Operation Bernhard was the name of a secret German plan devised during the Second World War to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes.
Bad Aussee was the location of a salt mine where the Germans had stored a huge number of European art treasures which they had pillaged. After being dropped into the local area, Albrecht Gaiswinkler raised a force of around 300 men and armed them with captured German weapons. He spent the last weeks and months of the war harassing local German forces. When the Americans arrived, his information helped them capture several eminent Nazis. He and his colleagues had captured the salt mine, prevented the destruction of the artworks held there and were able to hand over 'a number of Nazi treasure hoards', including the Mona Lisa (probably a copy) and the Austrian Imperial Crown Jewels.
From the guide to the Bad Aussee resistance movement and 'Operation Berhard', 1944-1956, (Wiener Library)
