In has been revealed that the Bank of England played a controversial role in helping Nazis sell gold that was plundered from the then Czechoslovakia, a few months before the beginning of the Second World War in Europe.

The admission from the Bank of England comes as a new revelation linked to the dark time on the continent where millions of people lost their lives. The official history, which was originally written in 1950, was published online on Tuesday and shows how the central bank transferred the gold help by it to Germans even when there was a freeze on all Czech assets held in London announced by the UK government of the time.

The Bank of England said in the history that the entire episode rankled for some time but claimed that it has been widely misunderstood. The Nazi government of Germany invaded neighbouring Czechoslovakia in September
1938 and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) asked the Bank of England to transfer gold from the account of Czech national bank to another account belonging to the Reichsbank, in March of the next year.

The gold, which was about 2,000 bars, was apparently disposed in Belgium, Holland and London. The Bank of International Settlements was then chaired by Bank of England director, German Otto Niemeyer. The bank of England also sold gold to the Nazis in June 1939 with approval.

The history document revealed, "There was a further gold transaction on the 1st June 1939 when there were sales of gold and gold shipments to New York from the No. 19 account of the BIS. This represented gold which had been shipped to London by the Reichsbank."