Nazi gold
Much of the focus of the discussion about Nazi gold (German: Raubgold, "stolen gold") concerns how much of it Nazi Germany transferred to overseas banks during World War II. The Nazis looted the assets of their victims (including those in concentration camps) to accumulate wealth. In 1998, a Swiss commission estimated that the Swiss National Bank had received $440 million (equivalent to $8.5 billion in 2024) of Nazi gold, over half of which is believed to have been looted. Some of the accumulated wealth was used to finance the war and potentially the escapes of Nazi fugitives to South America, but the total wealth or method of its spending remains subject to investigation. The fate of the gold has been the subject of several books, conspiracy theories, and a failed civil lawsuit brought in January 2000 against the Vatican Bank and the Franciscan Order.
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