Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 2003)
NEWS,., L ■ . ■ . 7A THE BATTALION Friday, December 12, 2003 Reparations sought in Nazi-era train looting Dan Z. Johnson • KRT CAMPUS agda Katona is shown in this undated childhood photo, taken prior to World War II. She and her usband, Andrew, hope to be part of a class action suit against the U.S. government for failing to pro- “d their valuables on the "Gold Train," which fell into the possession of American forces at the end of e war. By Jeff Shields KRT CAMPUS PHILADELPHIA — In spring of 1945, as teAllies were marching to victory in Europe, lagda Katona was riding a boxcar away rom Auschwitz, on a journey through Eastern iurope toward her hometown in Hungary. About the same time, another train was teaming in the opposite direction, out of lungary, away from the advancing Russian rmy. That train — later called the “Gold ’rain” — was laden with precious valuables tie Nazis had stolen from an estimated 25,000 Hungarian Jews. The loot, loaded into 46 rail cars by the iungarian Nazi government, was staggering. )n board were more than five tons of gold, rom gold bars to gold teeth broken out of tieir owners' mouths; nearly 700 pounds of liamonds and pearls; more than 1,250 paint- ligs; 5,000 Persian and Oriental rugs; and nore than 1,500 cases of silverware. I The Gold Train, or 29 cars of it, fell into ie hands of the U.S. Army in mid-May 1945 i Austria, and the treasure ended up in a alzburg warehouse. According to estimates, le treasure would be worth $1 billion today, he plunder and auction of those goods emain one of the dark passages of World War [.according to a U.S. commission that inves- gated the case. ■ This week, U.S. Sen. Aden Specter, R-Pa., will ask the Senate Judiciary Committee to ftonduct hearings into the government's Refusal to recognize claims of the Hungarian Holocaust survivors _ the first such claims filed against the United States. "I think we've come to a point now where we should have a Judiciary oversight hear ing," said Specter, who is a member of the committee. Specter is the first Republican to join the growing clamor in Congress over the Gold Train. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., has accused the U.S. Justice Department of foot-dragging, and 14 minority members of the House Judiciary Committee have called for hearings by that panel. The Gold Train is an "unexplained depar ture" from U.S. policy of returning property to Holocaust victims, according to a 1999 draft report from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States. In May 2001, a group of Hungarian Holocaust survivors filed suit in U.S. District Coud in Miami, seeking a maximum payment of $10,000 each. Their attorneys have gath ered a list of more than 2,800 people who have contacted the lawyers as potential mem bers of a class action. The list includes Magda Katona, now 83, along with her husband, Andrew Katona, 80. The couple emigrated from Hungary in 1956, arrived in the United States in 1958, and became citizens. They now live in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. The Katonas and others from throughout the United States and Canada are asking the United States to take responsibility for the loss of the valuables that belonged to Hungarian Jews. They point out that the United States has insisted on Holocaust repa rations from the Swiss, Germans and others. "The Americans kept telling everybody that they should be responsible, but then when it comes to themselves, it's a different story," said Gabor Somjen, 72, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor now living in Morris County, N.J., with his wife, Agnes, who is a named plaintiff in the federal lawsuit. Magda Katona was 23 when she accom panied her mother to the bank in April 1944 to "deposit" earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings, under order of the Hungarian Nazi Arrowcross Party. All Hungarian Jews | were forced to put their gold, silver and other precious items in banks and abandon their homes. Between May 15 and July 9, 1944, more than 437,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and more than 550,000 were murdered in the course of the Holocaust. Magda Katona lost her parents. Andrew Katona's mother and much of his family on his father's side were killed. Far away from the Holocaust and content in her retirement, Magda Katona told her story stoically, but when she was done, she announced, "I won't sleep tonight." After the war, while people such as the Katonas were staggering back to their homes to rebuild their lives, high-ranking U.S. mili tary officers in Europe were dipping into the Gold Train. Since the filing of the lawsuit, plaintiffs have obtained documents criticizing the U.S. actions, including a letter from the Army's fine arts officer in Austria, Evelyn Tucker, who was sent home in 1946 after complaining about the handling of the Gold Train. "From then until October 1947 the negli gence of this explosive situation was hardly short of being criminal," Tucker wrote in a 1949 letter to an Army official, included in an amended complaint filed this month. "There was no control then on what American offi cers sent home and there is very little now." Though the French returned to Hungary portions of the Gold Train's loot that it had intercepted, the United States ignored repeat ed pleas to do so. Instead, major parts of the cache were put up for auction in 1948 in New York to support war-relief efforts. A detailed inventory of those items has been made available online at www.hagens-berman.com, the Web site of the Seattle-based law firm that is leading the liti gation. The Justice Department and the Army have declined to comment, citing the suit. But in a Sept. 17 letter to U.S. Sen. Rick Santomm, R-Pa., _ who forwarded a letter from the Katonas _ Assistant Attorney General Peter D. Keisler said, "I can assure you that the Department is committed to working with the plaintiffs on these sensitive matters in order to reach a full and fair resolu tion of their claims." CaugfutiulatiGM ! T he Office of Honors Programs & Academic Scholarships proudly announces its Institutional Nominees for the 2004 Harry S Truman Scholarship Competition: Kassandra Dobbs rb® Anna Diller ^ ft* Molly Nixon /b® Laura McMullen ®<f» The Truman Scholarship is one of the nation's most competitive and coveted awards. Please join us in congratulating these oustanding scholars as they advance to the national level of this prestigious competition! Proudly Supporting Texas A&M University's Tradition of Academic Excellence: The Office of Honors Programs & Academic Scholarships A Department in the Division of Academic Affairs Tickets available at all Ticketmaster locations Alamodome and UTSA Ticket Offices Order By Phone 210-224-9600 He a face in the crowd when UTSA and Texas A&M meet for the first-time ever in San Antonio Be at the 2004 Svpeh Bowl Feb. 1st, 2004 Want to go to this year's Super Bowl? Think you know the teams that'll be there? Get there CHEAP. visit www.TheTicketReserve.coin I Lrieden am Earth ^ r ommcr id r Hacer Taces f%) ^ V A Peace On Earth ‘Understanding xkrougfi || ( a common fanguage... 4f&1 One of t fie greatest gifts you can give. 'pnaque - ‘TKacOUcC - 'SaTceiaua HHB INTERNATIONA! 1111 CERTIPIC VTE WWW.1TC-TRAINING.COM — The Perfect Gifts for Your Aggie Graduation! (acutal size) 14K Gold Aggie Pendant $ 24 95 Citizen Watches with Official A&M Seal Gold-Tone $ 179 95 Two-Tone $ 159 95 Quartz Movement. 3 yr. Warranty. Water Resistant. Available in Mens and Ladies Sizes Mail orders welcome! TAG-Heoer SWISS MAD6 SNCE I860. John D. Huntley ‘79 313B S College Ave. (next to Harry’s) 979-846-8916 An official authorized dealer for Tag-Heuer and Breitling. REITLING 1884 MOVE IT ON OVER TO... loupot’s | B00KST0BES I and get 10% MORE FOR YOUR TEXTBOOKS