Friedrich Josef Rauch was an SS Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) in charge of the Führer's personal security at the Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery) after 1942 and was alleged to be involved in the disposal of Nazi gold in 1945.

Six foot tall, upright in bearing, an outdoor type without suspect intellectual pretensions, a keen and accomplished horse rider, skier and mountaineer with all the right political and nationalistic views, Friedrich Rauch was just the kind of man the New Order welcomed to its ranks.

On 9 April 1945, with the Red Army rapidly approaching, Dr Lammers persuaded Hitler to relocate the Reichsbank gold bullion, currency reserves and other wealth, to a safer location in southern Germany.

According to SHAEF regulations, Rauch should have been automatically arrested due to his SS rank, but he was not interned until 27 November when a special Counter Intelligence Corps agent seized and interrogated him at Tegernsee city jail.

Rauch soon "became a partner in a metallurgical firm by the name of Exact SCL, a company formed by Germans and based at Santa Rosa"[4] in Buenos Aires.