Ian Sayer
[1] He currently acts as curator to the "Ian Sayer Archive", a collection of contemporary World War II documentation, which assists in providing information to institutions, other historians, authors and researchers of the period.
His father, Leslie, had found it difficult to find work (as a commercial artist) in the 1930s and moved to West London to secure employment shortly before the war.
Sayer had already rejected a number of overtures from Sir Peter Abeles' TNT Group who wished to acquire his company to spearhead their proposed entry into the British and European markets but Gordon Barton's Ipec Group were also interested in penetrating this market and, following an approach from deputy chairman Hugh O’Neill (now 3rd Baron Rathcavan) and his assistant Mark Thatcher (later seconded as Sayer's personal assistant), in the spring of 1979, he agreed to act as a consultant.
However, a considerable amount of the treasure had, in the meantime, simply disappeared, spirited away by a loose consortium of former Nazi and SS officers with the assistance of serving US military personnel.
From 1975 to 1983 he travelled to many countries, conducted hundreds of interviews and also received a series of threats from individuals who had been implicated in the disappearance of the treasure but wished to retain their privacy.
The bodies of Jeanette May and her friend Gabriella Guerin were subsequently located in 1982 but although Sayer was able to establish that he had no involvement whatsoever in the case he was interviewed by the Italian police and Scotland Yard on several occasions.
[8] The results of his investigation were published in the 1984 international best seller Nazi Gold – the Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery (co-author Douglas Botting with the London Sunday Times).
[10] In 1984 Sayer approached Jeff Rooker, MP for Perry Barr to ask a Parliamentary Question[11] on when Britain would be releasing several tonnes of looted Nazi gold still held in the Bank of England pending the resolution of a 1946 reparations claim against Albania in respect of the Corfu Channel Incident.
Sayers' subsequent enquiries established that Rooker's constituent had been a survivor of the Wormhoudt massacre, the murder of nearly 90 unarmed British troops in 1940 by members of the Infantry Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, during the retreat to Dunkirk.
Sayer recognised the officer as SS General Wilhelm Mohnke who had been responsible for the defence of the underground bunker complex in which Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
[13] Sayer had come across Wilhelm Mohnke in the late 1970s whilst conducting research for his book "Nazi Gold", but had been unaware of his alleged involvement in war crimes.
[15] In December 1969 he was one of 25 finalists in the London Evening News 'Personality of the Year' awards[16] together with Formula 1 motor racing champion Graham Hill, film star Ben Lyon and English test cricketer and later Bishop of Liverpool David Sheppard.
[19] In 1985 he was appointed to the board of British parcels carrier City Link Ltd playing a leading role in updating and modernising the company's activities and facilities.
Generally accepted as one of the world's leading experts on Third Reich documentation and signature identification,[21] he now acts as curator of the Ian Sayer Archive, making its contents available to institutions including the Imperial War Museum, other historians, authors and professional researchers of the period.
