Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1944-1956 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 file
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Operation Bernhard was the name of a secret German plan devised during the Second World War to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes.
Bad Aussee was the location of a salt mine where the Germans had stored a huge number of European art treasures which they had pillaged. After being dropped into the local area, Albrecht Gaiswinkler raised a force of around 300 men and armed them with captured German weapons. He spent the last weeks and months of the war harassing local German forces. When the Americans arrived, his information helped them capture several eminent Nazis. He and his colleagues had captured the salt mine, prevented the destruction of the artworks held there and were able to hand over 'a number of Nazi treasure hoards', including the Mona Lisa (probably a copy) and the Austrian Imperial Crown Jewels.
Repository
Archival history
GB 1556 WL 1153 1944-1956 collection 1 file Dokumentationszentrum oesterreichischen Widerstandes
Operation Bernhard was the name of a secret German plan devised during the Second World War to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes.
Bad Aussee was the location of a salt mine where the Germans had stored a huge number of European art treasures which they had pillaged. After being dropped into the local area, Albrecht Gaiswinkler raised a force of around 300 men and armed them with captured German weapons. He spent the last weeks and months of the war harassing local German forces. When the Americans arrived, his information helped them capture several eminent Nazis. He and his colleagues had captured the salt mine, prevented the destruction of the artworks held there and were able to hand over 'a number of Nazi treasure hoards', including the Mona Lisa (probably a copy) and the Austrian Imperial Crown Jewels.
Dokumentationszentrum oesterreichischen Widerstandes
Bad Aussee resistance movement and 'Operation Berhard' collection, 1944-1956, (1153/1-5) comprises copies of original documents. The collection notably includes copy documents regarding the hiding of art treasures and gold in salt mines at Ischla (copy of original which dates 1944)(1153/1); a copy of an affidavit of Bernhard Krueger, (copy of original which dates 1956) (1153/2), that on the orders of Himmler he was responsible for the production of counterfeit currency using inmates from Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz.
The collection also includes a copy of a report by Hans Kurzweil entitled 'Bericht über die Geldfälscheraffäre im Konzentrationslager Sachsenhausen', (copy of original which dates 1956) (1153/3), in which he details his version of events and attempts to refute what he regards as the more sensational versions; copy transcript of an interview with a former Austrian resistance member, Frau Hauer-Frischmuth [1944-1956] (1153/4), including details of her activities as a courier whilst resident in the Seehotel, Bad Aussee and an account mainly concerned with the activities of the resistance movement at Bad Aussee [1944-1956] (1153/5), which was formed by Albrecht Gaiswinkler, Valentin Tarra, and Hans Moser.
Chronological
Open
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
German
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk
Dokumentationszentrum des Oesterreichischen Widerstandes
Krueger's Men by Lawrence Malkin, 2006
Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. January 2008 Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp Concentration camps Counterfeiting Crime Finance Financial resources Humanitarian law Krueger , Bernhard , 1904-1989 , SS Sturmbannführer Kurzweil , Hans , 1944-1956 Money Operation Bernhard (1942-1944) Sachesenhausen concentration camp War crimes Works of Art World wars (events) World War Two (1939-1945) Wars (events) Military operations Military engineering
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Dokumentationszentrum oesterreichischen Widerstandes
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Bad Aussee resistance movement and 'Operation Berhard' collection, 1944-1956, (1153/1-5) comprises copies of original documents. The collection notably includes copy documents regarding the hiding of art treasures and gold in salt mines at Ischla (copy of original which dates 1944)(1153/1); a copy of an affidavit of Bernhard Krueger, (copy of original which dates 1956) (1153/2), that on the orders of Himmler he was responsible for the production of counterfeit currency using inmates from Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz.
The collection also includes a copy of a report by Hans Kurzweil entitled 'Bericht über die Geldfälscheraffäre im Konzentrationslager Sachsenhausen', (copy of original which dates 1956) (1153/3), in which he details his version of events and attempts to refute what he regards as the more sensational versions; copy transcript of an interview with a former Austrian resistance member, Frau Hauer-Frischmuth [1944-1956] (1153/4), including details of her activities as a courier whilst resident in the Seehotel, Bad Aussee and an account mainly concerned with the activities of the resistance movement at Bad Aussee [1944-1956] (1153/5), which was formed by Albrecht Gaiswinkler, Valentin Tarra, and Hans Moser.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Chronological
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
German
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Notes area
Note
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English