Posted on 03/12/2005 7:49:34 AM PST by Crackingham
Settling a lawsuit with Hungarian survivors of the Holocaust, the federal government agreed Friday to pay $25.5 million and acknowledge U.S. Army officers' plunder of Jewish valuables from the Nazi Gold Train during the waning days of World War II. Terms of the settlement were spelled out in hundreds of court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Miami. According to the court papers, the government will issue the public acknowledgment later this year after U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Seitz finalizes the settlement.
snip
The Gold Train, 29 boxcars laden with a three tons of artwork, china, silver, antiques and other Jewish heirlooms seized by the Nazis, left Budapest on Dec. 15, 1944, headed to Switzerland as Russian troops advanced. The train got as far as the Austrian village of Werfen, where the Nazis abandoned it. American soldiers captured the train on May 16, 1945. What happened next became the basis of the first Holocaust restitution case against the United States. The suit, filed in 2001, survived several legal hurdles, and last year Seitz appointed a mediator, Washington lawyer Fred Fielding, who had served on the September 11 Commission.
Under the settlement terms, individual plaintiffs will not receive any money. The court papers stated that the parties agreed it would be impossible to prove who had valuables on the train and impractical to divide $25.5 million among an estimated 60,000 Hungarian survivors.
Instead, $21 million is slated for charities and agencies serving the survivors, $3.85 million for legal fees, and $500,000 to set up historical archives. The government also agreed to declassify records pertaining to the Gold Train.
"This case was never about the money alone," Miami lawyer Sam Dubbin said. "It was about having a reckoning with history."
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Sickening. After we pay we should send them a bill for the cost of sending the greatest generation to Europe to settle their war.
This is another stupid "America owes me everything" tirade. (Not "I owe America everything")
These losers should just be happy that America liberated their families- consider the wealth on that train a payment for our services.
"$3.85 million for legal fees"
THERE IS THE GREED ELEMENT. Let's see the lawyers give their amount to charity - oh yeah, hell has to freeze over first.
3.85 million of my and your tax monies.
I will not be disrespectful of old people...
I will not be disrespectful of old people....
Gonna' have to rewrite all my history books.
(psssstttt, the story started out that American military officers robbed the train ~ just 'cause the Nazis stole it from the Jews didn't mean it was now available for our guys to pick through).
I agree totally. This would be the first time in history that people who were victims of war would be compensated by the victors who liberated them. That would make it potentially expensive to get involved in any liberating effort again. God help us if the Iraquis start nosing around this decision.
The soldiers would have thought it was just Nazi stuff, and fair game. How do we know for sure that it was all Jewish stuff anyway? Why are we always acting like we were the perps instead of the good guys? I'm tired of lame-assed apologies.
So, if the fire department puts out the fire and then the firemen pocket a few rings and bracelets off your wife's dressing table, that's OK with all the posters here?
The OFFICERS stole the stuff. They misused their authority for personal enrichment. This violates all sorts of American laws governing the conduct of our military.
There's nothing here that says these OFFICERS split the proceeds with the US government, and certainly not with the enlisted personnel in their command.
Stealing is stealing is stealing is stealing.
No, it's not OK with me, but there are those other guys. I suspect that with a couple of them the whole deal rests on the fact that the stolen goods belonged to Jews.
That is a shallow metaphor.
'No, it's not OK with me, but there are those other guys. I suspect that with a couple of them the whole deal rests on the fact that the stolen goods belonged to Jews.'
Not many on this thread, want to point out the ones you suspect or are you just trolling around some accusations. Remember, you need at least two to make up 'those other guys'.
If this thread goes on long enough you'll get to meet "those other guys".
Did they take it home with them to the USA or did they just use it during occupation? Stole is bringing it home.
We took over homes and cars, do we now have to pay rent? I still have a Nazi rifle and P38, who do I owe for those?
Stealing is wrong. No argument there. But this happened more than 60 years ago, the guilty parties are largely dead and so are their victims.
Neither the taxpayer who is being sent the bill nor the lawyers and agencies hitting the jackpot here were involved whatsoever in what transpired. That is just as much stealing as the original action, and just as wrong.
The holocaust industry scores again.
All I can do is suggest you see an attorney to answer such questions.
As a Jew, I have to say this kind of thing is sickening and just plain wrong. It's wrong on so many levels.
Spoils of war, friend.
"Thanks America, for saving my life- here's your bill and give me back all my crap that I lost 60 years ago."
Please.
The Nazis killed the small merchants, mostly Gypsies and Jews, who retailed the stuff for us.
This wiped out the family business.
I see no reason why Americans should compound the Nazi crimes against humanity with petty theft.
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