Hungarian Gold Train - The "Gold Train"

The "Gold Train"

In late 1944, the Soviet Army was advancing on the Hungarian capital of Budapest. A government official appointed by the Schutzstaffel (SS) named Árpád Toldi concocted a plan to evacuate much of the Jewish loot out of Hungary. Toldi ordered large amounts of the loot onto a 42 car freight train that was to head for Germany.

According to various reports about the train, the contents included gold, gold jewelry, gems, diamonds, pearls, watches, about 200 paintings, Persian and Oriental rugs, silverware, chinaware, furniture, fine clothing, linens, porcelains, cameras, stamp-collections and currency (mostly US dollars and Swiss francs). Jewish organizations and the Hungarian government estimated the total value of the train's contents at $350 million in 1945 or almost $4 billion in 2007 adjusted for inflation. Other estimates of the contents' 1945 worth are from $50 million to $120 million or $570 million to $1.7 billion in 2007 adjusted for inflation.

As the train meandered throughout Hungary and Austria, it stopped occasionally to transfer a great amount of the gold to trucks. The fate of the gold on those trucks remains unknown.

In Austria, the train was eventually seized by Allied troops, first by the French Army and then finally by the United States Army near the town of Werfen in May, 1945.