How One Man Saved Poland’s Gold From The Nazis

Over the weekend, GATA reported on the launch of Poland’s Oddajcie Nasze Zloto or ‘Give Our Gold Back’ Campaign.

Started by two economists who are concerned about the whereabouts of over 100 tons of the country’s gold reserves, the campaign has been working to raise awareness of this issue and have finally gained the ears of Polish politicians.

What does the Campaign hope to achieve?

The campaign’s Vice-Chairman, Piotr Wojda wrote the following to GATA:

“Representatives of the movement met with members of the Polish Parliament on August 29 to discuss doubts regarding the safety of Polish gold held abroad. During our presentation we used several examples of similar movements in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. We also briefly presented achievements of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee and they impressed our members of Parliament.

“The members of Parliament agreed that Polish gold reserves deserve an independent audit and they have already decided to inquire of the president of the Polish Central Bank, Professor Marek Belka, to establish facts such as:

“– What is the official amount of Polish gold reserves held at the Bank of England?

“– What are the amount and quality of bars held in the vaults (serial numbers, purity, are they ‘good delivery’ bars)?

“– Whether there have been independent audits within the last 70 years and their results.

“– Is the gold being leased to any financial institutions? If so, what are the terms and conditions of this leasing?

“– What is the procedure for buying and selling gold and how is this decision taken?

“– Why has the Polish central bank not decided to acquire more gold when the price dropped significantly although Polish gold reserves amount to only 4 percent of the bank’s total currency reserves?

It seems that we Poles are getting closer to achieving financial safety by finally withdrawing from British vaults what belonged to our country for almost a century.”

How did Poland’s gold end up in the Bank of England’s vaults?
Not long ago, we wrote about Nazi Gold. This was following the revelation that the Bank of England had been compliant in the selling of gold looted by the Nazis from their victims and the countries they chose to invade.

The Bank of England, a bastion of stability sitting on an island, has done well during times of war or threats of war when it comes to protecting gold reserves. As we wrote about a while ago, Germany also sent their gold reserves to Threadneedle Street during the Cold War.

According to 1939 BIS accounts Poland had US$ 83 million of gold reserves, this works out at around 83 tons, however reports argue there were 75 tons. It may be that some gold was left in Romania (and later found by the Nazis) as the reserves made their way to Britain.

The fact that 75 tonnes left Poland is in part thanks to an English Captain that Poland’s gold reserves escaped the clutches of the Nazis. It is recorded in various sources that Captain Robert E. Brett’s ship, the SS Eocene, was in the Black sea on September 1st 1939. Having travelled by bus, truck and train across Eastern,the gold was now Captain Brett’s responsibility.

It was at the port of Constansa that he was met by the British Counsul who told him of the British Government and Polish authorities’ plan for Poland’s gold. Captain Brett’s ship was instructed to transport the 75 tons of gold to Istanbul where it would continue its journey to safety.

On the 15th of September the gold was secretly loaded onto SS Eocene. In an effort to avoid attracting the Nazi’s attention, Captain Brett darkened ship that evening and slipped out of the harbour. The BBC reports that Captain Brett and his precious cargo arrived in Istanbul on the 19th September.

From here the Turkish authorities arranged to have it moved on to French carriers in Beirut. It is my understanding that the gold was then stored in the Banque de France for some time before being transported to the Bank of England. However I would be interested to receive more details on this.

Would you still trust him with your gold?

It is interesting to think that the British central bank was once such a trusted ally that Poland handed over what was effectively its entire wealth for safe-keeping.

Now the Bank of England’s trustworthiness has come into question.

One may argue this is because it is sensible to ask such questions and carry out audits, but one can’t help but wonder if the concerns over rehypothecated gold and gold leasing have got the Poles thinking about the whereabouts of their gold.

The trend of nations wanting their gold bullion back and declining trust in other sovereign custodians continues. Perhaps these falling trust levels might enter the fiat system soon too?