Discovering the existence of a secret Swiss bank vault that once contained a portion of Hitler’s vast stolen treasure was a great relief for me.

           My ex-CIA father’s involvement with its management had been the source of suffering for three generations of my family which this treasure eventually destroyed.

          But his efforts did help save the American economy from total collapse by Nazis in Buenos Aires in the early  1950s.

           Exactly why he had been sought so diligently by the CIA eventually became clear to my father, Michael Angel  Socrates Makris.

          There were good reasons why he had been selected to engineer and execute the confiscation of a large portion of the greatest concentration of wealth known in the history of the world, which for years after the war would lie secretly in its dark steel and concrete tomb.

            Makris would later learn that the CIA  had known his father was Consul General from Greece to Mexico during WWII.

             The agency was very interested in his father’s  international contacts and connections made during such a critical time while he was rescuing people from war-torn Europe using his wits, bribery of Nazis and the fake passports to facilitate his missions of mercy.

            Neither the Axis Power’s activities in Mexico nor those of the Mexican heroes counteracting them there went unnoticed by the American government.

             Consul General from Greece to Mexico during WWII, Dr. Spiros Makris, my grandfather maintained a deceptively relaxed and usually informal atmosphere at the grand parties and balls he gave at the consulate.

              Using his position and  resources as a spy, journalist, and Greek diplomat, he designed these affairs to support his never-ending efforts to collect information to share with the American and Mexican governments.

            These  events produced relationships that were developed at many social levels. Some of these were Nazi operatives, confidants, and secret agents stationed in Mexico City and all over the world during WWII.

            His interactions with many in the global networks involved in covert and numerous rescues of people from the war would result in his contact with Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands who also involved in evacuating people out of Europe.

           Interestingly,  Bernhard was a highly honored  international  war hero yet he had also been a card-carrying Nazi and who knew Hitler personally.

            Hitler’s humble beginnings and struggle for world domination are well-documented subjects of history.

            But little is known about the financing of his rapid rise to power, how he paid for the war and what happened to the enormous quantity of money and assets he had stolen. 

            After he became absolute political ruler of the Third Reich, he turned his attention towards assembling a fund, a treasure, to be used to achieve his own ends.

            When Hitler froze all bank accounts belonging to Jewish persons in Germany, he culled through them to begin assembling this treasure to achieve his own ends.

            As the German forces advanced in Europe, Hitler employed an army of secret agents solely dedicated to cleaning out the captured banks and financial stockpiles.

            Gold, stocks, bonds, and obligations were added in mass quantities to the horde, which became the largest treasure ever amassed in history.

            Holland was a major financial center in Europe, with major exchanges in stocks and hard assets such as huge quantities of glittering diamonds, shining gold bars, and silver which Hitler’s agents went there to confiscate.

          In the mid 1930’s Hitler decided not to include Switzerland in his plans for the conquest of Europe. He decided that Switzerland would provide an excellent escape route if one was ever needed.

       However, as it turned out, it would serve a more important purpose. It was for the safekeeping of Hitler’s treasure!

         Hitler searched  Switzerland for a place to secretly store the incredible wealth that he had accumulated. He found what he was looking for in a small, inconspicuous bank located in Lausanne.

         Not only did the little bank exist in virtual anonymity—which was high on Hitler’s list of criteria—but it was also situated on top of an enormous underground vault that was practically empty at the time he took it over and filled it.

             Arrangements were quickly made with the bank’s president to effect a long-term lease on the entire vault, with the proviso that the German government could modify the structure to fit its needs.

            After six months of renovations, the German engineers had made it impossible to be penetrated and the fortune later placed there would remain safe for Prince Bernhard’s banker friends to manage this part of Hitler’s vast  stolen  wealth.

            Multimillionaire Michael Makris had been a highly successful stockbroker on Wall Street in the dynamic markets of the 1950s. 

            These skills which the  American government needed  caught the attention of  the Central Intelligence Agency whose managers  visited and  recruited  him  on a part-time basis     

           After signing him up, they sent him to their training center where he underwent intensive specialized testing and training to become an active agent in foreign economic surveillance.

            His joining the C.I.A. would tragically help to precipitate endless devastating legal battles and his eventual demise