The Gold Train: The Destruction of the Jews and the Looting of Hungary [Paperback]

Ronald W. Zweig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 16, 2003

In 1944, the great "Gold Train" headed west from Budapest, carrying gems, cash, furs, carpets, wedding rings, and even gold teeth -- all possessions stripped from Hungarian Jews before their murder. The Gold Train took on a legendary quality even as it steamed out of the station -- hundreds of millions of dollars in assets were on the move, accompanied by cunning, desperate, or gullible passengers trying to reach an illusory Nazi stronghold in the Alps.

Drawing on a decade's worth of research into American, Israeli, and European archives, as well as private papers, eyewitness accounts, and other sources, Ronald Zweig tells the full story of the Gold Train. He introduces us to the large cast of players enmeshed in the drama, examines the myths that have developed around the journey, and places this incredible event within the annals of Holocaust and Cold War history, including its impact on restitution policies from the postwar years to today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fabulous "gold train" of Budapest, filled with treasures stolen from Hungarian Jews, has long been a legend of WWII. More recently, it's been the subject of several lawsuits filed by concentration camp survivors. But the real history of the gold train has remained obscure, a situation Zweig corrects in this precise and sober-minded study. In late 1944, Zweig writes, as the Russian army was approaching Budapest, the Hungarian government (a puppet Nazi state) decided to evacuate the loot it had confiscated from its Jewish citizens. The treasure, worth approximately $50 million-$120 million in 1944 dollars, was secretly loaded onto a train and sent on a tortured four-month odyssey westward from the capital. At various points, the treasure was hidden in a castle, a bathhouse and in deep coal mines. In mid-1945, the train was captured by Allied troops, but the drama, Zweig shows, was only beginning. For years, the fate of the gold was subject to the political maneuverings and bickering of the Allies. Eventually, the U.S. gave its portion to Jewish relief organizations, which then transferred much of the funds to the Zionist movement in Palestine; the French returned its portion to the Hungarian government. Almost none of the surviving Jews who lost their property ever saw it returned. Zweig, a historian at Tel Aviv University, does an admirable job of untangling a complicated story and sorting fact from fiction in this fascinating subplot in the vast, tragic narrative of
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

At the onset of World War II, a large percentage of Hungarian Jews were fully assimilated and many were staunch Magyar nationalists. For the most part, they had been spared the rabid anti-Semitism so prevalent in Germany and Poland. Once hostilities began, the Hungarian strongman, Admiral Horthy, consistently resisted the efforts of his ostensible ally, Germany, to include Hungarian Jews in the Final Solution. In 1944, however, extreme right-wingers bowed to German pressure and ousted Horthy; Jews were stripped of their property and the deportation began. Zweig, a senior lecturer in Modern Jewish History at Tel Aviv University, recounts the Hungarian Jews' sad fate with eloquence and compassion, the slow but steady erosion of their security unfolding like a prolonged nightmare. The search for their stolen riches has the elements of a first-rate thriller. This work will be a fine addition to Holocaust collections. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (December 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006093512X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060935122
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,221,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent presentation of the facts, November 29, 2011

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Jackloveshistory - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Gold Train: The Destruction of the Jews and the Looting of Hungary (Paperback)

This book does an excellent job of sticking to the facts that are backed up by actual documentation and records. It also tries to take the emotion out of the situation and present what happened from a pragmatic perspective. It is a bit dry, but a good book for anyone that wants a good base for understanding the "Gold Train"

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating story, November 19, 2010

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Lecteur - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Gold Train: The Destruction of the Jews and the Looting of Hungary (Paperback)

This book tells the incredible story of a train filled with gold, fleeing Hungary as the Russians conquer it from the Nazis.
Full of riveting details and historical analysis, the research done for this book gives a wide background on the history of Jews in Hungary before and during World War II and provides with a detailed account of how Jewish property was confiscated by the Hungarian authorities, transported in a train to Austria, confiscated by US and French armies to finally disappear.