From the review:
No works have been published in Croatia so far that would provide answers, based on serious scientific research, to the questions of the fate of the gold and property of the Independent State of Croatia, and thus also the confiscated or otherwise alienated property of its inhabitants, primarily Jews.
Dr. Jere Jareb’s book Gold and Money of the Independent State of Croatia Taken Abroad in 1944 and 1945 provides scientifically based answers to questions, claims and speculations about the gold and money of the NDH, sheds light on the problems of the confiscated property of its inhabitants and contributes to the research into the history of the Croatian economy in World War II. The book is the result of extensive research on sources (mostly in the Croatian State Archives) and in no part is it based on rumors and speculation, but rather provides valid answers based on strictly scientific, published documents.
The introductory part of the book presents the activities of the Croatian State Bank during World War II, which, as the central financial and issuing institution of the NDH, was, by its very nature, closely connected with the transfer of a portion of gold and other valuables abroad during 1944 and 1945. The remaining chapters provide specific answers to the questions of how much gold and other valuables were taken out of Croatia during the war, where these funds were taken out, and what their fate was. The first chapter of the book deals with the transfer of certain quantities of gold from Croatia to Swiss banks during 1944 and the subsequent fate of that gold. In the second and third chapters of the book, Dr. Jareb deals with the transfer of certain quantities of gold, money, and other valuables from the country at the very end of the war, on the occasion of the withdrawal of the authorities and armed forces of the NDH, as well as a large number of civilians from Croatia to Austria in May 1945.
Dr. Jere Jareb’s book answers many questions about the fate of the gold and money of the Independent State of Croatia. At the same time, it represents an important contribution to the elucidation of Croatian financial and economic history in the Second World War. This book is also an introduction to the necessary systematic research of the aforementioned problems, which, due to their topicality, do not belong only to the field of historical science. The vast archive material, partly preserved in Croatia itself, awaits future researchers whose scientific results should completely illuminate this part of our past.
