Have you ever heard about the Hungarian Gold Train that was captured by the USA?
There are many action movies in which heroes rescue the world on a train which carries something valuable from jewellery to nuclear weapons. In the Hungarian History, there were at least two so-called “gold trains”, and the one operating in WWII has a fascinating story.
About the “first Hungarian gold train” that carried Saint Stephen’s Holy Right Hand in 1938, the year of the Eucharistic World Congress hosted by Hungary, we reported in THIS article that a civil organisation tries to rebuild it.
However, this article is about another “gold train” that was meant to accomplish a very different task. It started from Fertődoboz on January 23, 1945. It carried, for example, the gold stock of the National Bank of Hungary, a large amount of foreign currency, valuable documents like the Corvina books of King Matthias, the platinum master bar of the meter. Moreover, there were gems, diamonds, pearls, watches, about 200 paintings, Persian and Oriental rugs, silverware, chinaware, furniture, fine clothing, linens, porcelains, cameras, and stamp-collections on the train, many of which were taken from the Jewish families in Hungary. According to contemporary estimates,
the “cargo” of the train containing 77 cars would be worth 4 billion US dollars today.
The reason why the Szálasi-government decided to take those out of the country was the swift advance of the Soviet troops. Furthermore, they wanted to finance their counterattack by using those valuables.
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The freight train had a crew of 213 people on board and was lead by Árpád Toldy. As it meandered through Hungary, it stopped at a few locations to collect other looted and confiscated items that had been stored elsewhere. On reaching a considered safe area close to the Hungarian-Austrian border, Toldy halted the train for 92 days to carefully document everything he carried on the train.
In January, they started their journey to Austria but arrived near Salzburg in months because of the massive bombings. Before the surrender of Germany, Toldy and his family left the train with a large amount of gold and
successfully got into Switzerland.
Later he was interrogated by Allied authorities; however, they shortly released him.
The train was captured by US forces 100 km away from Salzburg after the German capitulation. In the post-war era, it was almost impossible to preserve all the goods. Many officers took from the valuable items, and even the United States regarded it as compensation for the losses they suffered during the war.
Thanks to the efforts of the Hungarian government, most of the belongings of the National Bank of Hungary were given back by 1947. However, that did not include, for example, the works of art, the jewellery, the porcelains etc. – mostly confiscated from Jews – that
the United States sold at an auction in 1948 in New York.
Moreover, Austria received many paintings as compensation for the nationalisations in Communist Hungary during which many Austrian citizens lost their assets in Hungary. Therefore, it is understandable why many Jewish families still try to get back their belongings. For example, in 2001, Hungarian Holocaust survivors filed a lawsuit in a Florida district court against the United States government for the government’s mishandling of the assets on the Hungarian Gold Train. In 2005, the government decided to create a fund worth $25.5 million. The money was allocated for distribution to various Jewish social service agencies for the benefit of Holocaust survivors which they do even today.
Our featured image is just an illustration, but both gold trains could look like it. Still, this photo was taken in Ukraine, in 1943, after Hungarian soldiers rebuilt a bridge.
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2 Comments
Compliments to the Author – John Woods, fascinating story, but tinged with an awe of sadness.
No doubt there were cases of many, that besides loss of lives and other atrocities that occurred in these years this article refers, like our Government at the time, historical artefacts, in particular, the Gold Trains – are a significant History lesson to us
My favorite movie on Steam Trains and wooden wagon freight stock being used for movement of countries treasures in the 1939-1945 years is called – The Train, and could interest readers to view.
Stay Well – ALL.
The Gold Train story has more versions than ‘Carter has liver pills’ ! I suggest the ‘Real McCoy’.story, straight from the ‘Horses Mouth’ in a previous article in the Daily News Hungary. https://dailynewshungary.com/carpathian-folk-song-freedom-love-gold/ . Better yet, read the Book! It’s in Széchenyi National Library and on line on Amazon in English (also in digital) and Hungarian.. “A Carpathian Folk Song; Freedom, Love, Gold”.
My father was the MNB official carrier representative that risked his life to go 70 miles through German occupied territory to Salzburg. With the help of a German Commissioner (a Reichbank president), my father was successful in presenting the MNB official letter to the American Army that was sewn in his coat. The letter asked the Americans for protection of the 32 tons of gold reserves and National Treasures and to hurry before the Russian would get to it. The Russians were only 3 miles away from Spital am Pyhrn where the treasures were hidden in the crypt of the village Church. The only other treasures on the MNB train from Veszprem to Spital am Pyhrn were about 400 bank employees and their families.
I am interested in what Gary mentioned about the movie The Train. I would like to see some of the wagons and steam engines that were used on the trains since I don’t have any pictures of them.