The tripartite commission rejected a Polish claim for the return of 100 tons of gold it claimed were stolen in concentration camps.
A confidential report by the Tripartite Gold Commission, revealed by the World Jewish Congress and published for the first time by "Globes", determined that 35.1 tons of gold distributed by the commission to countries that had been occupied by Germany, actually belonged to individuals, including Holocaust victims. The commission distributed a total of about 390 tons of gold to ten countries.
The report is an undated summary of the claims ten countries filed with the commission, the commission’s decisions, and the amounts of gold distributed. The commission rejected Dutch, Austrian and Belgian claims for 54.4 tons of gold, arguing that it had been stolen from individuals, and the commission was only authorized to return gold stolen from central banks.
WJC director-general Ilan Steinberg told "Globes" that the commission actually distributed only 65% of the amount of gold it had been authorized to return. The commission had less than 400 tons of gold to distribute, while the rest remained in Switzerland or was never located. According to Steinberg, the document’s importance is that it reveals the commission was aware of the fact it also distributed gold stolen from individuals, despite the fact that it had not been authorized to do so. Steinberg also explained that the figures indicate this relates to 35 tons of gold, 65% of the 54 tons the commission determined had been stolen from individuals.
The report’s principal findings are:
- Albania – claimed and received 2.5 tons of gold.
- Austria – claimed 91.3 tons of gold and received 74 tons. The commission determined that 13 tons were acquired by Austria’s central bank immediately after that country’s annexation to Germany, and were therefore stolen from private individuals.
- Belgium – claimed 204.8 tons and received 191.7 tons. The difference stems partially from the acquisition of 6.4 tons from citizens, as per German instructions, after the Occupation.
- Czechoslovakia – claimed 45 tons of gold and received 36.9 tons. The difference stems from various bank transfers.
- Greece – claimed 7.5 tons of gold and received 100 kilograms. The commission rejected Athens’ claim that 7.4 tons of gold that remained in the hands of private citizens, was actually state property.
- Italy – claimed 71.1 tons and received 54.3 tons. Most of the difference stemmed from gold Italy itself stole from Yugoslavia and France, and was later stolen from Italy by Germany.
- Luxembourg – claimed and received 4.3 tons.
- Netherlands – claimed 145.6 tons of gold and received 131.1 tons of gold. The commission found that the central bank acquired 35 tons from private citizens on German instructions, and was therefore not entitled to its return.
- Poland – claimed 138.9 tons and received 3.9 tons. Most of the difference stems from Poland’s claim for 100 tons that Poland claimed had been stolen from concentration camp victims, a claim for which there was no evidence at all.
- Yugoslavia – claimed 3.4 tons and received 2.9 tons of gold.