The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 4, January 28, 2007, Article 7

DEAD MEN ON VACATION: BOOK AND MOVIE HIGHLIGHT NAZI WWII COUNTERFEITING

Mark Tomasko writes: "There was a front page feature story in the
Monday, Jan 22, 2007 Wall Street Journal on Adolf Burger, one of the
primary concentration camp inmates who participated in "Operation
Bernhard," the Nazi counterfeiting of English pounds during WWII. The
reason for the article seems to be a combination of the fact that an
Austrian film on the subject is coming out soon, and that Mr. Burger
actively gives talks about his experiences in order to rebut the
Holocaust deniers' claims. It's a fascinating story and when I was down
at the National Archives doing research a year and a half ago, I believe
I came across an inventory of the material seized by our troops."

[The article included an illustration of a counterfeit £5 note made
by inmates of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and an interview
with one of the surviving forgers.  There is new attention being paid
to the topic because of a recent book and the new film called "The
Forger," to be released in Germany and Austria in March.  -Editor]

"Adolf Burger, a sprightly 89-year-old survivor of Nazi concentration
camps, held up one of the British £5 notes he helped forge for the
Germans during the war.

"'Britannia was hard' to render, he said, pointing to the female symbol
of Great Britain, a toga-wearing woman with spear and shield drawn in
the note's top left-hand corner.

"Mr. Burger was a reluctant player in one of the biggest attempts at
financial sabotage in history. The Nazis forced Mr. Burger and about
140 other Jewish prisoners -- all marked for liquidation -- to forge so
much British currency that by 1945, 12% of all pound-sterling bills in
existence, measured by face value, were fake."

"If Germany had been able to drop the fake fortune on Britain as planned,
it could have undermined trust in the currency and crippled the British
economy, according to "Krueger's Men," by American author Lawrence
Malkin, the first comprehensive account of the saga.

"Capt. Krüger and his team of SS guards spared their Jewish prisoners
the degradations they had known previously in Nazi camps, according to
Mr. Malkin's account. The inmates had decent food, civilian clothes,
cigarettes, books and board games. They even received parcels from
outside. They were allowed to grow their hair and listen to the radio.
They worked eight-hour days. They had Sundays off. Mr. Burger played
ping-pong with the SS.

"The inmates were to be killed when the project ended, and they knew
it. Those who fell ill weren't taken to see a doctor, to whom they
might reveal something; they were shot. Inmates' only hope was to
keep counterfeiting successfully until the war was over.

"We were dead men on vacation," says Mr. Burger."

To read the complete article (subscription required):
Full Story

[The article called "Krueger's Men: The Secret Nazi Counterfeit Plot
and the Prisoners of Block 19" by Lawrence Malkin (2006) "the first
comprehensive account of the saga", but that isn't true.  My shelves
hold the following earlier titles: "Operation Bernhard: The Greatest
Forgery of All Time" by Anthony Pirie (1961) and "Nazi Counterfeiting
of British Currency during World War II: Operation Andrews and
Operation Bernhard" by Bryan Burke (1987).  I've ordered a copy of
the Malkin book.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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