Nazi Millionaires: The Allied Search for Hidden SS Gold

by Theodore P. Savas and Kenneth D. Alford

Book Overview

During the final days of World War II, German SS officers crammed trains, cars, and trucks full of gold, currency, and jewels, and headed for the mountains of Austria. Fearful of arrest and determined to keep the stolen loot out of Allied hands, they concealed their treasures and fled. Most of these men were eventually apprehended, but many managed to evade capture. The intensive postwar Allied investigation that followed recovered only a sliver of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1612005950
• ISBN13: 9781612005959
• Release Date: March 2018
• Publisher: Casemate
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

A good grasp on the truth

"Nazi Millionaires" is well-written and entertaining as well as informative. I read it as a professional historian and my wife as a mystery novel fanatic and we both enjoyed it equally. What really makes this a fine book is the way in which the authors skillfully separate the truth from the hype, speculation, and romanticization that characterize all too many "lost treasures" books. In addition, they have turned up and pieced together some important new material on World War II.

Solidly Researched Book on Fascinating Subject

I loved this book primarily for three reasons.First, it is based upon first class research, something you rarely find these days in the history field. So many books are based on secondary works and the opinion of others. This is one of the major reasons I bought this book. Almost every end note is based upon a report, diary, letter, interview, trial record, and so on. That is important to me. The analysis and opinions and conclusion based upon these records is top notch.Second, it is on a subject that has not gotten as much attention as it deserves. How were the Nazis able to get away with methodically pillaging entire countries?You have to have a lot more than just a strong army. This book explains the organization (RSHA) and the men who set up the system within the system that made this all possible, and the authors did it better than I have ever seen it done.Third, this book is exceptionally well written. Most history books plod along with one dry fact after another. Nazi Millionaires has so many "hooks" to keep you reading that, for a while, I thought I was reading a good Clancy book! One chapter ties into the next, and you can't help but keep turning the pages.I found two downsides, both rather minor. First, although the book was chronologically organized, I thought the ending was sort of sudden. The Postscript offers a glimpse of what happened to the major characters, and this helps smooth this out. (But Kaltenbrunner was left out of the Postscript, which seems like a mistake.) Second, I wish the book had a few more maps. There is one overall map in the front, which helped a lot. But these are very minor points and maybe not even worth mentioning. Overall I loved this book (and the binding is quality as well). I already passed it along to my friend to read, and he says it is "awesome." Thanks, Alford and Savas. Write another one!

Another dirty little secret from the master race

Paul from Oklahoma CityI bought another book from this publisher called "Through Hell From Hitler," and I liked it a lot, so I tried this one after reading the posted reviews. I was not disappointed.I knew I would like this book as soon as I finished the first two pages of the preface, which ended the first section with the hanging of an SS officer. The authors did not reveal his identity until the last sentence, building the suspense and tension with wonderful details drawn from a New York Times article. Very well done! The first couple of chapters methodically set in place the Nazi government and describe the RSHA (a large SS office that oversaw the pillaging and killing of Europe's Jews), but the rest of the book is fast-paced, well written, and informative.A few of the high placed Nazis got what they deserved, but this book exposes many of the lower ranking officers who not only escaped justice but seem to have successfully hidden their loot, and maintained postwar access to it. Several of these guys, Hirschfeld and Hottl being but two examples, cut deals with the Americans and worked for our government or walked away as free (often very rich) men. My two favorite personalities were Kurt Becher and Franz Konrad. Their tales are simply amazing and very well presented. Women play a role here too. Not altogether pleasant ladies.All in all a great read about a fascinating subject. The documentation seems very thorough, the production quality is good, and the postscript called "Loose Ends" (clever double entendre), ties everything up nicely. Did the Countess really get away with a chest full of gold? I can't recommend this book enough. Why it is not higher on the sales counter beats the heck out of me.

Great read

This is a very enjoyable book. I have been reading about the Second World War for many years, but have never heard of half of this information, or the characters involved. I especially like the introduction to each character, with good background information, etc. The information about the counterfeiting operation and the SS man Hirschfeld was spectacular--as is the new information about the Swede Count Bernadotte. I always suspected he was killed after the war for a reason, and now we seem to know why. Highly recommended.

New Material and a real Bombshell

I managed to read the galley of this book at the printer and had to comment on it. I love WWII-related material, and this one I could not put down. It begins with a general overview of the Nazi regime, etc. to set the stage for explaining how the SS and German death machine managed to plunder Europe so effectively. Nothing new here, but a required foundation for what follows. Each chapter essentially builds on the previous, introducing new characters and schemes, many of which intertwine and link up as the book goes along. Many of these men are very well known--Adolf Eichmann or Ernst Kaltenbrunner, for example, but most are men I had never heard of--Josef Spacil, Kurt Becker, Walter Hirschfeld, Franz Six, etc. Each of these men had something to do with stealing and hiding at the end of the war vast treasures, including gold, jewels, currency, and antiques. The book is based upon previously unpublished classified documents, including interviews, reports, and so on. What they reveal is amazing.For example, I had no idea Eichmann (who was later caught and hung in Israel)carried with his caravan tens of millions in gold and abandoned it somewhere in north central Austria (eyewitness accounts confirm it), or that Kaltenbrunner had many large sacks of gold that vanished in the same region. The most fascinating couple of chapters concerned the misnamed "Operation Bernhard," a massive counterfeiting operation run by Spacil. Within it was another operation so top secret it was operated without Hitler's knowledge!Perhaps the bombshell of the book is that Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, the Red Cross hero who saved Jews, was a Nazi collaborator! His assassination in Jerusalem a couple years after the war was, apparently, retaliation for what the Jews knew about his relationship with Walter Schellenburg, one of Himmler's top men. Read it and see for yourself.The authors also introduce the Allied hunt for these treasures, what they found, and how so much was never located. The amount of wealth that slowly came to the surface in Austria is staggering. It is obvious that a lot of these men, especially Kurt Becher, hid away millions and managed to get back a lot of it after the war.Thankfully the book introduces each character at the beginning with a sentence or two, a necessary addition because there are a lot of people to keep track of. At the end is a postscript that spells out their fate. It makes fascinating reading.I wish the book had a few more maps, but the photos are good, and the story would make a great movie. Finally, a book about WWII that does not tell me for the 10th time that there was a D-Day or that Rommel fought a campaign in Africa.