 Hundreds of millions of francs worth of this gold was monetary gold plundered from the central banks of occupied countries.581,000 francs of "Melmer" gold taken from Holocaust victims in Eastern Europe was sold to Swiss banks.Switzerland, despite being 70% ethnic German (Alemannic—other ethnic groups included 19% French, 10% Italian, and 1% Rhaeto-Romansch) was determined to remain neutral during the war.