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BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Genuine Forgery (collection description)

Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum (Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten)

Claims Supported by This Source

  1. One of the largest counterfeiting operations. The plan began in 1939 as "Operation Andreas," with the initial goal of destabilizing British currency.
  2. To test the quality, agents of the Reich Security Main Office took counterfeit notes to Switzerland, and the Bank of England checked the numbers and judged them to be genuine (the year is not stated. It is written in the paragraph on the planning of 'Operation Andreas' and is placed before the start of mass production at Sachsenhausen. Page re-retrieved and confirmed on 2026-10-26).
  3. SS Major Bernhard Krüger of the Reich Main Security Office, Section VI, had Jewish prisoners with skills in printing, paper, and handicrafts sought from multiple concentration camps. The counterfeiting team consisted of 142 Jewish prisoners in total, who were isolated for secrecy.
  4. Their treatment was better than that of other prisoners, but they knew that illness, failure, or the end of the operation would mean death.
  5. According to secretly kept statistics, the amount produced exceeded £135 million. The SS used the counterfeit notes to procure materials necessary for the war and to pay foreign spies.
  6. In February 1945, they were moved to Mauthausen and then to Redl-Zipf, but production was not resumed. They were liberated by American forces at the Ebensee camp in early May 1945.

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