Documentary Description
371 Swiss banks stand accused of collaborating with the Nazis during
World War II. This was suspected at the time by by U.S. Secretary of
Treasury Henry Morgenthau, who began investigating this collaboration.
He found the Swiss were not alone. His archives reveal that both
British and American bankers continued to do business with Hitler, even
as Germany was invading Europe and bombing London.
This investigative film shows in detail the roles
played by the Anglo-German banking clique. Key members of the Bank of
England together with their German counterparts established the BIS,
the Bank for International Settlement, which laundered the plundered
gold of Europe. On its board were key Nazis such as Walther Funk and
Hjalamar Schact The president of BIS was an American, Thomas
McKittrick, who readily socialized with leading Nazis. Not only the
BIS, but other allied banks worked hand in hand with the Nazis. One of
the biggest American banks kept a branch open in Occupied Paris and,
with full knowledge of the managers in the U.S., froze the accounts of
French Jews. Deprived of money to escape France, many ended up in death
camps.
When Pres. Roosevelt died in April 1945, Morganthau lost his
protector and his crusade against the banks came to an end. He was
further weakened when men in his department were accused of being
Communists during the McCarthy era. This incredible story contains
interviews with surviving members of banking families and Morganthaus
investigative team as well as newly found archive material.
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