First payouts distributed in WWII ‘Gold Train’ case

USA Today is reporting that “the first payouts have been distributed from a $25 million settlement with Holocaust survivors who lost jewelry, artwork and other treasures when a Nazi “Gold Train” was commandeered by the U.S. Army during World War II.”

The U.S. government settled the class-action lawsuit in September, and lawyers involved in the case said Monday that about $4 million had so far been paid.

Rather than trying to directly compensate people whose items were stolen, the deal calls for distributing money through social service agencies to needy Hungarian survivors around the world.

The train was loaded with gold, jewels, silver, china, 3,000 Oriental rugs and 1,200 paintings that had been stolen from Hungarian Jews by the Nazis.

It was captured by U.S. soldiers from pro-Nazi Hungarian forces in May 1945. A U.S. investigation found in 1999 that some Army soldiers failed to return items initially “requisitioned” from the train.