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During the course of [[World War Two]], the Nazis found themselves in possession of a large quantity of gold, ahem, ''appropriated'' from subjugated peoples, such as their jewelry, any decorations, or sometimes literally from their mouths. Due to the economic situation in Germany just before the war, few other nations were inclined to have faith in their IOUs. So, Germany made many of its large purchases with quantities of gold, transferred to many nations and sometimes in U-boats for secrecy.
Unsurprisingly, this has excited a lot of people. Like pirates, Nazi Germany is imagined to have secreted large amounts of gold in hidden places, ripe for the avid adventurer to discover. If you find Nazi Gold, it's unequivocally yours - like finding spare change between couch cushions. At the very least, if you find this gold and turn in to the proper authorities, you'll be undercutting any remnants of [[Those Wacky Nazis]]
Aside from gold, the lost Nazi treasure might also include other valuables pilfered by the Nazis, such as jewelry and priceless works of art.
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== Anime ==
* Nazi gold is one of the things [[Lupin
* Towards the end of ''[[Hellsing]]'' it's shown how [[Ghostapo|Millenium]] has managed to fund their organization for 60+ years. Apparently they have a massive horde of stolen treasure, including a bunch of [[Squick|silver and gold teeth]].
* In [[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory]], a character is paid in gold for his service to the Delaz Fleet Zeon rebels. The gold looks EXACTLY like the Reichsbank gold bar the Nazis used, with the exception of the swastika replaced by the Duchy of Zeon crest. Given the re-occurring allusions to Nazi Germany that the Duchy of Zeon used, this is highly appropriate.
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== Comic Books ==
* In ''
* In Warren Ellis' ''Ministry Of Space'', it turns out the British space program was funded primarily from the assets of those who died in the Nazi concentration camps.
* Subverted in the German comic ''[[Rudi]]''. When they get lost in a cavern, they find two skeletons of Nazi soldiers and a huge box full of - invalid old paper money.
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* In ''[[Kelly's Heroes]]'', A [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] attempt to steal a hoard of Nazi gold for themselves while [[World War Two]] is still raging.
* ''Armour of God II'' (''Operation Condor'' to Eaglelanders), starring Jackie Chan on a quest to uncover a lost Nazi stash.
* In ''[[Dead Snow]]'', a group of Norwegians find Nazi gold hidden beneath their cabin.
* ''[[Three Kings]]'' uses the Kelly's Heroes idea, but applies it Saddam Hussein and gold stolen from the Sheiks who ran Iraq before he came to power.
* The 1970s film ''Brass Target'' tells the (hypothetical) story of how a group of corrupt U.S. Army officers hired an assassin to kill [[Patton]] and make it look like an accident, to cover up their theft of a shipment of recovered Nazi gold.
* In ''[[X-Men:
* In ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'' Haupstein pays a guide to the site where Rasputin could be resurrected with a bar of gold stamped with a swastika, then kills him.
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* In the [[James Bond]] short story ''[[James Bond (novel)|Octopussy]]'', Bond is assigned to apprehend a hero of the Second World War implicated in a murder involving a cache of Nazi gold. Agent 007 appears briefly in this story, which is told mostly in flashback and from the point of view of Major Dexter Smythe, the villain.
** This story is briefly mentioned in the film version, with the title character being Smythe's daughter.
* In Alistair Maclean's ''Bear Island'', a film crew is sailing to a remote arctic island. Eventually, it turns out that
* In the [[NUMA Series|Dirk Pitt]] novel ''Dragon'', Dirk helps uncover a stash of various Nazi treasures. As a reward for his help in uncovering the stash (And disabling a lethal booby trap), the German officer in charge of the excavation lets him keep one of the Me-262 fighter jets stored there.
== Live Action TV ==
* One of the many, many, many [[MacGuffin]]s in ''[['Allo 'Allo!
* Guy Secretan of ''[[Green Wing]]'' is Swiss, and is often insulted for his heritage, including references to Nazi gold. One hurricane of stereotypes runs:
{{quote|'''Guy:''' "Shut your eyes, think of Switzerland - what do you see?"
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'''Mac:''' I see a chocolate Phil Collins coming out of a clock every hour, to tidy up his Nazi gold." }}
* In an anecdote during his Tinselworm show, ''Bill Bailey'' tells how at a corporate UBS gig he was told not to swear, which he was fine with, or mention Nazi gold, [[Sarcasm Mode|which was a problem for him as he starts his act by descending from the ceiling on a giant golden swastika, asking to open an account in NAZI GOLD!]]
* In March 2008, ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/162604/march-03-2008/das-booty---hitler-s-gold-pt--1 picked] [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/164124/march-18-2008/das-booty---hitler-s-gold-pt--2 up] a story about Nazi gold possibly being buried in a small town in Germany. It quickly turned into a parody of ''[[Indiana Jones]]''/''[[The Da Vinci Code]]''/''[[National Treasure]]''-type plots ([[They Called Me Mad|"Oh, they laughed at me at the academy!"]]), culminating with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, armed with a basketball, being sent to wrest the treasure from the hands of the Germans. [[It Makes Sense in Context]]...
{{quote|'''Stephen:''' ''[breaking character after looking at the caption that identifies him as "Stephen Colbert, Nazi Treasure-Hunter"]'' That actually... I think the hyphen is in the wrong place there... [[Ambiguous Syntax|this makes me seem like a Nazi who is hunting treasure, as opposed to someone who is hunting Nazi treasure]]. It's a small but significant difference.}}
* Not gold, but the comedy ''[[Private Schulz]]'' had the protagonists seeking the forged British bank notes which had been dumped in a lake in Austria. Like every other plan of the title character to get his hands on them, it fails.
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* On the subject of not giving Nazi Gold to its rightful owners, Swiss banks held onto their stashes for quite some time. When they finally did return the gold, it was considered 'too little, too late'
* On the other side of the Axis, Imperial Japan too was known to have looted quite a bit from much of Eastern Asia and there are occasional stories of finding hidden caches of Imperial Gold. This was the basis for part of the plot in ''[[Cryptonomicon]]''.
** Better yet are the missing Swords. So at the end of World War 2, after the Japanese surrendered, all arms had to be turned in, this was interpreted to include swords, and cultural treasures were not spared. American servicemen tended to look for souvenirs and grab the nicest swords they could. Swords worth millions are still lost. [[wikipedia:Honjo Masamune|Honjo Masamune]] is the equivalent of the Mona Lisa of swords and still missing.
* Russia goes through upheavals very regularly, and every time a lot of gold belonging to a dead regime allegedly vanishes into nowhere. The two latest examples are Admiral Kolchak's Gold (actually the Russian Imperial gold), and the Soviet "Gold of the Party". Both are memetic treasures with unknown whereabouts.
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[[Category:Reichstropen]]
[[Category:The Gilded Index]]
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