Swiss Got Looted Gold, Paper Indicates

Swiss banks, with the consent of Swiss authorities, had the Nazis deliver $12 million worth of looted Italian government gold to them in 1944 to pay off a wartime loan, according to a previously secret State Department document. The 30-page 1946 memo said that in January 1944, as the Allies were taking over most of Italy, the Swiss sought and received the shipment of gold held in northern Italy, which was still under the control of the Nazis. The document is the first found in a more than yearlong search of the National Archives in which U.S. diplomats directly accused the Swiss of actively encouraging the Germans to take gold for them, World Jewish Congress investigators said in releasing the document. Previous documents, which have created a public relations nightmare for Switzerland, have painted a portrait of Swiss 1650552427