72 million at the bottom: why in the alpine lake Toplitz flooded so much money

In the Austrian Alps there is one very interesting lake called Toplitz. It is not only remarkable for its picturesque landscapes and clear water, but also for the fact that millions of pounds sterling, US dollars, bank documents and many more various treasures that once belonged to the Nazis were at its bottom. Some of these riches were raised to the surface, but most of what was flooded in the last months of World War II is still at the bottom of this alpine lake.

According to documents available to historians, during the war, the Nazis organized a large-scale production of fake banknotes. As part of an operation called Bernhard, SS employees selected the best artists and banknote specialists from all over the territory they controlled. The prisoners of the camps also took part in the project, the most talented of which were transferred to improved conditions and started to work. A group of counterfeiters, chemists and technologists were able to choose the right composition of paper, paint and reproduce the drawing of banknotes so precisely that even high-class foreign experts could not immediately distinguish a fake from the original.

It was originally planned that all this grandiose amount of fake money would be dropped from aircraft over the territory of Great Britain. The calculation of the Nazis was quite simple: the massive injection of counterfeit bills was supposed to plunge the British economic system into chaos, which already functioned without limits, given the martial law. But, despite all the secrecy of the operation, the British leadership became aware of these insidious plans, which took a number of protective measures. By that time, ideal copies of British banknotes had already been created, which it was decided not to distribute from the air, but to use for various operations conducted by German special services abroad, in particular to finance intelligence agents, pay for various services and bribe the right people who turned out to be Nazi accomplices abroad . Some of these people, who collaborated with the German leadership and received rewards with fake money, only after the end of the war learned that they were the owners of highly artistic fakes.

In addition to pounds sterling, the Nazis successfully faked American dollars, which were used for similar purposes. For such a large-scale production, a whole network was used, which included rooms with printing presses and places for storing notes.

When it became clear that the defeat of Germany in World War II could not be avoided, it was decided to eliminate the machines and destroy all the fake banknotes. But the large number of banknotes available at that time did not allow this, therefore, it was decided to flood the remaining banknotes at the bottom of Lake Toplitz.

The lake located in the center of Austria has a considerable depth - more than 100 meters. Interestingly, the water in the lake is clearly separated by two layers. Up to a depth of about 20 meters, the water is fresh and saturated with oxygen, many species of fish and other lake inhabitants live here. But deeper oxygen is sorely lacking, water is already saturated with salts and only a few species of primitive organisms can live here.

Toplitz is located in a mountainous, inaccessible area, and during the war there was a Nazi military base. Therefore, this reservoir was chosen as the place of flooding of counterfeit notes. As often happens in such cases, the lake quickly overgrown with legends. It was believed that, in addition to fake dollars and British pounds, the Nazis flooded a lot of other treasures here, which, unlike money, were real. During several underwater expeditions, only banknotes, bank documents and German military equipment were raised from the bottom of the lake, no paintings by famous artists or jewelry were found there. Nevertheless, a number of experts believe that at the bottom of Lake Toplitz you can still find a lot of interesting things.

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