80 tons of Polish gold and its amazing flight – WWII
With the Nazi’s knocking in the doors of Warsaw, the Bank of
Poland had to make a difficult choice about their gold deposits. In the end
they decided to move all of the 80 tons to neighboring Romania. A convoy of
buses and cars, followed by a train would move the gold to the Romanian Coast. From
there, it would travel to Turkey and onward to France. That was the plan, but
in reality, it traveled even more. The desperate flight with that treasure was
nothing less than harrowing as the Germans, the Brits, the Americans and the
French tracked the gold. Events moved fast and the scales tipped tantalizingly from
one side to the other, the Axis and the Allies, while the inert gold bars themselves
rested eerily in silence. What would happen to the gold? Who would get their
hands on it? This is a lovely story from the war, and one that will amaze you
by the twists and turns it took. I will try to retell it, for your reading
pleasure.
Istanbul, Oh! I can go on and on about that lovely city, a
place where I spent more than five years of my life. A fascinating cosmopolitan
metropolis, with some of the most interesting people, Turkish and foreign, it has
so may secrets, so much of history, that you can write tomes about it all. I used
to live at Bebek, overlooking the Bosporus, an area where many yabanci’s or expatriate
foreigners lived. Not far from Bebek is the Eminonu area, the ancient part of
Old Istanbul (Stamboul as it was referred to in the past) where one can see the
Topkapi palace, the Blue mosque, The Aya Sofia mosque, the Basilica cistern and
what not. It is also home to the massive covered bazars, the Misr Carsi (Spice
bazar) and the Kapali Carsi (the covered bazar). Having spent countless hours
in these areas on foot, I can still slip back in my mind and walk through the
roads, feel the noises, the sounds and experience the ambiance of that teeming
city, now home to over 20 million souls!
The first time I got a hint of this story was in the late
90’s when I visited the British Embassy in Istanbul for their annual fair and
picked up a book I treasure, a masterpiece by Barry Rubin titled ‘Istanbul
Intrigues’. Wartime Istanbul was quite different from the Byzantine Ottoman
city detailed in Orhan Pamuk’s masterpiece ‘Benim adim kirmiz (My name is Red)’,
and to get a feel of that Istanbul, you have to read Barry Rubin’s book.
So, we go back in time, to the 40’s when the great war was
ravaging across Europe and the world was on an edge, as Istanbul rested in in
enviable position as a bridge between so many powers. The Germans wanted Turkey
on its side, the Allies wanted them on theirs, while a wary Russia had already
broken off with Turkey after its involvement in the failed attempt on German
Ambassador Franz von Papen’s life.
Many of the scenes and events you may have seen in the movie
Casablanca were more related to Istanbul and even though it was wartime, the
city hosted many a side, as a neutral state. Most consulates were ensconced in Taksim,
the largest being the British, French, German and the American, all stately
buildings. Every European country had its representation there and they all met
and lounged at the city’s fabulous hotels in the evening as scores of spies did
their work and the diplomats schemed while they enjoyed life, drinking, dancing
and making merry as the war raged on, out west. A typical wartime reception
would span two halls in Turkey, one for the Axis powers and one for the Allies,
such was the situation. Turkey itself was coming out of the tragic period which
ensued after the death of their charismatic founder the great Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk in 1938 and Ismet Inonu was in charge, shepherding the country through
the tricky WWII years.
World War II broke out in the first year of his presidency,
and both the Allies and the Axis pressured İnönü to join their sides. As the
Germans sent Franz von Papen to Ankara in April 1939, the British sent Hughe
Knatchbull-Hugessen and the French sent René Massigli. İnönü trying to keep
Turkey out of the war, teetered on the brink, leaning to the Axis at times, or to
the Allies, outwardly maintaining a semblance of balance. It was only in 1945
that he formally signed up with the allies. But let’s get back to Poland and
its national treasure, its gold reserves.
On Sept 1st 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. The
small country, wedged between belligerent Russia and Germany’s new acquisitions,
decided to quickly hide their hoard of some 80 tons of gold. After a feverish
effort, the gold was taken out of the Warsaw vaults and spread for safekeeping at
Brest, Lutsk and Zamosc. The Bank Polski’s managers then seeing the increasing
danger of invasion, decided to move the gold to a nearby port from where it
could be shipped to the vaults of the Central bank of France. So, the first
step was to take the gold by road to Sniatyn, a railway junction on the border
of Romania.
One of the bus drivers which took out the gold from Lutsk
was none other than the painter, poet and Olympic athlete Halina Konopacka
whose husband was Colonel Ignacy Matuszewski, ex treasury minister. He supervised
the convoy from Lutsk and the couple and some of their friends were involved in
escorting the gold through its entire journey! They started the journey at
night, each bus with two drivers alternating, hiding in the forests during day.
The passage was slow as some bridges were not designed to take the load. No
mishap occurred.
Meanwhile the bank governor was sent to Paris to ensure that
everything would be in order when the gold finally arrived in France. While the
trucks from various points headed out to Sniatyn, the Polish army commandeered
4 tons of gold to try and procure arms. After four days, the convoys converged at
Sniatyn.
The next step was to move it formally and legally into
Romania, but by now the Germans knew what was going on and forbid the Romanian
government (still neutral) from giving the Poles any support, under dire
threats. As the convoys waited, part of the Polish team headed back to reclaim
the 4 tons from the army, since it was too late for them to source any arms
with it. Finally, after some dithering,
the gold was loaded onto a Romanian train which sped to Constanta, a Black Sea
port.
The British had been watching the flight of the gold train with
eagle eyes. The Poles now appealed to the Anthony Kendall, the British Counsel for
help and he diverted (to Constanta) an oil tanker nearby, captained by a Brit,
who agreed to sail it to Istanbul with the gold. The train reached the docks,
the gold and the 27 Poles (men, women and children included) who had husbanded
it through the border boarded the ship. With threats of bombing and furious
protests from the Germans echoing behind them, the ship Eocene slipped
out of Romania, destined for Turkey. There were U boats in the area, and Captain
Robert Brett held to shallow waters, so that the booty could still be saved
even if the ship got torpedoed.
Meanwhile the Russian army was speeding to Sniatyn and it
was with great difficulty. The Polish team which had gone to get the 4 tons
back from the Polish army, managed to return to Romania, only to be arrested by
the Romanian troops, who then commandeered the 4 tons, which the Poles had
managed to sneak in. After discussions they agreed to hold on to, less
expenses, for the rest of the war!
The French sent their mighty battleship Jean Barth,
but the Turks quickly assessing the situation, refused to allow it to dock in
Istanbul, not wanting to be dragged into the war (or to face demands from
Germans and Russians for the use of Turkish ports). The Polish ambassador
Sokolniki conferred with the Turks who suggested two choices to the Poles –
either have Britain and France loan the gold to Turkey or have it taken
overland to French ruled Syria. At that juncture, Sokolniki, in Ankara, hit a
new snag when he discovered that he would have to fork out 2% of the
consignment value as freight, in cash.
He did not have that kind of money and the Turks told him the only way around was to undervalue the gold to $10M. When somebody suggested that he sell a few bars of gold to pay for it, Sokolniki was scandalized, for he felt a moral obligation to deliver 100% of his country’s treasure as he was bound. Meanwhile he heard a rumor that the Germans were attempting to buy a Greek boat so that they could ram into the Eocene and sink both the vessel and its cargo. There was no time to lose.
He did not have that kind of money and the Turks told him the only way around was to undervalue the gold to $10M. When somebody suggested that he sell a few bars of gold to pay for it, Sokolniki was scandalized, for he felt a moral obligation to deliver 100% of his country’s treasure as he was bound. Meanwhile he heard a rumor that the Germans were attempting to buy a Greek boat so that they could ram into the Eocene and sink both the vessel and its cargo. There was no time to lose.
Sokolniki’s wife came up with a suggestion that he take a
loan from an acquaintance, Archibald Walker, the American regional head of
Socony Vacuum Oil. A fierce anti-fascist, Walker coughed up the money without demur
(It was his first brush with intrigue and after the event, went on to become the
OSS representative codename Rose in Istanbul, later in 1942).
By the end of Sept, the Nazi’s had overrun Poland. Despite losing, Poland did not surrender and formed a government-in-exile while a clandestine organization remained in occupied Poland. As Germany annexed the western and central parts of Poland, Soviet Union annexed its eastern part; while some bits were transferred to Lithuania and Slovakia. Germany and Italy then went after France. Paris fell to the Germans on 14th June soon to be divided into two parts, an Italian occupied zone and an unoccupied region under the Vichy Regime, aligned generally to Germany.
By June 1941, after differences of opinion and squabbles
over the tripartite act, Hitler, supported by Italy and Romania commenced with
the invasion of the Soviet Union. By 1942, America had joined the Allies
against the Axis powers and Japan had teamed up with the Germans. The larger
war was on.
Much of the gold reserves in Europe were being shipped to US
for safekeeping during this period. Even though France had transferred quite a
bit, the gold bullion belonging to the Polish, Belgian and some of its own
reserves were still in France. The French decided to move their stock of gold from
the central part of the country to the coastal ports, Brest and Le Verdon on
the Atlantic, and Toulon on the Mediterranean coast. In June, when the German
invaded Paris, they found the gold gone, and as you can imagine, a furious chase
ensued.
The ship reached the Iroise sea and was joined by the ships carrying the French Bullion. A new (a previous fake message was radioed by the Germans asking it to go to Royan which Michalski would not accept) destination was radioed for the ship and its gold – Casablanca! Narrowly avoiding torpedoes, they reached Casablanca on the 23rd. Some of the French gold would later go to America on US battleships, but the rest of the French, the Polish and the Belgian gold (some 740 tons) went to French Colonies in Africa for safekeeping, Dakar, to be specific.
This was when the French learned that a British attack
(Churchill wanted to lay his hands on the gold before the Germans did, or so he
said) was expected at Dakar. The French navy decided to move all the gold as
soon as possible to Thies, a safer inland location. By this time most of the
French gold was spread far and wide, mainly at Dakar, New York, Ottawa, Martinique
and London. Some 2080 tons belonging to France, Belgium, Poland and Luxembourg
had been rescued from the Germans.
The Germans settling down in Paris were initially unaware
that the French had moved gold to the Caribbean and Africa and the French
officials had led them to believe that they had sent it all to North America. When
the Nazis specifically questioned them about the gold belonging to Poland,
Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Norway and Czechoslovakia, the French after quite
a lot of feet dragging, admitted that some of it had been sent to Dakar. When
the Germans demanded that this gold be brought back to France, the French obfuscated,
talking about the dangers at sea, the British desire to lay their hands on it
etc. As discussions dragged on, the French moved the gold further inland, to
Kayes.
The British joint operation with De Gaulle to take the gold,
turned out to be a disaster, with the Vichy squadron trouncing the British – De
Gaulle fleet. The Germans continued to press the French for the Dakar gold. Finally,
when the French ran out of options, the Belgian/Luxembourg gold was taken out
from Dakar and moved to France and thence to Berlin, only to be sold to a
variety of Germany’s gold partners such as Switzerland, Romania, Turkey etc.
(After the war, France did compensate Belgium, from its own secured stock).
The Germans had not forgotten the Polish gold and pushed hard for it, but now the French maintained that it belonged to France so as to write off previous Polish debts, and the fight between lawyers got heated. Meanwhile, Germany’s clout in Africa reduced with the British American wins in the region. The gold remained in limbo, but was still being claimed by the Germans. The Polish wanted to track it down and keep an eye on their hoard, but the French stopped helping them. Thus, it was in 1943 that Major Stefan Michalski representing the Polish Bank, was deputed to Algiers.
The Germans had not forgotten the Polish gold and pushed hard for it, but now the French maintained that it belonged to France so as to write off previous Polish debts, and the fight between lawyers got heated. Meanwhile, Germany’s clout in Africa reduced with the British American wins in the region. The gold remained in limbo, but was still being claimed by the Germans. The Polish wanted to track it down and keep an eye on their hoard, but the French stopped helping them. Thus, it was in 1943 that Major Stefan Michalski representing the Polish Bank, was deputed to Algiers.
As the Vichy French started getting difficult, the Poles
suggested that the French transfer an equivalent amount of French bullion stored
in New York to the Polish, but they French would not agree and so the Poles,
acting through a New York law firm “Sullivan and Cromwell” filed a lawsuit
against Banque de France. The US court promptly seized a part of the French
gold deposited in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York while at the same time
the trial got suspended due to the war and since the Banque de France’s
attorneys could not travel for the hearing. The Polish side were not in a hurry
as its main objective, seizure of an equivalent amount of French gold, had been
achieved.
Eventually the French admitted that the Polish gold was stored
in the territory of French West Africa and agreed to release it, if the Poles
recognized the French Committee of National Liberation. The Poles after intense
negotiations agreed and also terminated the lawsuit in New York in Jan 1944. The
two sides then worked out a plan for the French to turn the gold over to the
Polish government in exile, now not a problem with the Germans out of Africa.
The gold that left Warsaw on Sept 6th 1939, arrived in the Manhattan vaults in April 2nd 1944. It did not stop here though, for the Poles decided to distribute it to three locations, 45% to Britain, 12% to Canada and 43% to remain in the US. As the war wound down, Romania transferred the last 3 tons stuck there, to Warsaw in 1947.
It had been quite a dramatic and colorful odyssey, don’t you
think? What is amazing is that all this became possible due to the untiring
efforts and integrity of the many bank officials who tracked every movement and
liaised with the many other countries involved. The kindness and honesty of all
these foreign countries during the period of strife was as you can see, paramount.
The saga of the gold flight is still not over, we will get
to it shortly, after seeing what happened to some of the key personnel in this
story.
After the fall of France in 1940, Olympian Halina Konopacka
and Ignacy Matuszewski made their way to the USA in 1941. Ignacy died in 1946
and Halina Konopacka lived in Florida until her death in 1989. Stefan Michalski
travelled to England to join the Polish Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF),
as a fighter pilot. He and his English wife later moved and settled down in
USA, where after a successful real estate career, Stefan passed away in Feb
2019. Michal Sokolnicki stayed in Turkey after the war, where he remained a
respected figure in diplomatic circles. He lectured at the University of Ankara
and passed away in 1967.
Eocene’s British captain Brett went back to England
and in early 1940 was given command of HMS Goodwin, a converted coastal cargo
ship whose mission was to escort convoys along the east coast of the British
Isles. Later he joined the navy to command a minesweeper HMS Seaham through the
war years. His service ended in 1946 after which he joined Standard Vacuum (the
very company Walker worked for), finally retired from Mobil Oil Corp in 1968
and settled down at Melbourne, Australia where he passed away in 1982.
Some of that gold finally completed the full circle when it
was sent out from the Bank of England to Poland, in Dec 2019. Travelling with a
police escort and a helicopter overhead, the trucks stopped at a British airport
where it was loaded onto freight planes destined to Poland, from where they
were then taken in armored vehicles under another police escort, back to the
vaults of Poland's central bank.
The circle was complete. Just imagine, what an active life
for one of the world’s most inert metals!!
References
With thanks and due acknowledgements to the following
works and their authors
Chasing Gold - George M. Taber
Istanbul Intrigues – Barry Rubin
The wartime fate of the Polish gold – Bankoteka - Professor
Wojciech Rojek
Operation Fish – Albert Draper
Notes: The sleek and swashbuckling light cruiser Emile
Bertin has a story of her own, which if you recall transported the Polish gold
from Beirut to Toulon. It also transported many tons of French gold to
Halifax but had to divert in a hurry to Martinique in the Caribbean with the
British in pursuit, as the French surrendered to the Germans. But nothing could
match its 34 knots speed and 102,000 HP power, as it sped to the Caribbean,
leaving the Brits gasping in its wake. Later it was refurbished in the US and
continued its fight against the Axis powers till the end.
The Germans cornered some 600 tons of European gold
during the war, spending over 400 tons (during war years that was the only
acceptable payments) to buy supplies. Interestingly, the Brits hatched a plan
to attack and take away the Polish gold in 1941, but the plan fell through
after the debacle at Dakar. Equally interesting are the stories concerning
Norwegian and Romanian gold, but those are for another day!
Istanbul image - Carlos Delgado, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Turkey.
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