The Gold Treasure of the National Bank of Romania Sent to Moscow and Never Returned – A Claim Older than a Century
The Gold Treasure of the National Bank of Romania Sent to Moscow and Never Returned – A Claim Older than a Century

Summary/Abstract: Our paper addresses the case of the treasure of the National Bank of Romania (NBR), weighing 91.5 tons of fine gold, which was shipped to Moscow between 1916 and 1917 to be safeguarded from the occupation armies, but ended up being confiscated by the Bolshevik power in January 1918. Because of Romania’s vulnerable position during the First World War, many other valuables of Romanian national heritage were shipped to Moscow as well, some of them being eventually returned by the Soviet Union in 1935 and 1956. The restitutions never included a gram of the metal reserve of the National Bank of Romania, even though the safety of the treasure during its shipment to Moscow, its secure storage, and safe return to Romania had all been guaranteed both by the Russian Imperial Government and by the subsequent provisional government. The failure of the treasure’s return had negative consequences on the stability of the national currency, the Romanian leu, as well as on the equilibrium of the Romanian economy, with significant impact on the bilateral Romanian–Soviet and Romanian–Russian relations for more than a century. Following the signing of the treaty between Romania and the Russian Federation in 2003, a joint Romanian–Russian Commission was established for the study of the issues arising from the history of bilateral relations, including the matter of the National Bank of Romania treasure deposited in Moscow during the First World War. The Commission convened five times in the period between 2004 and 2019, and the most significant progress took place in the meeting of March 2016, when the Russian counterpart accepted that the documents submitted by the Romanian counterpart are authentic and certify the fact that Romania deposited its treasure in Moscow, including the treasure of the National Bank of Romania. In 2023, the National Bank of Romania launched a new phase of its international awareness campaign concerning the matter of the NBR’s treasure in Moscow, in an attempt to raise awareness among the public and the European Union decision-makers who should see the matter as a valid and enforceable claim for Romania. In March 2024, the National Bank of Romania opened in the European Parliament in Brussels the exhibition The Gold Treasure of the National Bank of Romania Sent to Moscow and Never Returned – A Claim Older Than a Century. On 14 March 2024, the European Parliament adopted the Resolution on the return of Romanian national treasure illegally appropriated by Russia, requesting the Russian Federation to return the treasure of the National Bank of Romania in its entirety.

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