Lake Toplitz (German: ''Toplitzsee'') is a
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
situated in a dense mountain forest high up in the
Austrian Alps
The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent ...
, from
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
in western
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. It is surrounded by cliffs and forests in the
Salzkammergut
The Salzkammergut (; ; bar, Soizkaumaguad, label=Central Austro-Bavarian) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mounta ...
lake district, within the
Totes Gebirge
The Totes Gebirge is a group of mountains in Austria, part of the Northern Limestone Alps, lying between the Salzkammergut and the Ennstaler Alpen. The name ''Totes Gebirge'' is derived from the German words ''tot'' meaning "dead", referring to ...
(dead mountains). The Toplitzsee water contains no oxygen below a depth of 20 m. Fish can survive only in the top 18 m, as the water below 20 m is salty, although bacteria and worms that can live without oxygen have been found below 20 m.
In 1943 and 1944, the shore of Lake Toplitz served as a
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
naval testing station. Using copper diaphragms, scientists experimented with different
explosives
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
, detonating up to 4,000 kg charges at various depths. Over £100 million of counterfeit pound sterling notes were claimed to have been dumped in the lake after
Operation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard was an exercise by Nazi Germany to forge British bank notes. The initial plan was to drop the notes over Britain to bring about a collapse of the British economy during the Second World War. The first phase was run from early ...
, which was never fully put into action. In 1959, investigators recovered £700 million of counterfeit notes from the lake, that Hitler had planned on using to sabotage Britain's economy. There is speculation that there might be other valuables to be recovered from the bottom of the Toplitzsee. There is a layer of sunken logs floating half way to the bottom of the lake, making diving beyond it hazardous or impossible. Gerhard Zauner, one of the divers on the 1959 expedition, reported that he saw a sunken aircraft below this layer.
The area is only accessible on foot, via a private mile-long track that serves the Fischerhütte (Fisherman's Hut) restaurant at the western end.
OpenStreetMap map of lake Toplitz, showing footpath to western end
/ref>
Toplitzsee in fiction
Lake Toplitz is mentioned in the scene in the 1964 James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
movie '' Goldfinger'' where Bond receives the gold bar used to tempt Auric Goldfinger
Auric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Ian Fleming's 1959 seventh ''James Bond'' novel, '' Goldfinger'', and the 1964 film it inspired (the third in the ''James Bond'' series). His first name, Auric, is an adjectiv ...
(played by Gert Fröbe
Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'', as Peachum in ''The Threepenny Oper ...
); the bar is said to have been part of a Nazi hoard that was recovered from the lake. For Fröbe, this was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the 1959 German movie '' Der Schatz vom Toplitzsee'', where he also played the main antagonist – the undercover ex-SS officer who (within the context of ''Goldfinger'') had led both the placement of the Nazi hoard in the lake, as well as the post-war recovery operation.
In the 1981 TV series '' Private Schulz'', Lake Toplitz serves as a location where 50 million forged British pounds are being dumped by the Nazis; the scene in question, however, was filmed at a reservoir in South Wales.
The novel ''The Salzburg Connection'' by Helen MacInnes
Helen Clark MacInnes (October 7, 1907 – September 30, 1985) was a Scottish-American writer of espionage novels.
Life
She and her husband emigrated to the United States in 1937, when he took an academic position at Columbia University in New Y ...
involves Nazi secret files found in a lake in similar circumstances to Lake Toplitz (Finstersee). Lake Toplitz is mentioned throughout the book also. Finstersee is the scene of action and is also shown on slides in the movie, ''The Salzburg Connection
''The Salzburg Connection'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin, starring Barry Newman and Anna Karina . It is based on the 1968 novel of the same title by Helen MacInnes. It was filmed in DeLuxe Color and Panavision. The ...
'', based on the book.
The novel ''Not Alone'' by Craig A. Falconer stated that Nazis hid a flying saucer in the lake along with other artifacts.
The novel "Amber - A Dane and Bones Origins Story," Lake Toplitz is visited by the main characters as part of their search for the Amber Room
The Amber Room ( rus, Янтарная комната, r=Yantarnaya Komnata, german: Bernsteinzimmer, pl, Bursztynowa komnata) was a chamber decorated in amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors, located in the Catherine Palace of Tsa ...
.
References
{{Authority control
Austria in World War II
Toplitz
Totes Gebirge