I am sure many have heard stories over the years as the Allies began to squeeze in toward the Third Reich, that certain individuals in the German high command decided to move their vast hoards of loot, especially gold, elsewhere in Germany or in some cases completely out of the country. Into countries like Austria, Switzerland or even to Argentina using a U-boat have been mentioned, which brings me to an interesting story concerning my late father. Back in the 80's I was visiting my Dad one day and spotted his WWII scrap book on the table. As I was thumbing thru it, I came to a page he marked "Switzerland Dec. 1945". Attached inside was an itinerary labeled Swiss-Tour C III. So I asked him about it, for I knew he was still stationed in Italy after the war. He said he didn't have enough points to rotate back to the states yet, so him and some buddies decided to take some leave and go visit Switzerland by train for a week. His scrapbook is full of photos of Bern, the Gotthard Tunnel, Lake Geneva, Zurich and Lake Lucerne. Which I have attached photos of both his itinerary and him standing along the shoreline of Lake Lucerne in his Army uniform in late 1945. Well a couple weeks later I had stopped by again for a quick visit and we began watching that show Ripley's Believe It Or Not, which was hosted by Jack Palance at the time. After some oddball stuff, the next episode was concerning a high ranking Nazi general and Switzerland, our ears began to perk up. As the story goes, sometime in late 1944, this German general commandeered some vehicles, some men and took off for the Swiss border with some long wooden crates in the back. Their final destination was Lake Lucerne in Switzerland and according to the show, this party buried those wooden crates reportedly full of gold bars, along the shoreline. The show also said they marked the location well, so I am guessing to come back after the war to retrieve it all but nobody ever has, as far as I can tell. Yes I have heard of divers looking into Lake Toplitz, Austria for years for buried Nazi gold but not Lake Lucerne before...or was it just a wild rumor???, or was my father actually standing on top of that buried gold back in December 1945 and never realized it...something to think about.
Toplitz has been a massive waste of money but nothing found. I also have heard of the Rommel gold so Many places to look for unfortunately.
There have been rumors about tons of gold in some giant vault under the streets of Zurich, even those reality shows traveling around the world are still searching for buried gold..makes for ratings I guess but nothing much found..except some investigator did find a German coin in South America...pfft. Personally I feel a lot of it was divided up by the Allies and the Swiss right after the war and nobody is talking.
Goldfinger had it......Gert Frobe was German, you know..and was in the nazi party Gert Fröbe - Wikipedia
It was a rainy night back in the fall of '75, when I first met Henrich Räul at a beer hall in the small Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden. I was on two weeks leave from the Air Force while stationed at Wiesbaden AB and always wanted to visit Hitler's Eagles Nest while I was here. I walked in the beer hall and settled down to a nearby wooden table and ordered some wiener schnitzel, home made spaetzle, with a side of promme frites and a big mug of doppelbock beer. There was a crackling fire across the room, with several conversations in German going on, while a cloud of cigarette smoke hung over the place like in some old movie. It could of been 1935 instead of the present I thought as I waited on my order. As I scanned the hall, I began wondering how many older men in here fought in the war for the Third Reich and survived to tell some war stories you don't read about in the history books...to be continued.
That's a nice door stop!!! When my dad was in Oslo in 1945 a Norwegian lass caught his fancy. Dad had an engagement ring made from gold teeth from the Merkers mine that "fell off the truck" while being transported to Frankfurt in an operation code named Task Force Whitney.
As I ate my meal alone, I noticed an older gentleman a few tables away watching me. I didn't really think much about it but he continued to stare. I was half starved as I finished my wonderful meal, for I hadn't eaten all day and always seemed to miss getting something to eat along the way on the train. I was about to order another beer, when the gentleman came over to my table and sat down. First instinct I thought was..ok what is he selling?..some fake Iron Cross?..passes to the Eagles Nest...hashish to some gullible American???...the wheels were turning in my head as he introduced himself. "Guten Abend...my name ist Henrich Raul" as he reached out his hand. I shook it..it was worn but firm. He got the waitress attention and ordered two more beers. I had a feeling he was a regular here, as she brought two more beers over and sat them down. "Danke schön" I said in my limited German. "Bitte schön" she replied with a smile and left us alone. His English was better than my German, for he said he could tell I was an American and probably in the military, due to my clothes and short haircut..right on both accounts I replied. He asked what branch of service I was in and I said the Air Force and stationed at Wiesbaden AB. His eyes lit up and he went on to say he was in the Luftwaffe during the war and flew Ju-52's, until late in the war when fuel was scarce, then was assigned to a flak unit in Munich. Then the Americans rolled in and the war was soon over for him. But he said he liked Americans and had no ill-will against us, even after some thirty years of occupation...to be continued.
Supposed "buried treasure" on Oak Island. Never found after decades of digging. But the HyFy channel has at least one show on it.
Sorry for the long gap...personal life and been working on my books. As I worked on my doppelbock, the more intently I listened to Henrich and his war stories, or as he said war memories, some good and some bad along the way. But at an early age, he just knew he wanted to be a flier. But Germany was very limited on the size of a Luftwaffe, due to the Versailles Treaty and all. But he joined a local glider club and he progressed from there. Finally getting his official wings, as he said in 1938 and began flying the Ju-52 in Poland, France and eventually supplying Operation Barbarossa, and even shuttling supplies into Stalingrad in '42. But when he mentioned Stalingrad, he went quiet for a bit after taking a sip of his beer and slowly stared toward the fire. I didn't say anything, simply for out of respect, for I could tell he had experienced something I can't even imagine going through that hellhole. As I sat there in silence, it seemed like my life was pretty boring compared to his, but as the evening wore on, I began to like him more, even though he fought for Germany. But it was getting late, for the crowd began to thin out, but we just sat there in our own little private conversation. By the third beer, he sometimes began talking in German too fast for me to follow along, but I caught the logistic of it and I simply nodded. Wished now I had paid more attention while taking German in high school. But here I was some four years later in Bavaria, having a conversation with a former Luftwaffe pilot over a couple beers., life can be very strange sometimes. He asked me about my life growing up in America and why I joined the Air Force. He was a good listener and wanted to know more about my father who served during WWII in the Italian campaign. But the waitress was looking over at us, for I had a feeling they were about to close. For I looked around and we were just about the last ones left and the fire was dying out...too be continued.
The waitress strolled over to us with my dinner bill in her hand. She certainly looked like the typical German waitress you see in movies, dark blonde hair, somewhat overweight and looked like she could perhaps squeeze you to death but had a nice smile and blue eyes to calm my stereotyping judgement of her position. I was about to grab my bill from her, when old Heinrich grabbed it first. Please let me he insisted, and opened up his wallet and gave the waitress some of those colorful deutsche marks and thanked her for the great service in German. I thanked her too and she seemed very pleased as she left. I polished off the last of my beer and looked around the place once again. For I still tried to imagine what this place was like during the heyday of Germany and the Third Reich, for it was only some thirty years since removed from the war. Who knows maybe Hitler or even Hermann Göring had stopped by for a meal years ago before heading to the Eagles Nest...for it was almost surreal sitting there. Heinrich seemed to sense what I was thinking and left me in silence contemplating it all. He quickly lit up a cigarette and offered me one. You know Sargeant, early on, most of us were swept up with Adolph Hitler and his vision for a new Germany. For the Treaty of Versailles in my opinion, was simply revenge by the French for WWI. I knew quite well about the causes and effects of WWI and nodded as he continued on. Those were very dark times for the Weimar Republic, with high inflation, and communist agitators roaming the streets. He took a long drag on his cigarette and continued on intently. For I had a feeling he hadn't said these things to anybody in a long time. So, when Hitler came to power in '33...things began to really change he added. Yes, I know all about the atrocities of the war and the final solution of the Jews, which we have to still deal with, but early on there was finally some hope instead of despair. He quickly waved his hand to the waitress for two more beers...to be continued.
Our waitress came over once again, but I could tell by her body language she wasn't too pleased this time. She had a bar towel over one shoulder, while carrying an empty tray when she approached us. As she reached down to grab our empty glasses and the ash tray, Heinrich seemed puzzled why no beers. "Vas ist los?...zwei biere, bitte" he asked. But as she began wiping off the table, the look in her eyes was scary enough for any war veteran. "Nein!...Nein!...Nein!" she repeated. This quickly turned into a two-way battle of the German language I hadn't heard before. I sat there in silence but quickly determined this was going to be a losing battle for old Heinrich. Really surprised she didn't bean him with her tray...actually quite comical at the time and I still laugh over it to this day. She firmly tapped his watch and basically told us it's closing time...now go home! Well, Heinrich swallowed his pride and grabbed his pack of cigarettes and lighter, left a small tip and pushed back his chair. She stormed off in a huff with her tray of glasses, I quickly got up too. Well, Sargeant how about heading to my place to finish this stimulating conversation?...actually it's not too far away. At first, I thought about declining his offer, for it had been a long day and I really wanted to head back to my hotel room instead. But he had been kind enough, and I actually wanted to hear more of his war stories. "Auf Wiedersehen" he said as we passed the bar on the way out. If she heard him, she certainly wasn't replying back. So, we jumped into his little Beetle and took off. You know Sargeant, you were probably expecting to be riding in a Mercedes or some fast Porsche like in the movies, but I am just a humble German who lives alone now.... we'll be there shortly...to be continued.
Henrich pulled up in front of his apartment building and found an empty space. It wasn't anything real fancy but had that quaint European style to it. We went upstairs and he invited me inside. It was a two-bedroom medium size apartment, with a small kitchen and its own bathroom. The furniture was comfortable enough and the shelves were stocked full of history books and some periodicals of military and aviation nature. I walked over to the fireplace mantle and noticed some old black and white period photos on the wall. I quickly identified Ju-52's with some pilots posing in front. He noticed what I was looking at, while holding a bottle of Jägermeister. Yah that was me and Leutnant Eichman back in '43...still in Russia and having the time of our lives...not. He poured two small glasses of that schnapps and handed one to me. I hadn't had this drink before but figured it would get your drunk pretty fast. He offered a toast to our air forces and all the good things they stood for. He pointed to another photo above the mantle, this was taken just before I got shot down. Tell you the truth Sargeant, I am really lucky to be standing here today. He set his drink down and rolled up his sleeves. I could see burn scars on both arms in the light. This happened in '44 he went on...killed my crew and some troops on board. Ended up in a German hospital for months recovering...but as you know scars of war don't go away...to be continued.
We continued talking that night, well actually he did most of it, some in German, but I just nodded, as much as I remembered anyway, as I was dead tired, and my head began spinning after a few more shots of that schnapps. So, a fair warning, it does sneak up on you. But Heinrich could tell I was dozing off and offered me his spare bedroom for the night, for it was way too late to head to back my hotel. "Danke" I said and somehow made it to the bedroom, after a stop to the bathroom. After that I don't really remember much, was sort of a blur even years later. The next morning while lying in bed half asleep, I began to hear some music playing outside the door and the smell of coffee. The clock read 7:15, so I figured I better get up and check this out. But boy I had a headache, aka hangover. As I sat on the edge of the bed, I kept saying never again...never again. But the coffee smelled good, so I shuffled out to the living room. Heinrich was working on some paperwork by a small desk when I walked in. "Guten morgen sargeant"...how are you feeling?. "Nicht so good" I replied and fell back on the sofa. He offered me some coffee and I asked if he had any aspirin too. He chuckled and disappeared into the kitchen. He handed me a nice hot cup of coffee and some aspirin, as I tried to shake off the cobwebs in my brain. "Danke" I replied. He went back to his desk, while I sat back with my java in hand. Right away I recognized his music selection...it was Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik. "Heinrich so you like Mozart too" I replied. He slowly turned around. "I thought all Americans only liked rock and roll?". "Well, I thought that all that Germans only liked was Wagner" I replied back. He started laughing so hard, he put his pen down. "You Americans are funny" he replied, while still laughing. It was quite the moment that morning and I feel really set our friendship that day....to be continued.
