Gold for the Bold

The year is 1939 and war is looming. The prudent government of the Second Polish Republic had amassed vast gold reserves – nearly 80 tonnes in bars and coins, with a total value of 463.6 million zlotys, or approximately eighty-seven million dollars at the time. All those measures were driven by a single objective: to ensure that, in the face of the approaching conflict, the state would have dependable safeguards at its disposal. As it turned out, the decision was fully warranted and the story of the evacuation of Poland’s gold could well provide the basis for a thriller.

Even before Germany attacked Poland on 1 September 1939, the government had taken steps to preserve this capital. As early as the summer, part of the gold was transferred to local branches of Bank Polski SA in the eastern part of the country, i.e. Siedlce, Brześć-on-the-Bug, Zamość and Lublin. At the time, it was believed that the threat would only come from Germany.

Eastwards

When the Third Reich attacked Poland, a swift decision was taken to evacuate the gold from Warsaw. On 4 September, lorries carrying the bullion departed from the headquarters of Bank Polski SA in Bielańska Street, bound for Brześć. The convoy was guarded by bank security officers and employees. Among the drivers was Halina Konopacka – an athlete, Olympic medallist and poet as well as the wife of Ignacy Matuszewski, a colonel and head of the Ministry of the Treasury, a trusted associate of Józef Piłsudski, and the organiser of the evacuation. Thus began the odyssey of Polish gold. The treasure was first moved to Lublin and then, in view of the rapid advance of the German army, even further east. The relocation of the reserves was slow and carried out under extremely difficult circumstances. The roads were filled with refugees, German aircraft were circling overhead, and the transport itself was carried out not in lorries but in municipal buses known as the Reds. Nevertheless, the convoy was consistently heading east, away from the enemy – or so it seemed at the time.