The Lost Nazi Treasure of Lake Toplitz

Lake Toplitz is an alpine lake in Western Austria. The lake is a mile long and three hundred feet deep. Sunken logs in the lake make diving very dangerous and many divers have died in the lake’s depths. Visibility is good only to about thirty feet and below sixty feet there is no oxygen in the waters. During 1943-44 the German navy used the lake for testing. Early in 1945, as the Third Reich crumbled Nazi trucks stopped at the Weisenbecker home waking up the occupants. They ordered the people to harness their horses to wagons in order to take a cargo to Lake Toplitz. The horses were harnessed and wooden crates were transferred from trucks to the wagons. Ida Weisenbecker is still alive and has been interviewed many times about what she saw. On the third and final wagon trip to the lake she saw Nazi officers dumping the creates into the lake.

Since that day treasure hunters have scoured the lake in search of lost Nazi gold. Hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly billions, were missing after the fall of Nazi Germany. Many believe the Nazis hid gold, silver, and jewels throughout Europe and some of that is hidden in Lake Toplitz. To date only counterfeit banknotes and papers have been taken out of the lake. But the treasure hunters continue their search. Even the news program 60 Minutes gotten into the act.

So what is really on the bottom of Lake Toplitz? Most likely more creates of counterfeit banknotes and documents the Nazis wished to keep out of the hands of the allies. Some of those documents may contain the bank account information to Nazi bank accounts in various countries.

What of the Nazi gold? While it is true that the Nazis stole tons of gold and took the gold teeth from concentration camp victims (melted down into bars) that gold was most likely deposited in Swiss bank accounts and transferred into financial vehicles much easier to transport than gold bars. Some of that gold may still be in Swiss banks. For decades the Swiss have sought to hide their role as bankers for the Third Reich. But, documents continue to surface indicating more and more Swiss involvement in the affairs of Nazi Germany.

Swiss gold coins minted in the mid 1940s have mercury levels ten times the level expected in gold coins. Mercury was used in the gold used to create, fillings, crowns, and teeth. It is suspected those Swiss gold coins may have been made from gold fillings, crowns, and teeth of people killed in the Nazi concentration camps. But we will never have solid evidence to tell us what happened to all the Nazi gold and silver.

So, is there Nazi gold at the bottom of Lake Toplitz? Probably not, but maybe ….