Hungarian Gold Train - Fate of Valuables From The "Gold Train"

Fate of Valuables From The "Gold Train"

The official United States asset restitution policy agreed upon at the 1946 Final Act of Paris Reparation Conference and by the Five-Power Agreement for Non-Repatriable Victims of Germany was to sell ownerless property for the benefit of non-repatriable refugees. These agreements were the basis for the creation of the Preparatory Committee for the International Refugee Organization (IRO).

The US had a different policy towards works of art. In accordance with long-standing international agreements, the US has a policy of restitution that "looted works of art and cultural material will be restituted to the governments of the countries from which they were taken."

Shortly after the US army seizure of the train, the majority of the assets were transferred to a Military Government Warehouse in Salzburg. The paintings, however, were stored in a Salzburg Residenz. As ownership of the valuables was impossible to ascertain, the official US position, as stipulated by United States Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, was that the belongings were to be given to refugee aid organizations in accordance with international restitution agreements.

However, the Central Board of Jews in Hungary, an organization representing Jewish interests in Hungary, and the new government of Hungary, were aware of the American seizure of the train and lobbied extensively, and sometimes passionately, for the return of all the contents of the train to Hungary where they could be sorted in an effort to return them to their rightful owners or their family members. The US Government continually ignored the Hungarian pleas.

The majority of the remaining assets from the train were either sold through Army exchange stores in Europe in 1946 or auctioned off in New York City in 1948 with the proceeds going to the IRO. According to The New York Times the auction receipts totaled $152,850.61, or approximately $1.3 million in 2007 adjusted for inflation. Items of clothing allocated for Army exchange store sales that were considered of lesser value were turned over to a Division chaplain for distribution "to needy DPs" (displaced persons).

Some of the property from the train ended up in the possession of high ranking US Army officers who were stationed in Central Europe to oversee post-war and Marshall Plan reconstruction efforts. By requisition order of Major General Harry J. Collins, Commander of the 42nd Infantry Division (the famed "Rainbow" Division), many of the items were used to furnish his home. Other items furnished the homes and offices of other US military officers including Brigadier General Henning Linden and General Edgar E. Hume. The property included chinaware, silverware, glassware, rugs and table and bed linen.

The ultimate fate of approximately 200 paintings seized from the train is unknown. As they were deemed "cultural assets" under official US restitution policy, they should have been returned to their country of origin. That country should have been Hungary but the paintings somehow came into the possession of the Austrian government and their current whereabouts is unknown.