GREECE
Nazi Treasures
2000 – 7‘
00.01
The bay of Finikunta, a small village in the Western Peloponnese. The excited
crowd here on the harbour are not the usual tourists bringing business to the population. These camera people, photographers and journalists could put Finikunta down in history. The treasures of Thessaloniki’s Jews are rumoured to be buried under the sea a few miles from here and the first ever search party is about to embark on a mission to find them. During the German occupation in World War II a Nazi officer expropriated Jewish valuables and sank them in a ship off the coast.
Yet the dark history of the treasure does not seem to bother most of the onlookers.
00.40
I/V
We are here to film the treasure hunt. It doesn’t interest me whether they actually find the treasure or not - the most important thing is to get good pictures. If they really do find the treasure, then we’ll get sensational pictures - that’s my job.
00.55
The locals are hoping for business too.
I/V - a local 01.00
We do really expect them to find the treasure - it must be here - the old folks have always said so.
01.12
Interviewer: What would it mean to you it it were really found here?
01.16
It would be a real boost for our village and our local economy. You can see how many people have come here to see what’s going on just today. It would be great news for us.
01.34
Ten professional divers have planned to spend five days scouring the seabed for the sunken ship rumoured to conceal the treasure . Uncertainty about the exact whereabouts mean it isn’t an easy task. The divers will use special metal-detecting devices.
01:52
I/V
Gregor Kourbanis
Diver
We are looking for a wreck, and we’ll dive down there. According to our information, there is jewellery, gold bars and religious artefacts of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki inside the wreck.
02.13
Do you think you will find the treasure?
02.17
I don’t know -we will see. We have to check this information - we’ll see.
02.28
The first search expedition sets off and the onlookers stay back at the harbour, waiting for one thing: news of a sensational find. They want to be there when the treasure surfaces. The media have rented fishing boats to follow the search vessel everywhere. All Greek television and radio stations report on the progress of the salvage operation around the hour. The fate of the Jewish treasures of Thessaloniki has been a mystery for decades. However, the media frenzy has overshadowed a different type interest in the treasure - talk of finding it has brought up terrible memories of how it came to rest on the seabed in the first place.
03.12
(German war footage) voiceover
Saloniki is in German hands. This is where the Allies’ headquarters were - now this major port has been conquered by our troops after four and a half days of fighting.
03.25
70,000 Jews were living in Greece when Germany invaded in 1941. No more than 2000 survived the war. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki was Greece’s oldest and largest. It was virtually wiped out. Nazi officer Max Merten was responsible for rounding up Jews for labour and extermination camps - not before forcing them to hand over their valuables first.
03.50
Thessaloniki today - around a thousand Jews live in the harbour town. They have mixed feelings about the media interest surrounding the treasure hunt. Everyone knows the story of the treasure, and as well as the painful memories there has been a flurry of claims. In all , 50 cases of gold are said to make up the loot taken from the Greek Jews with the promise that they would be saved from the concentration camp.
04.16
SS officer Max Merten was Hitler’s senior administrator in Thessaloniki - his name is known to every Jew here. Despite handing over their worldly goods, most of Thessaloniki’s Jews were deported to concentration camps in Ausschwitz, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen. Heinz Kounio was one of the few survivors.
04.39
I/V Heinz Kounio
President of the Jewish assembly, Thessaloniki
I can remember a great deal. Merten was the most powerful man in town. He said to us: You will be saved for 1000 bars of gold - that’s the price - tell that to your families. A few days before we were deported we were brought to a labour camp and had to give up everything we had - jewellery and other gold. That was the last we ever saw of it. Merten and his cronies collected it by the sackful.
05.05
Max Merten came back to Greece in 1957, allegedly to recover the loot. He was recognised, arrested and imprisoned. Merten confessed the secret of the treasure to a fellow inmate.
05.15
I/V
Léo Levi - member of Jewish community
I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole thing. It makes me think of the horrific Nazi period, the atrocities my people had to experience and the Jews of Thessaloniki who were murdered. I also feel hatred for those who took our possessions and the lives of our friends.
05.56
Back to the open sea, where the treasure hunt is more about adventure than history. The search team costs around $ 1600 a day and Dimitris Mineris, a Greek multimillionaire, is paying for the whole thing.
06.16
Dimitris Mineris, sponsor
We’re searching at a depth of 45 metres, 5 divers are on the job at the moment. We’ll have some results soon. We want to check every inch of the sea bed, and dive as deep as 80 metres. It is costing me rather a lot of money - we’ll see if it’s worth it at the end.
06.40
Should the $2 billion worth of treasure be found, the Greek courts are planning to allocate half of it to the state. The rest will be distributed between the Jewish community and the sponsor - a decision which is still being contested.
End at 7.00
Nazi Treasures
2000 – 7‘
00.01
The bay of Finikunta, a small village in the Western Peloponnese. The excited
crowd here on the harbour are not the usual tourists bringing business to the population. These camera people, photographers and journalists could put Finikunta down in history. The treasures of Thessaloniki’s Jews are rumoured to be buried under the sea a few miles from here and the first ever search party is about to embark on a mission to find them. During the German occupation in World War II a Nazi officer expropriated Jewish valuables and sank them in a ship off the coast.
Yet the dark history of the treasure does not seem to bother most of the onlookers.
00.40
I/V
We are here to film the treasure hunt. It doesn’t interest me whether they actually find the treasure or not - the most important thing is to get good pictures. If they really do find the treasure, then we’ll get sensational pictures - that’s my job.
00.55
The locals are hoping for business too.
I/V - a local 01.00
We do really expect them to find the treasure - it must be here - the old folks have always said so.
01.12
Interviewer: What would it mean to you it it were really found here?
01.16
It would be a real boost for our village and our local economy. You can see how many people have come here to see what’s going on just today. It would be great news for us.
01.34
Ten professional divers have planned to spend five days scouring the seabed for the sunken ship rumoured to conceal the treasure . Uncertainty about the exact whereabouts mean it isn’t an easy task. The divers will use special metal-detecting devices.
01:52
I/V
Gregor Kourbanis
Diver
We are looking for a wreck, and we’ll dive down there. According to our information, there is jewellery, gold bars and religious artefacts of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki inside the wreck.
02.13
Do you think you will find the treasure?
02.17
I don’t know -we will see. We have to check this information - we’ll see.
02.28
The first search expedition sets off and the onlookers stay back at the harbour, waiting for one thing: news of a sensational find. They want to be there when the treasure surfaces. The media have rented fishing boats to follow the search vessel everywhere. All Greek television and radio stations report on the progress of the salvage operation around the hour. The fate of the Jewish treasures of Thessaloniki has been a mystery for decades. However, the media frenzy has overshadowed a different type interest in the treasure - talk of finding it has brought up terrible memories of how it came to rest on the seabed in the first place.
03.12
(German war footage) voiceover
Saloniki is in German hands. This is where the Allies’ headquarters were - now this major port has been conquered by our troops after four and a half days of fighting.
03.25
70,000 Jews were living in Greece when Germany invaded in 1941. No more than 2000 survived the war. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki was Greece’s oldest and largest. It was virtually wiped out. Nazi officer Max Merten was responsible for rounding up Jews for labour and extermination camps - not before forcing them to hand over their valuables first.
03.50
Thessaloniki today - around a thousand Jews live in the harbour town. They have mixed feelings about the media interest surrounding the treasure hunt. Everyone knows the story of the treasure, and as well as the painful memories there has been a flurry of claims. In all , 50 cases of gold are said to make up the loot taken from the Greek Jews with the promise that they would be saved from the concentration camp.
04.16
SS officer Max Merten was Hitler’s senior administrator in Thessaloniki - his name is known to every Jew here. Despite handing over their worldly goods, most of Thessaloniki’s Jews were deported to concentration camps in Ausschwitz, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen. Heinz Kounio was one of the few survivors.
04.39
I/V Heinz Kounio
President of the Jewish assembly, Thessaloniki
I can remember a great deal. Merten was the most powerful man in town. He said to us: You will be saved for 1000 bars of gold - that’s the price - tell that to your families. A few days before we were deported we were brought to a labour camp and had to give up everything we had - jewellery and other gold. That was the last we ever saw of it. Merten and his cronies collected it by the sackful.
05.05
Max Merten came back to Greece in 1957, allegedly to recover the loot. He was recognised, arrested and imprisoned. Merten confessed the secret of the treasure to a fellow inmate.
05.15
I/V
Léo Levi - member of Jewish community
I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole thing. It makes me think of the horrific Nazi period, the atrocities my people had to experience and the Jews of Thessaloniki who were murdered. I also feel hatred for those who took our possessions and the lives of our friends.
05.56
Back to the open sea, where the treasure hunt is more about adventure than history. The search team costs around $ 1600 a day and Dimitris Mineris, a Greek multimillionaire, is paying for the whole thing.
06.16
Dimitris Mineris, sponsor
We’re searching at a depth of 45 metres, 5 divers are on the job at the moment. We’ll have some results soon. We want to check every inch of the sea bed, and dive as deep as 80 metres. It is costing me rather a lot of money - we’ll see if it’s worth it at the end.
06.40
Should the $2 billion worth of treasure be found, the Greek courts are planning to allocate half of it to the state. The rest will be distributed between the Jewish community and the sponsor - a decision which is still being contested.
End at 7.00