Military Agency Records RG 260
Theaters of Operations
Records of U.S. Occupation Headquarters, World War II (RG 260)
Office of the Finance Adviser and the Finance Division
FINANCE DIVISION
Records Regarding Financial Policy and Advising
Correspondence and Related Records
General Records (“Floater File”), 1947–1948 (A1, Entry 550)
Boxes 1–8
Correspondence and Other Records Maintained by Colonel David L. Robinson, Jr., 1945–1946 (A1, Entry 551)
Box 9
Correspondence and Other Records Maintained by Joseph M. Dodge, 1945–1946 (A1, Entry 552)
Box 10
Miscellaneous Correspondence and Other Records, 1945–1946 (A1, Entry 553)
Boxes 11–13
Miscellaneous Records
Records Pertaining to Policy and Procedures (“Policy File”), 1946–1948 (A1, Entry 555)
Boxes 21–40
Miscellaneous Records Relating to Blocking, Cloaking, and Identification of Assets, 1944–1945 (A1, Entry 556)
This series contains files pertaining to Nazis traveling and closing out accounts; German control of banking in Europe; German financial activities in France; Safehaven reports on suspect companies; and Swiss law on blocking assets. Also included are numerous reports on Switzerland and ledgers written in German.
Boxes 41–43
Records Regarding Investigations
Records Regarding Bank Investigations, 1945–1949 (A1, Entry 557)
This series consists of memorandums, letters, cables, reports, exhibits, newspaper clippings, and civil censorship intercepts on the financing of the German war effort and German financial institutions. The records include reports on Nazi gold, the use of Swiss banks, and links between German and Swiss banks, inclusive of Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Golddiskontbank, Dresdner Bank, and Reichs-Kredit-Gesellschaft. The investigations contain information regarding Aryanization, bank operations outside of Germany, industrial ties, liquidation proposals, and the restitution of Hungarian property.
This series is available on NARA Microfilm Publication M1923, Rolls 1–6.
Records Relating to Interrogations of Nazi Financiers, 1945–1947 (A1, Entry 558)
This series consists of interrogation reports and transcripts, exhibits, and questionnaires. Names included are Bernhard Berghaus, Alois Alzheimer, August von Finck, Eduard Hilgard, Kurt Schmitt, and Franz Schwede-Coburg. Also among these records are files relating to Carlowitz & Company and Japanese firms operating in Germany.
This series is available on NARA Microfilm Publication M1923, Rolls 6–8.
Financial Institutions Branch
Records Relating to Insurance and Central Bank Policies, 1945–1948 (A1, Entry 559)
Boxes 59–63
OFFICE OF THE FINANCE ADVISER
General Records Regarding Financial Policies and Military Government Legislation
General Records Regarding Financial Policy and Legislation, 1945–1949 (A1, Entry 560)
Boxes 64–77
Correspondence and Other Records Regarding Financial Policy and Operations, 1946–1949 (A1, Entry 562)
Boxes 90–103
Records Relating to Specific Functional Policy Programs
Records Pertaining to the Allied Bank Commission, 1948–1949 (A1, Entry 567)
Boxes 125–126
Records Relating to External Assets, 1946–1948 (A1, Entry 569)
Box 130
File Titles:
- Claims; Restitution
- External Assets
- Compensation
- GEPC [German External Property Commission]: Agenda and Minutes
- GEPC Material
- Procedures for the Release of Non-German Securities located in Germany or held outside of Germany in the name of German Banks, which securities are owned by persons permanently residing outside of Germany
- Switzerland
Records Relating to Financial Institution Policy, 1945–1949(A1, Entry 570)
Boxes 131–158
Records Relating to Foreign Exchange and Blocking Policies, 1946–1949 (A1, Entry 571)
Box 159
Records Regarding the Foreign Exchange Depository [FED], 1947–1949 (A1, Entry 572)
Boxes 160–167
Subordinate Agencies
Financial Intelligence Group
General Records, 1945–1949 (A1, Entry 573)
Boxes 168–226
Records Regarding Intelligence and Financial Investigations, 1945–1949 (A1, Entry 574)
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Reports, balance sheets, memorandums, and civil censorship intercepts dealing with the gathering of financial information. Includes reports of bank statistics, lists of bank assets and balance sheets; material relating to policy decisions in the construction of local military government financial administrations; records concerning agricultural cooperatives; reports on bank investigations, including a "Report on the Investigation of the Deutsche Bank," dated November 1946, by the Financial Investigations Section, Finance Division, OMGUS; records, including exhibits and reports of interrogations, relating to denazification of German finance personnel; an interrogation report of former Reichsminister of Economics and Plenipotentiary for the War Economy Hjalmer Schacht; a report on the operations of I.G. Farben A.G., 1945; plans for Operation "Goldcup;" i.e., the seizure of Reich ministerial records; information relating to fiscal conditions in former German-occupied countries, and a report of banking in the Soviet zone.
This series is available on NARA Microfilm Publication M1925, Rolls 1–9.
Reports of Assets and Liabilities of Insurance Institutions, 1947–1948 (A1, Entry 577)
Boxes 260–264
Internal and External Finance Group and Its Predecessors
Predecessor Branches
Correspondence and Related Records of the Foreign Exchange Policy Group, December 1945–August 1948 (A1, Entry 578)
Boxes 265–267
Foreign Exchange and Blocking Control Branch
The Foreign Exchange and Blocking Control Branch had as its responsibilities the blocking, administering, and disposing of certain categories of property within Germany, and of controlling the use of foreign exchange assets. In order to achieve the financial controls necessary for the attainment of Allied objectives in Germany, two basic laws were imposed upon the occupied areas of Germany and made effective as of the day of such occupation. These were Military Government Law No. 52 (Blocking Control Law) and Military Government Law No. 53 (Foreign Exchange Control Law). Having been in effect throughout the SHAEF occupation period, they remained in force in the U.S. Zone as well as the British and French Zones. Similar controls implemented by somewhat parallel laws were in effect in the Russian Zone.
The controls were put into effect to ensure German firms and individuals could not participate in international cartels or other restrictive contracts and arrangements. Military Government Law No. 53 prohibited any financial transactions involving persons inside Germany with any persons outside Germany, provided for the declaration of all German external claims, provided for the delivery and surrender of all foreign exchange assets to the various local Reichsbanks which in turn furnished full information concerning such assets to the Military Government, and prohibited the importation of all currency and foreign exchange assets into Germany and the exportation of all values from Germany. The law also contained provisions for the licensing of prohibited transactions, thus offering the possibility for a resumption of normal foreign exchange transactions, insofar as they were in accord with the objectives of the Military Government.
Military Government Law No. 52 was promulgated upon the occupation of Germany. This law blocked all property owned or controlled directly or indirectly in whole or in part by the Reich or any political subdivision or agency thereof, the Nazi Party and affiliated organizations, all persons who were high in the political and economic life of Germany, and persons residing outside of Germany. Moreover, property which had been the subject of transfer under duress or wrongful acts and confiscation was also blocked. The Law not only blocked the property but also gave to the Military Government the right to seize, take title to, and manage or control any such property. Another provision of the Law prohibited all transactions in blocked property except as licensed by the Military Government.
Records of the Foreign Exchange and Blocking Control Branch and of the Foreign Exchange Policy Group, 1945–1948 (A1, Entry 579)
Boxes 268–294
Internal and External Finance Group
General Records, 1947–1949 (A1, Entry 580)
Boxes 295–300
Correspondence and Related Records Regarding Accounts, Assets, and Payments, September 1946–September 1949 (A1, Entry 581)
Boxes 301–304
Correspondence and Other Records Regarding Property Claims, 1948–1950 (A1, Entry 582)
Boxes 305–313
Correspondence and Other Records Regarding Licensing of Foreign Exchange Transactions, 1946–1949 (A1, Entry 583)
Boxes 314–323
Miscellaneous Records Regarding Credit and Trade Agreements, 1947–1950 (A1, Entry 584)
Boxes 324–327
Records Pertaining to Payments and Military Government Accounts, 1946–1949 (A1, Entry 585)
Boxes 328–353
Applications and Related Records for Special Licenses to Engage in Transactions Related to Blocked Property, 1945 (A1, Entry 586)
Boxes 354–387
Records Relating to Displaced Persons, 1946–1949 (A1, Entry 587)
Boxes 388–391