Merkers.

The saltmine of Merkers in Thüringen was used for the safe keeping of money and gold from the Reichsbank. This was brought here after the Reichsbank had been severely damaged in February 1945. In the tunnels were stacked a hundred tons of gold bars, thousands of bags of currency, and gold stolen from the bodies of Jews. When Patton came too close, attempts were made to move the treasures, but they only succeeded in taking out 450 sacks of paper Reichsmarks.

When the art treasures from Berlin had to be moved from the Zoo towers and the Reichsbank, they were also brought to the Werra district. Hitler gave the order for the evacuation on March 8, 1945. Control of the operation was given to F.K. Thone, who had taken earlier loads to Grasleben. Paul Ortwin Rave of the Nationalgalerie escorted the first convoy, containing 45 cases of paintings from the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, to Thüringen. Lying southwest of Erfurt, it was assumed that it would be in the American zone. The convoy stopped first at Hattorf, a potash mine near Philipsthal, but that was already filled with the collections of the Prussian state library and the keepers refused to take the paintings in.

The convoy moved to the Ransbach shaft, a mile away, which was reserved for SS archives. This mine was considered too damp for the storing of pictures and the convoy ended at the Kaiseroda mine near Merkers. Seven more convoys were taken there. The last arrived on March 30, 1945, when the front lines came too close for further work. The last two convoys went to Grasleben.