Truman Presidential Museum and Library
Bernard Bernstein served as a Lt. Colonel and Colonel in the United States Army during the war. Col. Bernstein was Financial Advisor in the Office of the Military Governor, United States (OMGUS). An attorney by training, Bernstein was involved in investigating the economic assets of the Third Reich, particularly its looted gold, in the later years of the war.
boxes 6 82 microfiche,
Arrangement is alphabetical by subject
Contains correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, and other materials concerning Nazi Germany's gold and other financial assets. Much of this material relates to the discovery by U.S. forces of a large cache of Nazi treasure in the Kaiseroda salt mine at Merkers, Germany, in April 1945. Colonel Bernstein was responsible for safeguarding and preparing an inventory of these valuables, which included gold, currency, works of art, and loot taken from victims in Nazi concentration or extermination camps. Also includes documentation of the financial aspects of the war, efforts to compensate the victims of Nazi aggression, and the continuing interest among journalists and historians in the wealth and plunder of the Third Reich.
Selected records from the Bernard Bernstein Nazi gold file