However, the Germans, under various pretexts, seized all the gold that was found in the vaults of the bank. I recall that, under the heading of indemnity for occupation, they collected 75 million gold guilders; and for the forced contribution of the Netherlands in the war against Russia, they demanded about 14.4 million gold guilders.
Rost von Tonningen, Secretary General of Finance and President of the Bank of The Netherlands, appointed by the Germans, wrote on 18 December 1943 to the Reich Commissioner that there had not been any gold in Holland since the preceding March. The copy of this letter is submitted as Document Number RF-127.
A document discovered by the United States Army, listed under Number ECR-174, which I submit as Exhibit Number RF-128, consists of a report of the Commissioner of the Bank of The Netherlands of 12 June 1941. It, too, states that the gold reserve of the Bank of The Netherlands amounted, on 12 June 1941, to 1,021.8 million guilders, of which only 134.6 million guilders were in Holland, the rest being either in England, South Africa, or the United States. The same report specifies that all the gold in Holland had been removed.
Not only did the Germans seize the gold of the Bank of The Netherlands, but they also made requisitions of the gold and other means of foreign payment in the possession of the population. The occupying power obliged private individuals to deposit gold which was in their possession with the Bank of The Netherlands, after which this gold was requisitioned and handed over to the Reichsbank. A sum of approximately 71.3 million guilders was paid in this way to the public in exchange for the requisitioned gold.
In the same way also the Germans bought from the public various foreign stocks to a sum of 13,224,000 guilders, and Swedish Government securities to a sum of 4,623,000 guilders.
With important financial means which they had at their disposal, the Germans proceeded to make large purchases in Holland. Such purchases, made with funds extorted from the Netherlands, cannot be considered as having been made in exchange for a real equivalent, but realized only by fictitious payments.
The Germans, in addition to numerous cases of requisitions which were followed by no kind of settlement, proceeded to illicit purchases on the black market and purchases outwardly regular. They thus procured a quantity of things of all kinds, leaving to the population only a minimum of products insufficient to insure their vital needs.
In the second chapter of this presentation we shall examine the illicit purchases on the black market; and in a third chapter, the purchases that were carried out in seemingly regular ways.
Chapter 2, the black market.
As in all other occupied countries, in Holland the Germans seized considerable quantities of merchandise on the black market, in violation of the legislation on rationing which they themselves had imposed.