Turkey's relations with Hitler's Germany were good during World War II. Hitler wanted a neutral Turkey from which to secure valuable chromite. Turkey, without spoiling its relations with Britain or the USA, served Germany until 1944. In October 1941 Germany and Turkey signed an important trade agreement and others followed.
The so-called Clodius Agreement – by the German negotiator Karl Clodius who negotiated it – provided for the provision of war material to Turkey from Germany in exchange for Turkish products. Under the agreement, Turkey delivered to Germany iron, steel and a total of 135,000 tons of chromite , in addition to other products.
The Turks tried and still try to downplay their trade with the Hitler regime but the evidence is there. Also the Turks allowed German cargo ships to pass through the straits to facilitate ore shipments, bypassing the Treaty of Montreux. The Allies tried to stop exports of Turkish chromite to Germany by buying it themselves. However, the Turks have always had regard for the Germans as well despite the allied protests and the letters of the American President Roosevelt to the Turkish counterpart of Inonou.
How important chromite was for German war production is evidenced in his report to Hitler by the German Minister of Armaments Speer:"If the import of village from Turkey stops we have a stock for 5 months. The manufacture of aircraft, tanks, vehicles, tank missiles, submarines and artillery should be halted for one to three months…” This is what Speer wrote on November 10, 1943. Finally, Turkey, after intense Allied pressure, agreed to cut chromite exports to Germany by 50% and in April 1944 decided to stop exports altogether.
However, there was another parameter in the commercial relations between Germany and Turkey...gold. Turkey sold chromite in exchange for gold, gold that also came from conquered countries. It is estimated that, officially, at least 1/3 of the gold with which the Germans paid the Turks came from the conquered countries of Europe.
In 1947 evidence was discovered in the archives of the Reich Bank that proved the transfer of Belgian gold to Turkey in March 1943. Turkey also received German payments and gold through the Swiss embassy in Ankara which in 1945 represented the German interests. At the same time, the "laundering" of Europe's stolen gold and its conversion into Swiss francs took place through two German banks operating in Turkey.
At the same time, though, through Turkey, the Germans were also selling other valuable objects, stolen jewelry and works of art. In total, 339 kg of Belgian gold and another 904 kg from other "suspicious" destinations ended up in Turkey. Many more kilos came from the SS and were apparently booty from the tragic victims of the Holocaust.