Boxes 1-3

Incoming Correspondence

Box # Country/Area
1 Foreign Economic Administration Federal Reserve Banks
2 Office of Economic Warfare
Office of Strategic Services
Office of War Information
State Department
3 War Department
White House
Telephone Conversations with Representatives Abroad
10 Germany
11 Germany
Greece
Italy
12-13 Italy
15 Latin America
18 Netherlands
20 Portugal
21 Sweden
22 Switzerland
23 Turkey

Country Files

Box # Country/Area
28-32 Latin America
32-34 Argentina

Division of Monetary Research
Monthly Reports to the Secretary Box 67

Office of International Finance
Monthly Reports to the Secretary Box 68

Office of International Finances
International Conference Files Boxes 69-70

Accession 56-66A-816

Special Subject Files

Boxes 1-2 "Looted Gold"  location: Compartment 3

Box # File Titles
1 Austria
Bank for International Settlements, General
Bank of France Mission to Berlin, 1946
Bank Report on Netherlands Gold, 1941 (Volumes I and II)
BIS-Documents Relating to Gold Possibly Delivered to BIS at Constance
Bulgaria
Correspondence -Dutch Gold Shipped to Germany
France
German Correspondence (Grzesinki)
Germany
Gold Bars Received by Swiss National Bank from Deutsche Reichsbank
Hungary
Inter-Allied Reparations Agency, General
Location and Recovery
Miscellaneous
Negotiations for Restitution, Lisbon, 1946
2 Netherlands (Volumes I and II)
Netherlands-Gold Looted by Germans and Acquired by BIS
Portuguese Position
Prussian Mint Records re Smeltings
Report of Subcommittee and Supplement to Report, Lisbon, 1947
Resmelting Belgian Gold
Spain (Volumes I and II)
Treasury Missions and Conferences
Tripartite Conference Reports on Reparation and Restitution, Brussels, 1946
Yugoslavia

Boxes 3-4 Miscellaneous statistical reports received from De Nederlandsche Bank location: Compartment 3 [450/80/19/01]

Box 3 also contains the Reichsbank Precious Metals Department Records. (Note 4)

In mid-June 1948 Harry E. Hesse of the Treasury Department went to Frankfurt, Germany, to investigate at the Foreign Exchange Depository (FED), the original records of the Deutsche Reichsbank regarding the administration of the gold in its possession before and during World War II. He concluded that the records of the Precious Metal Department were fairly complete, but that the records of the Devisen Abteilung were in the Reichsbank Building in Berlin in the Russian sector of the city. In view of the imminent dissolution of the Foreign Exchange Depository, with the concurrence of the chief economic advisor, Jack Bennet, Hesse requested Colonel William G. Brey, Chief of the Foreign Exchange Depository, to turn the Precious Metals Department records over to the Bank Deutscher Laender as permanent custodian. Prior to that happening, he had the records microfilmed so that there would be a set available in Washington, DC. (Note 5)

On July 2, 1948, Mr. Freeman, of the Finance Advisor's Office, called Colonel Brey and instructed him to release the books and records of the Precious Metals Department to custody of the Bank Deutscher Laender as requested by Mr. Hesse and to release the FED microfilm records to Hesse to take back to Washington DC. (Note 6) On July 3, 1948, Hesse departed Frankfurt and took with him the microfilmed records. (Note 7) On July 7, 1948, the original Precious Metals Department records were turned over to the Bank Deutscher Laender and Colonel Brey sent a message to the Office of the Finance Advisor advising of the action he had taken. (Note 8) On July 8, 1948, Brey wrote Mr. Hesse, enclosing a complete index of the microfilm and stating that the actual records (both those microfilmed and those note microfilmed) had been turned over to the Bank Deutscher Laender. (Note 9) Frank J. Roberts, the Acting Chief of the Foreign Exchange Depository, in September 1949, reported that the records had "been released to bank Deutscher Laender but are at out disposal as required. From time to time the Tripartite Gold Commission requests examinations of these records to verify statements in claims submitted by foreign governments." (Note 10)

Reichsbank Precious Metals Department Records

The microfilm is located in the Microfilm Reading Room 4050

Roll # Subject
1 Gold in bars and foreign coins
2 Control over the record amounts of bank holdings
3 Statistics covering the gold holdings of the Reichsbank
4 Gold and silver statistics, Precious-Metal Purchasing Fund
5 Gold purchase inventory control, February 9, 1940-January 2, 1945
6 Gold purchase inventory control, from January 2, 1945
7 Gold and silver statistics, Precious-Metal Purchasing Fund
8 Inventory of the Main Treasure (January 6, 1932 to September 23, 1942)
9 no roll
10 Gold purchase, miscellaneous gold bars, Main ledger No. 30001
11 Gold purchase, miscellaneous gold bars, Control Ledger No. 30001
12 Main Ledger Sundry Gold bars, Main Fund Precious Metal
13 Control Ledger, Sundry Gold bars, Main Fund Precious Metal
14 900-fine gold bars, Main Ledgers No. 15001-21000
15 900-fine gold bars Control Ledgers No. 15001-21000
16 Standard gold bars Main Ledger No. 10001-15000
17 Standard gold bars Control Ledger No. 10001-15000
18 High-content gold bars Main Lain Ledger over 990/1000, No. 2000-3000
19 High-content gold bars Control Ledger over 990/1000, No. 1-10000
20 High-content gold bars Control Ledger over 990/1000, No. 20000-30000
21 High-content bars Main Ledger, special storage in Germany
22 High-content special storage in Germany Control Ledger
23 Journal - June 1, 1940-September 9, 1943
24 Journal - September 10, 1943
25 Treasure Work Book of Treasure A, June 1, 1940
26 Gold purchase receipt and dispatch book from September 15, 1944
27 Ledger covering storage in Treasure A
28 no microfilm reel 28
29 Weight control and stores
30 Weight control for gold bars of the gold purchase
31 Bar control by the Precious Metal Fund from January 3, 1944 32-
33 no reels
34 Gold and silver notations [quotations] 35-
37 no reels
38 Main Fund Precious Metal, inventory ledger of silver coins purchased
39 Foreign Office
40 no reel
41 Gold bars and gold coins, inventories in banks (?), etc.
42 Gold and silver Statistical notes
43 Scales and weights-Precious Metal Main Fund
44 Test results of the Assay Office
45 Gold purchase prices
46 Business routine and assignments of the Precious Metal Purchasing Fund
47 Signature-specimen sheets
48 Sundry letters re gold
49 Bag ledger (Main ledger) A foreign gold coins
50 Bag ledger (Control ledger), A, foreign gold coins
51 Gold Ledger B Main Ledger
52 Bag Ledger B Control Ledger
53 Bag Ledger Control Ledger C
54 Bag Ledger Control Ledger (filmed twice)
55 Store for armament, etc.
56 Laws and regulations etc., concerning Jews
57 Silver regulations [dispositions]
58 General regulations concerning purchase of gold coins, bars, etc.
59 Economic and currency notes
60 Gold management I
61 Gold management II
62 List of dispatched gold shipments
63 Precious Metal Purchasing Fund
64 Receipt book of the Precious Metal Purchasing Fund
65 Same as No. 38 - filmed twice
66 Receipt and dispatch book of Silver Purchase
67 Inventory of the treasure
M1 Bag ledger C Main Ledger
M2 Banca d'Italia folder
M3 Gold management - war measures
M4 Store folder (same as No. 55, filmed twice)
M5 Gold management in Austria
M6 Miscellaneous data
M7 Removal of store of Italian gold (from) Milan to Fortezza

Subject Files

Box # File Title
5 Bank Instructions and Blocked Accounts
Bank for International Settlements
6 BEW Reports French Africa
Black List
Blocked Enemy Accounts
7 Economic Warfare
Enemy Accounts
Enemy Assets
8 Foreign Funds Control
9 German Financial Methods in Connection with Occupation
10 Letters-North African Representatives-U.S. Treasury
11 Office of War Information (OWI)
12 Swiss Francs
13 Trading with the Enemy Act
Economic Warfare
15 Censorship
Civil Affairs and Financial Guide to Liberated Areas 1944
16 Exchange Control-War Study 1940
17 Reparations
18 War Claims
War Criminals
War Damage
War Data-Foreign
War Data-United States
19 Wartime Problems Pending with Treasury-August 1, 1944. [Areport containing a section on "Pending Problems and Negotiations with or related to the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, USSR, Italy, Germany, Austria, Balkans, Switzerland, and China" and "Dollar Position and Gold Holdings of European Countries." The Swiss section of the report is broken into the following categories: Swiss Franc Problem, War Trade Agreement, Practices of Swiss Banks, Swiss Policy in Buying Axis Gold, and Flight of Nazi Funds.]
20 Contains printed [by USGPO] Treasury Departmentreports entitled Census of American-Owned Assets in Foreign Countries (1947, 128pp.) and Census of Foreign-Owned Assets in the United States (1945, 88pp.). These reports were based on the information contained in census forms TFR-500 (Note 11) and TFR-300. (Note 12)

Miscellaneous Subject Files

Box 30 "Safe Haven, 1951" These records pertain to Latin American activities

Boxes 33-35 United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation

Foreign Funds Control Activities ca. 1940-1950

Box # File Title or Subject
37-38 (part) Census of Foreign-Owned Property Records
38 (part)-39 Census of U.S. Property Abroad
The above records relate, for the most part, to the administrative aspect of undertaking the Census in 1941 (TFR-Form 300) and 1943 (TFR-Form 500).

Special Subject Files

Boxes 45-54 location: Compartments 3-4

Box # File Title
45 Administration of Executive Order 8389
Applications Relating to U.S. Imports and Exports
Authorizations, Licenses and Reports
Censorship
Conflicting Custodianship
Congressional Hearings-Kilgore Committee on German
Financial Penetration, 1945
Currency Imports Reported by Federal Reserve Banks
Currency Imports to the United States, 1941-1942
Currency Imports: Tables
Currency (United States) Reported Movement
46 Developments
Discussion of Documents and Other Matters Pertaining to the Foreign
Funds Control
Enforcement Division
Exchange Control: Chronology January 1941-June 1942; Originals;
Completed Requests
47 Flight of Axis Capital
General Information on the Administration, Structure and Functions of the
Foreign Funds Control, 1940-1948
General License No. 94
General License, Rulings and Authorizations
History of the Foreign Funds Control Operation
Holland: Study on Banks Sponsored and/or Controlled by German
Interests, 1945; Study on the Central Bank and the Eight Largest
Commercial Banks, 1944
Investigations: Bata Company; Stehlik, R.F.; Wallenbergs; Williamson, Hugh
48 Germany: External Assets and Obligations MGAX-1; Declarations
consisting of the following: (a) German Property Located in and Claims
Against the United States (Books 1-4), (b) Foreign (U.S.)Property
Located in and Claims Against Germany (Books 5-27), and (Present
Holders of German-owned Foreign (U.S.) Securities (1 book).
49-50 Germany: List of N.S.D.A.P. Members in Foreign Countries (Nazi Party List)
51 Latin America: Enemy Property
Latin America: Reports
Licensing Division
Licensing: Reports of Applications Reviewed
Meetings in Director's (Pehle) Office
Monthly Activity Reports
Organization
Proclaimed List: 1941-1946;
Proclaimed List: General Information
Proclaimed List: Meetings with Nominating Committee
Property Reports
Stamp Trade
Statistical: Progress Reports; Weekly Reports; Miscellaneous Countries
Statistical Program, General
52 Summary of Trade Applications
TFR: 300-500 (1942-1952) Volumes I though IV
300-Galley Proof and Worksheets
300-Memoranda
300-Questions and Answers (Insurance Companies)
300-Receipt of Reports
500-Memoranda
500-Correspondence
53 TFR: 600 - 1948-1949
600-Codes
600-Tabulation Results
100- 1940-1941 (Note 13)
53-54 Trade Tables - June-November 1941; December 1941-May 1942
54 Trading with the Enemy Act
Transactions Affecting Foreign Bank Accounts in New York Area
Treatment of American Assets Abroad
Foreign Funds Control: Correspondence (1943-1949)
Foreign Funds Control: Memoranda (Staff) during the years 1943-1950

Freezing Program

Box 55 Special Subject Files Relating to the Freezing Program

File Title

  • Agenda
  • American Property Abroad
  • Analysis of Trade Applications
  • Chemie, I.G.
  • Chronology (1940-1942)
  • Johnson Act
  • Joint Committee (State and Treasury)
  • Minutes of Meetings with Foreign Funds Control
  • Policy
  • Representatives Abroad
  • Status of Cases

Country and Area Files Relating to the Freezing Program
Boxes 56-57

Legal Records

Special Subject Files

Miscellaneous Records Relating to the Defrosting Program and Legislation, including information on the Bretton Woods Agreement Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act. Contains specific files on Austria, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Box 61

Miscellaneous Records Relating to Looted Securities, including "General-Volumes I through IV (1944-1947); "Netherlands," and "Restitution of Looted Securities Located in Austria and Germany" Box 62

Miscellaneous Records

Box 63 contains a miscellaneous case file labeled "Dwork, Dr. Irving, C (Note 14)." containing information on heirless assets in the United States, and especially in New York, along with draft legislation dealing with heirless assets in America. 1946. Also contained in the box are a files on banks, the vesting program, and three files dealing with securities, particularly French securities.

Box 73 containes files on foreign accounts in the Federal Reserve Board and insured banks, 1941; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1940-1941; the Federal Reserve Board; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; foreign accounts in New York banks 1940-1941; and, foreign banks-New York agencies, 1941.

Records of the Office of the Technical Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury

Stabilization Records

Subject File 1936-1942

Box # File Title or Subjects
74 "Germany" and "Gold"
80 Switzerland, including the Bank for International Settlements

Accession 56-66A1039

Miscellaneous Committee Records

Box # File Tile or Subject
23 Combined Liberated Areas Committee, ca. 1945-1946.
24-26 Treasury Department participation in the Board of Economic Warfare. Box 24 contains a folder entitled "(Board of Economic Warfare): Economic Defense: Functions Administered by Treasury," which contains a copy of a memorandum prepared by Harry D.White for Secretary Morgenthau's signature, October 7, 1941, to the Vice President, concerning "Economic Defense Functions Administered by the Treasury. Box 25 contains information on economic warfare in Latin America, 1941-1943. Box 26 contains information on Swedish trade with the Axis, 1942-1943.
33 Liberated Areas Committee 1945-1946. Also includedis a folder on the Kilgore Committee, a U.S. Senate Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs, June-December 1945, looking into German economic penetration of neutral countries, elimination of German resources for war, Germany's resources for a third world war, and related matters. Included are published copies of Senate documents, drafts and copies of testimony by Treasury staff, and related records.
34 Occupied Areas Committee, 1946. Also included is one folder entitled "Occupied Areas Committee-Country" 1943, that contains files on Scandinavian countries, the Lowlands, Italy, France, East Indies, China, Central Europe, and the Balkans
35 Treasury Department participation in the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee, 1945-1947
62 Inter-Allied Reparations Agency (IARA). Contains folders entitled "IARA:-Tripartite Commission for the Restitution of Monetary Gold," [1950-1953]; "IARA-Looted Gold-Restitution and Claims Volume I," [1943-1947]; "IARA-Looted Gold-Restitution and Claims Volume II," [1948-1951]; and "IARA-Looted Gold-Location and Recovery," [1945-1959].

Accession 56-67A245

Country Files

Box # File Title or Subject
8 Economic warfare in French Africa; contains a folder entitled "French Africa-Gold," covering the 1942-1944 period.
10 French North Africa including a folder labeled "F.N.A. Safehaven,"1945.
11 "F.N.A. Trading with the Enemy."
13 "Tangier-FFC" "Tangier German Assets" "Tangier Gold" "Tangier Proclaimed List"
33 Denmark, including folders labeled "Denmark Safehaven & Defrosting Program (inc. Enemy Property and FFC), 1944-1949
34 Norway and Sweden, including folders labeled "Norway Gold & Silver (inc. transactions in Norwegian Accounts); "Norway Foreign Funds Control.
35 Sweden, including folders labeled "Sweden German Assets," "Sweden Gold and Silver (including transactions in Swedish Accounts), Sweden Negotiations," "Sweden, Negotiations Swedish Allied 1954,"[ volumes 1 and 2]; "Sweden Safehaven," and "Sweden War and War Related Activities (including FFC)."
36-39 Country files on Albanian, Baltic States, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Balkans, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, USSR. Contains information on banks, banking, foreign assets control (including gold).

Miscellaneous World War II Records and Studies

Box # File Title
66 Censorship Items
Correspondence with Military Intelligence
Economic Survey of German Europe and the Far East
Economic Warfare
Foreign Funds Control
67 Naval Intelligence
Nazi Industrial War Machine
North Africa
Office of Strategic Services

Accession 56-67A1804

Country and Area Records 1934-1952

Box # Country
1-2 Austria
4-10 France
13-21 Italy
23 Portugal
24-25 (part) Spain
25 (part) -29 Switzerland
Box 25 contains information on banks and banking, bank investigations, and blocked assets in the United States. Box 26 contains information on the Bretton Woods Conference, Foreign Funds Control activities, and defrosting of Swiss assets. Box 27 contains the following file titles: German Assets; German Assets- Currie Mission; German External Assets-Negotiations-Reports & Exhibits; German External Assets Vol. 1-Negotiation Briefing Data; German External Assets Vol. II-Negotiation Briefing Data; Gold & Silver; Investigations; Mission to the United States; Safehaven. Boxes 28-29 (part) contain information on transactions in Swiss Francs. Box 29 (part) contains file "Switzerland: War and War Related Activities"

Special Subject Files

Gold Records 1931-1959

Subject Files
Boxes 49-55

External Debt Settlements by West Germany 1950-1957
Boxes 58-62 (part) Box 61 contains file GER/1/436 Claims of BIS

Tripartite Commission on German Debts 1951-1953
Boxes 62 (part)-63

Accession 56-68A2809

Area Records

World (WOR), 1946-1959

Box # File # File Title
26 WOR/0/100 Financial and Economic Studies and Reports - Volume I
  WOR/2/000 Money, Banks and Banking - Volume I
  WOR/2/300 Gold Reports and Statistics - Volume I
    Europe (EUR), 1941-1959
28 EUR/2/00 Money, Banks and Banking, General (1941-1959)
  EUR/3/11 Treasury Policy and Activities - European Trade and Payments (1942-1959)
  EUR/9/00 War and War Related Activities (1941-1946)

International Statistics Division

Working Group Records

  • Box 36 contains file "Gold and Dollar Assets in the U.S. of  ERP Countries" WDR Records
  • Box 37 contains forms (WDR-22 and WDR-18) relating to reports of gold and statements of government finances for various countries, including Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. Foreign Funds Control Activities Records relating to the Census of American-Owned Assets in Foreign Countries (TFR-500)
  • Box 38 contains a subject file relating to the census
  • Box 39-contains country files
  • Boxes 39 (part)-42 (part) contain details regarding certain American property in various countries
  • Boxes 42 (part) contains miscellaneous records relating to the TFR-500 Census
  • Box 43 contains files on the Census of Foreign Owned Assets in the United States (TFR-300)
  • Box 44 contains various completed FFC forms, 1945-1946

Accession 56-69A7584

Legal Staff Records

Country Files ca. 1940-1950
Boxes 1-3

Country Box # File Title
Argentina 1 General (1943-1950)
Banking Transactions and Instructions to Banks (1940-1950)
Economic Controls (1941-947)
Shipment of Gold to Argentina (1943-1946)
French Africa 2 General - Volumes I and II (1942-1949)
Banknotes and Shipments of Gold and Currency (1943-1944)
Germany 2 General (1936-1952)
Morgenthau Plan (1944-1945)
Italy 3 General (1946-1948)
Poland 3 Polish Gold Claims Against France (1942-1943)
Sweden 3 General (1948)
Mission to Sweden (1947)
Switzerland 3 General (1941-1947)
Turkey 3 General (1946)

Special Subject Files

Boxes 4-7 contain information on Gold 1933-1959.

General Office Records of the Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs

Budget and Fiscal Records

Box # File Title or Subject
40 Switzerland 1943-1952
41-46 Swiss, Argentine, and other countries' banks and central banks, including information on buying and selling gold. Box 43 also contains American dealings with the Bank for International Settlements (1938-1959) and Box 46 contains information on the War Refugee Board (1944-1945) ca. 1936-1959.

Accession 56-70A6232

Legal Records

  • Box 22 Contains information on looted gold; the gold Commission; negotiations with Switzerland, Portugal, and Sweden forrecovery of looted gold; the Swedish Gold Conference,  the Bank for International Settlements. circa 1946-1954
  • Box 24 Swiss Bank Investigations circa 1950s.

Country and Area Records

  • Box 48 - Folder "GER/3/15 Gold General 1949-58 vol.1" deals with looted and other gold matters relating to Germany. Included is a printed copyof Treaties and Other International Acts Series 2252 "Restitution of Monetary Gold: Submission to an Arbitrator of Certain Claims with respect to Gold looted by the Germans from Rome in 1943; Agreement between the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and France, signed April 25, 1951, entered into force April 25, 1951."
  • Box 53 - Germany - Safehaven Agreements and German External Assets 1951-1959
  • Box 54 - Germany - Looted Gold 1950-1959; contains information on German Assets in the United States, 1940-59 and U.S. Germany discussions relating to German External Assets/Safehaven 1954-1959.
  • Box 75-76 - Switzerland 1947-1959; contain information about Swiss banking financial/economic situation 1946-1959.

Accession 56-75-101

Foreign Exchange Reporting Section Records

Reports

Box # File Title
29 Balances in earmarked Gold: FRBNY [ Federal Reserve Board New York] Weekly and Monthly Statements 1937-1947.

Miscellaneous Subject Files

Box # File Title
39 Balances and Earmarked Gold Held for Foreign Account, Volumes I and II (1939-1949)
Estimated Gold, Short-Term Dollar, and Long-term Dollar Assets of Participating Countries (June 1945-November 1948)
Estimated World Gold and Dollar Resources Selected End-Years 1945- 1955 and March 31, 1956
Gold Tables and Capital Movements (1940-1941)

Report Files

Box # File Title
42 Estimated Gold and Dollar Resources of Foreign Countries
Monthly Report of NAC (June 1945-March 1967)

Subject File

Bank For International Settlements (BIS)

Box # File Titles
169 BIS/0/00
BIS/0/75
BIS/0/98
BIS/2/00
BIS/4/00
General, Volumes 1-2 (1947-1969)
Meetings and Documents (1954-1969)
Letters to Finance Ministers (1945)
Looted Gold (1945-1948)
Liquidation (1944-1948)

Legal Staff Records

General Subject Files

War and War Related (World War II) Activities

Box # File Title
237 Authority of Allied Military Command and Government in Territories Occupied (1943)
Axis Instruments and Decrees Relating to Control of Foreign Property (1940-1942)
Belgian Financial Matters (1944)
238 Currency Programs: General, Volumes I -V (1944-1950)
Big Bill Program (1945)
Foreign Currencies (1944-1945)
Legal Background Memoranda re Currency Programs (1934-1945)
Directives for Treatment of Germany Post SHAEF (1945)
Directives of Other Areas Excluding Germany (1945)
Dutch Decrees (1943-1944)
Economic Warfare (1942-1943)
External Assets Interrogations: General (1944-1946)
External Assets Interrogations: Goering (1945) Volumes I-IV
239 External Assets Interrogations: Himmler (1945-1946)
External Assets Interrogations: Hitler (by Schroeder and Schaub) (1945-1946)
External Assets Interrogations: Heuman and Company (1945)
External Assets Interrogations: I.G. Farben (1945)
External Assets Interrogations: Kaltenbrunner (1945)
External Assets Interrogations: Ribbentrop (1945)
External Assets Interrogations: Kreutzer (1946)
External Assets Interrogations: RHSA (Reich Security Office) (1945)
External Assets Interrogations: Schellenberg (1945)
External Assets Interrogations: Switzerland (1946)
French War Settlement Negotiations-(1946) Volumes I and II
Foreign Economic Policy (1944)
Legal Memoranda (1944-1945)
Netherlands Decrees (1940-1942) -The Netherlands-Occupation Decrees- M.E. Locker (1940-1942)
Post War Dutch Problems (1942)
Post War Planning (1942-1943)
240 Programs for Germany (1944-1945)
Reoccupied Areas: Organizational Procedures (1943)
War Criminals (1944-1945)
War Property Loss Program (1943-1944)
241 Bank For International Settlements (1940-1945)
242-244 Gold;

Accession 56-77-52

Assistant General Counsel

Legal Subject Files 1952-1972

  • Box 5 contains information on Swiss bank secrecy laws. Included is a fileon a 1942 Swiss Bank investigation, including a "Final Report: Swiss Bank Investigation" and a July 3, 1942 memorandum by Bernard Bernstein pertaining to the Swiss investigation.
  • Box 6 contains a file of  legal memoranda between 1943 and 1957. Includedis one, a 16-page memorandum dated April 21, 1945, regarding the Allied Control Commission and vesting German Property situated outside of Germany.

Records Declassified but not relocated to an unclassified stack area. Please consult with the staff in the consultation area in Room 2600 about the location of these records.

Accession 56-69A4707 processing

International Statistics Division General Records 1944-1959

Alphabetical Subject File
Boxes 43-48

Box # File Title
43 Allied Commission on Reparations
Alien Property Custodian
45 Foreign Exchange Controls
Foreign Funds Control, General
Foreign Funds Control, Miscellaneous Blocked Assets
Foreign Funds Control, Regulations
47 Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves-Tripartite Commission
Looted Gold-Countries
Looted Gold-Miscellaneous
48 Safehaven Deposits in America

Country Files

Germany 1931-1952
Boxes 73-86

Box # File Title
73 Banks and Banking - Volumes I and II
74 Bretton Woods
Cartels(including Trademarks and Patents)
Claims Against - Position Papers
Claims Against - Working Group Documents
75 Claims - Intergovernmental Study Group- Volumes I and II
Communications (including Censorship)
Currency, General - Volumes I and II
Currency - Counterfeit and Captured
76 Decartelization, General
Decartelization-Investigation of Bosch Company
78 Economic and Financial, General - Volumes I and II
External Assets
Farben:
1. Camouflage of External Assets
2. General Aniline and Film American I.G.
3. Hearings and Exhibits to Testimony
4. History of Military Control
79 5. I.G. Chemie
6. Interrogations and Investigations
7. Miscellaneous Materials
8. Reports
9. Standard Oil Case (Note 15)
10. War Crimes (Basic Information and Exhibit List)
11. War Crimes - Investigating Team Materials Financial Arrangements
80 Foreign Exchange Control
Foreign Funds Control (including SOFINA)
Gold:
1. Currency and Loot Recoveries (Discover and Accounting)
2. Currency and Loot Recoveries (Non-RBK Caches "Closed" Depots)
3. Currency and Loot Recoveries (Problem of Disposition)
4. Looted Holdings and Transfers
5. Prussian Mint Records Concerning Smeltings
6. Records Found and Research Thereon
7. Recovered (Origin and Claims by Countries)
81 Insurance
Interrogations, Miscellaneous
Interrogations - Testimony of Emil Puhl
82 Looted Property, General
Looted Property - Inter-Allied Declaration
Military Government:
1. General Information
2. Investigations
3. Program (Including Allied Control Council)
4. Reports
5. Termination Programs
6. Treasury Participation
83 Policy:
1. Morgenthau Plan
84 2. Suggestions of Other Agencies
3. Policy Toward, General - Volumes I and II
4. Policy Toward and Negotiations (U.S.) Property Control Reparations - Volumes I and II Restitution
85 Safehaven Securities (including Dollar Bonds)
86 Treasury Studies:
1. Considerations on the Reorganization of the Germany Currency, Public Debt, Banking and the Budget
2. Corporations and Other Forms of Business Organizations in Nazi Germany (Concentration of Capital and Other Developments)
3. Economic Position of Germany
4. German Government Finance
5. How Defeated Germany Rose to Power Vesting War Crimes (including Nazi Underground Activities)

Records of the Under Secretary

Country Records

Box 107 - Switzerland

Gold Records Box 108

Monetary and Stabilization Fund Records, General 1934-1952 Boxes 122-123

Top