Historians Link Holocaust Gold to German Bank

FRANKFURT, Germany —  Historians tracing the origin of gold bars traded by Deutsche Bank during the Nazi era confirmed Friday that the bank profited from gold plundered from Holocaust victims.

The historians were unable to determine with certainty whether bank executives knew that some of the gold purchased from the Reichsbank, the Nazi central bank, came directly from Jews sent to concentration camps.

However, they said it is “likely” that top officials of Deutsche Bank, now Germany’s biggest private bank, knew about the origins of some of the gold.

Deutsche Bank released a brief statement Friday thanking the historians for their work and saying the bank “reaffirms its moral responsibility for the darkest chapter in its history and deeply regrets any injustices.”

Officials of Deutsche Bank confirmed that the bank dealt in wartime central bank gold, which included victims’ gold, but fell short of saying that bank officials knew about the gold’s origin.