Judge allows Jews to sue U.S. over Holocaust property

Knight Ridder News ^

[RCW2001]

Judge allows Jews to sue U.S. over Holocaust property

Knight Ridder News

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A group of Hungarian Jews, whose property was confiscated during the Holocaust and eventually sold off by the U.S. Army, will be permitted to sue the United States for damages, a federal judge in Miami ruled.

The 13 plaintiffs, including Holocaust survivors or their descendants, declared a major victory Friday after Wednesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz. She decided that neither time nor law exempts the U.S. government from accounting for its behavior in the case of the so-called “Gold Train.”

Seitz, in an 18-page order, said the U.S. Army was in a position of trust when, in May 1945, it intercepted the Gold Train, laden with $200 million in property, much of it gold, taken from Hungarian Jews after the Germans invaded Hungary. Therefore, it may be sued for breach of contract.

The ruling, which allows the case to go forward but does not guarantee victory for the plaintiffs, also says the government can’t invoke a statute of limitations because, Seitz wrote, “Plaintiffs were induced or tricked by the government’s misconduct into allowing the filing deadline to pass.”

“We are very happy now that we have won the first round and will have the chance to get the full information that was kept from us all these years,” said David Mermelstein, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who is one of eight Miami plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The litigation was inspired by reports issued in 1999 and 2000 by the President’s Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets, which details how the train, comprising more than 40 cars, was on its way to Germany when it was intercepted by American troops outside Salzburg, Austria. After lying in storage for a year, the property, including gold, silver, gems and other personal valuables, was declared untraceable by the Army, which subsequently distributed it to officers, sold it at auction, or gave it to relief groups.

“The work of the Holocaust Commission and archival records demonstrate that ... the United States failed to return these assets, did not truthfully respond to requests from Hungarian Jewish Community Organizations for information about the property, and concealed those facts for 50 years,” said attorney Samuel Dubbin, a member of the plaintiffs’ legal team.

[Texas_Jarhead]

the survivors should be glad they even exist!

[Seti 1]

We're always the bad guys

It doesn't have to do with bad; it's just greed.

[The Electrician]

We're always the bad guys, even to those who we help.

Come again? Are you seriously arguing that no US government action can ever be wrong? And that good actions by some sections of the US government therefore excuse bad actions by other sections of the government? What a slippery slope that is...

[lakey]

And I would expect that this just opened the door for many more lawsuits.

[The Electrician]

It doesn't have to do with bad; it's just greed.

Did you actually read the article? It sure looks like the greed, if any, was on the side of the US government's actions, not on the side of people trying to get back property that was wrongfully confiscated.

[robert0122]

It sure looks like the greed, if any, was on the side of the US government's actions Yeah, especially the part where some of the money was "donated to relief groups." Filthy greedy American soldiers...

[The Electrician]

After lying in storage for a year, the property, including gold, silver, gems and other personal valuables, was declared untraceable by the Army, which subsequently distributed it to officers, sold it at auction, or gave it to relief groups.

Looks like you "forgot" the part about distributing it to officers, or selling it at auction and keeping the proceeds. But even if 100% was given to "relief groups", would that justify the act of confiscating property from its rightful owners and refusing to give it back when those owners were identified? If so, it's frightening how much unchecked power you are willing to give to the government. Maybe you will be the recepient of such acts by the government in the future - then you can tell us how much you agree with government confiscation of private property.

[robert0122]

The "Gold Train" was worth $200 million dollars. 295,000 Americans died in World War II. That's $677.96 per dead soldier.

If the property really was traceable to its original owners, then of course it should have been returned. My point is that when you put it all in the balances, we gave a lot more than $200M.

[jackbill]

I sure as hell hope that these "Hungarian Jews" aren't living in my country.

[The Electrician]

It sounds, though, like you are all for having US soldiers looting and pillaging - after all, we gave a lot of lives, so at least we should get some loot in return, right? Does your largesse with others' property extend to their wives and female children too? That was the way that the Japanese army operated, among others. Would you have the US Army emulate their behavior?

[Arthalion]

Yeah, especially the part where some of the money was "donated to relief groups." Filthy greedy American soldiers...

You know, if the 40 boxcars full of gold and jewels had all been declared untraceable and given to charity, I probably wouldn't have a problem with this. But you have deftly trimmed off the FIRST part of that sentence: "...which subsequently distributed it to officers, sold it at auction...". Fact is, the U.S. Army, as an army of liberation, was supposed to be there to HELP the Jews and other oppressed people of Europe. What happened here was little more than looting. Were our WWII vets honorable soldiers fighting the good fight, or were they barbarians looking for plunder?

IF this really happened, it is our DUTY to see to it that these people are compensated for property improperly disposed of by our soldiers. I'm sure this was just an unfortunate incident perpetrated by a few dishonest officers, but it does NOT alleviate our government from the burden of paying them back. Just as an honest man should pay his debts, so should an honest nation.

[The Electrician]

I sure as hell hope that these "Hungarian Jews" aren't living in my country.

Really? Why not? What country is your country, exactly? I live in America, where the rule of law is supposed to operate. Maybe you live somewhere else where "might makes right" and "what is yours is mine" operates?

[robert0122]

I'm pretty sure "looting and pillaging" implies that the looters and pillagers are the ones who did the taking. In this case, that would be the Germans (or Japanese, in your example) who looted and pillaged. Does your largesse with others' property extend to their wives and female children too? Females are not "others' property".

[robert0122]

But you have deftly trimmed off the FIRST part of that sentence And you deftly trimmed off the FIRST part of my sentence where I said "some of the money". little more than looting It was the Germans who took the property to begin with, not the Americans. If the money really was untraceable, then that's just too bad for those who the Germans stole it from. If it turns out that these people can prove the money was in fact traceable and was theirs, then they should be labelled ingrates, deported, and compensated whatever they can prove was theirs minus the value of their (or their ancestor's) lives as well as the value of the American soldiers who died to save them and their precious money. What's with all the America haters?

[Revolting cat!]

A lot of former property owners, Jews and non-Jews, are returning to the post-Communist Eastern Europe to claim their properties which had been confiscated by the Communists. The way I heard it, in most cases they don't have to sue to get it back. Now, according to the logic and, uhm, "wisdom" expressed above the claimants should just be thankful to be alive and kiss the stone feet of the monuments of Soviet soldiers in their native countries, who (the Soviet soldiers) fought and died to, uhm, liberate those lands. Yeah, that's the ticket. The spoils of war will be the spoils of war. Me thinks those ungrateful Euro Honkies owe us the Eiffel Tower, Saint Peter's Square and the whole of Venice, to start with. Wait, we've already got some of those in Las Vegas.