In response to concern about issues connected with the establishment of the gold pool, and allegations that governments were withholding information, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office published two Historical Memoranda containing detailed information on this subject from the British archives.

Nazi Gold: Information from the British Archives

FCO published its first report into the question of Nazi gold in September 1996. This report was subsequently revised, and a second edition was issued in January 1997.

This first document was concerned primarily with Nazi Germany's wartime acquisition of gold, whether by purchase, dispossession or barter, and with the Allies' attempts to prevent their enemies from profiting from this acquisition. It also concentrated in particular on Allied attempts in the immediate post-war period to discover and gather in Nazi gold both from Germany and from those countries, especially the neutrals, to which it had been sent. Read the pdf.

Nazi Gold: Information from the British Archives: Part II

A second document was issued in May 1997, describing in greater detail the Allied efforts to ensure that this gold was put to use as part of the reparation, restitution and compensation programmes agreed at international conferences at the end of the war. Read the pdf.

Some documents on the FCO website are published in the Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) file format. To view or print them, you will require the Adobe Acrobat reader software which may be downloaded free of charge from the Adobe website. The Access Adobe website provides information on the accessibility features of Adobe products.