Holocaust-Era Assets

Civilian Agency Records

State Department and Foreign Affairs Records

Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State (RG 84)

France

On September 3, 1939, France, led by Edouard Daladier, declared war on Germany. (Note 66) The Germans invaded France on May 10, 1940, and within six weeks the French, then led by Paul Reynaud who had replaced Daladier in March, were defeated. Reynaud, who resigned in mid- June, was replaced as prime minister by Marshal Philippe Petain. He negotiated an armistice with Germany and Italy (which had declared war on France on June 10, 1940). This June 22, 1940, armistice split the country into an occupied north and an unoccupied south.

The Germans immediately annexed Alsace and Lorraine and they were administered by Nazi administrators. Parts of France were given to Belgium. What remained were divided into two zones, one occupied and one unoccupied. The occupied zone was headquartered in Paris and controlled by a German Military Administration. The unoccupied zone, in the south of France, until November 1942, had its administrative machinery at Vichy. The Vichy Government was led by Petain and Pierre Laval.

On October 3, 1940, a major anti-Jewish statue was enacted in Vichy prohibiting Jews from holding most public offices, banned them from the judiciary, teaching, the military, banking, real estate, and the media, and limited their presence in the professions. A decree of October 4, 1940, authorized the internment of foreign Jews. About 25,000 such Jewish refugees were at Gurs, and later also at other camps. They were soon forced into labor brigades, where many would die of hunger, cold, and disease. In early 1941 the Vichy government set about to liquidate Jewish property. And as a result of a June 2, 1941 statute Jewish property became liable to "Aryanization." In August 1942, the Vichy government, under German pressure, turned over 15,000 foreign Jews for deportation. After November 11, 1942, when the Germans occupied all of France, the German occupiers began rounding up Jews for deportation and extermination.

The Vichy Government in June 1942 began pushing a voluntary program for French to go to Germany to work. Such labor was made mandatory for male workers in February 1943. By war's end some 600,000 French workers and another 600,000 French prisoners-of-war were either sent to Germany or were forced to work in French mines and industries deemed essential to the Germans.

Besides acquiring manpower from France, Germany, after the extension of German occupation to all of France in November, 1942, came close to virtually complete exploitation or utilization of France's economic resources, especially its war potential. By 1943 Germany was taking 40 percent of France's total industrial output and at least 55 percent of the government's revenue was utilized to meet the costs of occupation.

In occupied France, beginning in September 1940, a whole series of procedures where set in place that resulted in the expropriation and "Aryanization" of Jewish property. In May and August 1941, the roundup of Jews began and they were sent to camps at Dracy and elsewhere in France, and eventually to Auschwitz. On March 28, 1942, the first deportation train left Drancy for Auschwitz. In July 1942, in Paris, some 13,000 non-French Jews began being taken into custody and sent to extermination camps. It is estimated that 90,000 Jews of a pre-Final Solution population of 350,000 were exterminated.

The Allies landed in France in June 1944 and in August the French Committee for National Liberation, formed in Algiers in 1943, established a provisional government in Paris headed by General Charles de Gaulle. Both the United States and the United Kingdom on October 23, 1944, recognized the French Provisional Government. The Fourth Republic was created on December 24, 1946. (67)

Records of the U.S. Embassy, Paris, France

General Records 1936-1941, 1944-1953 (Entry 2452A)
Boxes 1-514

1940

Box #File #File Title or Subject
213840.1Jews
 840.1Jews-Germany
217850.6Insurance
221851.6Banks, Bankers

1941

Box #File #File Title or Subject
247840.1Jews
 850.6Insurance
248851.6Banks, Bankers

1944

Box #File #File Title or Subject
254350General Motors
 350International Business Machine Corporation
257711.3Enemy Property
 711.3Looted Assets
 711.3Proclaimed List
259840.1American Joint Distribution Committee
 840.1Jews-France
260850.6Insurance
 851.6Banks, Bankers

1945

Box #File #File Title or Subject
276 350 Ford Motor Company
277 350 General Motors
278 350 International Business Machine Corporation location: 350/55/28/05
294711French Government Archives
 711.1Violations of Swiss Borders
  711.2 Blocked Assets
  711.2 Swiss Negotiations
  711.3Axis Capital
 711.3 Banque J.E. Charles & Cie
 711.3 Bayer, Hans Jacob Von
 711.3 Blocking Decree-Switzerland
 711.3 Farben, I.G.
  711.3 France-Property Restitution
 711.3 France-Sequestration of Enemy Property
 711.3 Frozen Assets-Neutral Countries
 711.3 German Assets
 711.3 German Assets-Neutral Countries
 711.3 German Assets-Portugal
 711.3 German Assets-Spain
 711.3 German Assets-Sweden
 711.3 German Assets-Switzerland
295711.3German External Assets
 711.3German Foreign Office Archives
 711.3German Property-Neutral Countries
 711.3German Property-Switzerland
 711.3I.G. Chemie
 711.3Japanese Assets-Switzerland
 711.3Krupp Firm
 711.3Looted Assets
 711.3Proclaimed List
 711.3Polish Assets-Switzerland
 711.3Safehaven
 711.3Safehaven-Art Objects
 711.3Safehaven-Denmark
 711.3Safehaven-France
 711.3 Safehaven-Germany
 711.3Safehaven-Monaco
 711.3Safehaven-Portugal
 711.3Safehaven Project
 711.3Safehaven-Spain
 711.3Safehaven-Switzerl
 711.3Union Reassurance Co. of Zurich
 711.3Wehrli, Johann
314840.1American Joint Distribution Committee
 840.1German Sanitaria-Switzerland
 840.1Jews-France
 840.1Jews-Switzerland
319850.6Insurance
320851.6Banks, Bankers

1946

Box #File #File Title or Subject
364711German Archives
 711 Japanese Archives
  711.1 Argentine-Nazi Connections
 711.3 Banque Charles, J.E. & Co.
 711.3 Bosch, Robert
 711.3 Botez, Alexander Donnizi [Safehaven Report]
 711.3 Farben, I.G.
 711.3 German Assets
 711.3 German Assets Abroad
 711.3 German Assets-Austria
 711.3 German Assets-Neutral Countries
 711.3 German Assets-Spain
 711.3 German Assets-Sweden
 711.3 German Assets-Switzerland
 711.3 German External Assets
 711.3 Italian Assets
 711.3 Looted Assets
 711.3 Plesch, Arpad
 711.3 Proclaimed Lists
 711.3 Safehaven
 711.3 Safehaven-France
 711.3 Safehaven-French Morocco
 711.3 Safehaven-Italy
 711.3 Safehaven-Portugal
 711.3 Safehaven-Rumania
 711.3 Safehaven-Spain
 711.3 Safehaven-Sweden
 711.3 Safehaven-Switzerland
 711.3 Safehaven-Turkey
 711.3 Swedish Assets-Germany
 711.3 Wolf, Otto
 711.3 Zapp, Robert A.G.
384840.1American Joint Distsribution Committee
 840.1Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
 840.1German Sanitaria-Switzerland
 840.1Jews-France
 840.3Michelson, Charles [concerning purchase of art work for Metropolitan Museum of Art]
393850.6Insurance
396851.6Banks, Bankers

1947

Box #File #File Title or Subject
433711.3German Assets-Switzerland
 711.3 German Assets-Turkey
 711.3 German External Assets
 711.3 Looted Assets
 711.3 Safehaven-France

Classified General Records 1944-1953 (Entry 2453A)
Boxes 1-201

1944

Box #File #File Title or Subject
1711.3 Looted Assets
2840.1Jews

1945

Box #File #File Title or Subject
3350International Business Machine Corporation
 350Kodak Pathe S.A.
4711German Archives
 711War Guilt Cases
 711German Archives-Abwehr III File
 711.2 Germany-Sweden
  711.2 Spain
 711.3 Axis Capital
 711.3 Banque, J.E. Charles and Company
 711.3 Blocking Decrees-Switzerland
 711.3 Bemberg Companies
 711.3 Bosch, Robert
 711.3 Bulgaria-Bulgarian Insurance Company
 711.3 France-Looted Art
 711.3 Farben, I.G.
 711.3 France-Sequestration of Enemy Property
 711.3Flight of Axis Capital
 711.3German Assets-Neutral Countries
 711.3German Assets-Switzerland
 711.3German Assets-Spain
 711.3German Owned Property
 711.3Looted Assets
 711.3Looted Assets-Safehaven Project
 711.3Monaco-Sequestration of Enmey Property
5711.3Papen, Franz von [concerning securities in Swiss Bank]
 711.3Proclaimed List
 711.3Safehaven-Art Objects
 711.3Safehaven-Project
 711.3Safehaven-France
 711.3Safehaven-Belgium
 711.3Safehaven-Monaco
 711.3Safehaven-Portugal
 711.3Safehaven-Spain
 711.3Safehaven-Sweden
 711.3Safehaven-Turkey
 711.3Safehaven-Switzerland
 711.3Safehaven-Telefunken-Spain
9840.1Jews
11851.6Banks, Bankers
 851.6Looted Belgian Gold

1946

Box # File # File Title or Subject
12330Estates in Switzerland-Nazi Victims
 711 German Archives
 711Gold Found in Algiers
13711.3Banque Charles
 711.3 Farben, I.G.
 711.3 Ford Werke A.G. [Safehaven Report]
 711.3 German Assets-Afghanistan
 711.3 German Assets-Austria
 711.3 German Assets-Neutral Countries
 711.3 German Assets-Spain
 711.3 German Assets-Switzerland
 711.3 German External Assets
 711.3 I.G. Chemie
 711.3 Kuhlman Group
 711.3 Looted Assets
 711.3 Plesch, Arpad
 711.3 Proclaimed List
 711.3 Safehaven
 711.3 Safehaven-France
 711.3 Safehaven-Art Objects
 711.3 Safehaven-Belgium
 711.3 Safehaven-Luxembourg
 711.3 Safehaven-Monaco
 711.3 Safehaven-Spain
 711.3 Safehaven-Suez Canal Stocks
 711.3 Safehaven-Switzerland
 711.3 Safehaven-Tangier
 711.3 Scherling, A.G.
 711.3 Union Reinsurance Company-Zurich
 711.3 Wendland, Hans [a 28-page detailed interrogation report dated September 18, 1946]
16840.1Jews
17851.6Banks, Bankers

1947

Box # File # File Title or Subject
18711German Archives
 711.3 Banque Charles
 711.3 I.G. Chemie
 711.3 Farben, I.G.
 711.3 Heydt, Baron Eduard von Der
 711.3 Looted Assets
 711.3 Safehaven-Rumania
 711.3 German Assets-Abroad
 711.3 German Assets-Austria
 711.3 German Assets-France
 711.3 German Assets-Iran
 711.3 German Assets-Italy
 711.3 German Assets-Neutral Countries
 711.3 German Assets-Portugal
 711.3 German Assets-Saudi Arabia
 711.3 German Assets-Spain
 711.3 German Assets-Sweden
 711.3 German Assets-Switzerland
 711.3 German Assets-Turkey
 711.3 German External Assets

1948

Box # File # File Title or Subject
24711.3German Assets
 711.3German Assets-Argentina
 711.3German Assets-Belgium
 711.3German Assets-Ireland
 711.3German Assets-Italy
 711.3German Assets-Portugal
 711.3German Assets-Spain
 711.3German Assets-Switzerland
 711.3German Assets-Turkey
 840.1Jews

1949

Box # File # File Title or Subject
37321.3 German Property
 321.3Swiss Negotiations
 321.3German Property in Spain

Top Secret General Records 1944-1949, 1950-1951, 1954 (Entry 2454A)
Boxes 1-28

Box #File #File Title or Subject
1704.54Swiss Codes (1948)
  711German Archives (1945)
  711.3Arpad Plesch [alleged financial transactions conducted by Plesch with the Deutsche Bank, Berlin, during the war] (1947)
  711.5Displaced Persons (1948)
  711.9Germany (1945-1946)
  711.9Reparations-Germany (1948)
2800Germany (1946-1948)
4851.5Currency-Germany (1948)
  501.5Currency-Germany (1949)

Top Secret General Records 1950 (Entry 2454B)
Boxes 1-6

Top Secret General Records 1952 (Entry 2454C)
Boxes 1-6

Top Secret General Records 1953 (Entry 2454D)
Boxes 1-6

Miscellaneous Top Secret General Records (Entry 2456)
Box 1

Records of the Political Advisor to SHAEF (Paris), France

General Correspondence 1943-1944 (Entry 2483)
Box 1

Special Correspondence 1943-1944 (Entry 2484)
Box 1 (Contained in the same box 1 as Entry 2483)

Country Files 1943-1944 (Entry 2485)

This series is arranged alphabetically by country name and thereunder alphabetically by subject.
Boxes 2-9

Box # Country
2Belgium
Czechoslovakia
Finland
3-6France
7-8Germany
9Greece
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Rumania
Spain
Turkey
Yugoslavia

Subject Files 1943-1944 (Entry 2486)

This series is arranged alphabetically by subject.
Boxes 10-22

Box #File Title
10Civil Affairs (3 files)
11Combined Civil Affairs Committee (2 files)
12Finance and Currency
  G-2 Daily News Summaries
  G-2 Weekly News Summaries
13G-2 Intelligence Notes
14G-5 Civil Affairs Summaries
  Joint Intelligence Committee
15Neutral Countries
20OSS Intelligence Reports
  OSS and U.S. Navy Reports
22Refugees and Displaced Persons
  War Criminals

Messages 1943-1944 (Entry 2487)
Boxes 23-25

Records of the U.S. Embassy Vichy, France

General Records 1940-1942 (Entry 2489)
Boxes 1-42

1940

Box #File #File Title or Subject
13840.1Jews
 850Economic Matters, including Swiss Trade
 851Financial Conditions

1941

Box #File #File Title or Subject
27711Neutrality
 711.2 Neutral Commerce
29840.1Jews
30850Economic Matters
 851Financial Conditions

1942

Box #File #File Title or Subject
40711.2Trading With Enemy, Proclaimed List
41840.1Jews
42850.6Insurance
 851.6Banks and Banking
 854Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights

Classified General Records (Confidential File) 1940-1942 (Entry 2490)
Boxes 1-21

1940

Box # File # File Title or Subject
1-Financial

1941

Box #File #File Title or Subject
2-France-Banque Worms
  -France-Economic-Financial
  -France-Franco-German Economic Collaboration
3-Financial (Matthews Telegrams to Treasury)
  -Germany
  800Germany
4-Unlabeled folder containing information on the Proclaimed List and other subjects
7-France-Political (Collaboration) Franco-German Relations

1942

Box # File # File Title or Subject
11 711.2 Neutral Commerce (2 folders)
  711.2 Proclaimed List
  800 Franco-Spanish Relations
  800 South America
14 800 Reports from Legation, Consulates in Switzerland
15 800 Geneva Reports
18 840.1 Jews (3 folders)
18-19 850 Economic Matters (2 folders)
19 851 Financial Condition
  851.6 Banks and Banking
  854 Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights

Miscellaneous Records 1942 (Entry 2491)
Box 1

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