The Bank of England (BoE) played an important in moving and selling gold looted by the Nazis after their invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938, which has been revealed in a previously unpublished file.
A record from the bank's archive shows it transferred 5.6 million pounds of gold from Czechoslovakia on behalf of Germany's Reichsbank, following the Nazi invasion.
According to the Sky News, the gold was moved from the National Bank of Czechoslovakia's account at the central Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to an account managed on behalf of the Reichsbank.
The 10-page document, published on the BoE's website, was produced following the Second World War amid fears the bank's position had 'never been thoroughly appreciated' and that 'their action at the time was widely misunderstood,' the report said.
It stated that on March 21, 1939, the Chief Cashier received the request to transfer about 5.6 million pounds gold from the BIS No.2 Account to their No.17 Account.
The document revealed that the bank, although it was no business of theirs, was sure that the No.2 Account was a Czech National Bank Account and they believed that No.17 was a Reichsbank.
The report also reveals the Governor of the Bank of England rejected a call from his French counterpart to prevent the transfer of Czech assets, as such a move would be wrong and dangerous for the future of the BIS.
Patrick Jenkins, banking editor of the Financial Times, said that the transfer and selling of gold was being done without full disclosure to the UK Government.
