It could be diamonds. Recent revelations have focused on France, where the Paris Municipality apparently owns flats that had been confiscated from Jews. The diamonds may be the most valuable of all looted properties, although the Centrale could not estimate the losses.
Diamonds are largely a cash business without adequate records.
However, the stolen gems must have been worth tens of millions during the war era, said the official. Gems were taken during raids on the Belgian diamond exchange, where the overwhelming majority of the dealers were Jews. Even though there is no estimate of the value of the loss, there is evidence of the theft. At liberation, some surviving dealers received empty envelopes that apparently had been used when the gems were collected. The Centrale has some of these original envelopes, which show a stamp of the Third Reich, the name of the raiding unit, the name of the dealer and the number of carats taken.