The Gold Train case settled for $25.5 million

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US to settle WWII 'Hungarian Gold Train' case for 25.5 million dollars

WASHINGTON, March 11 (AFP) - The United States will pay 25.5 million dollars to settle lawsuits over the so-called Hungarian Gold Train, the confiscated belongings of 800,000 Hungarian Jews pillaged and auctioned off after falling into US hands near the end of World War II.

Under a proposed accord submitted Friday to a US district court in Miami, the United States will create a 25.5 million dollar settlement fund, most of which will support welfare programs for Hungarian victims of Nazi persecution.

The Hungarian Gold Train was a 24-car train filled with gold, jewelry, art, silverware, dishes, carpets and other prized possessions, confiscated from 800,000 Hungarian Jews by the country's Nazi-controlled government in 1944.

As the Soviet army closed in on Hungary, Hungarian officials loaded the goods on a train and shipped them to Austria, where they were intercepted by US troops.

According to a report by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States, the train was ruled "enemy government property" despite evidence that it had been taken from Hungary's Jews.

While in the hands of US troops, some of the cargo was appropriated, stolen or sold, including allegedly cases of gold objects and two small valises holding gold dust. Military guards were suspected in the thefts.

Most notorious was the official requisition by General Harry Collins, the US commander in western Austria, who demanded from the hoard linens, glasses and enough plates, bowls and silver for dinners for 45 people and cocktail parties for 90.

The goods had to be "of the very best quality," Collins insisted, according to a history of the case.

After the war, despite claims registered by Hungarian Jews, the United States ruled that the original owners of the Gold Train goods were unidentifiable, and decided to sell them.

In auctions held in New York in 1948, a portion of the goods, including 4,000 carpets and 22 tons of china, decorative porcelain and tableware, brought in nearly 153,000 dollars, 40 percent more than expected.

Another part of the train's cargo, nearly 1,200 paintings, including a Rembrandt and a Van Ruysdael, were kept in Austria.

The accord submitted Friday will be reviewed for approval by a judge on Thursday.

Of the 25.5 million dollars the US government will pay, 21 million dollars will go to a social welfare fund for the survivors and heirs of Hungarian Jews persecuted in the war, four million dollars will be paid as legal fees, and 500,000 dollars will be set aside for an archive related to the case.

The US government is also required by the settlement to officially "acknowledge" the events surrounding the episode.

Jewish groups that took part in the suit endorsed the settlement in letters to the court.

"It is an important contribution on behalf of the US government which will help many needy former Hungarian Jews," said Gyorgy Sessler, President of the Confederation of Holocaust Survivors in Hungary.
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