e-mail newsletter
contact us
site map
e-mail page
print pageAllocation Types
Shoah Research, Education and Documentation
Funding Sources and Grant Lists
Claims Conference Successor Organization
Swiss Banks Settlement Looted Assets Class
International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims
Allocations for In-Home Services: German Government Negotiations
Hungarian Gold Train Settlement
Nazi Persecutee Relief Fund Grants for 2008-2009
Related items:
Agencies to Contact for Social Services
Hungarian Gold Train Settlement Overview
View the 2006 Hungarian Gold Train Settlement Allocations
Institutional Allocations to Assist Survivors
The Hungarian Gold Train Settlement
View the list of 2009 allocations from the Hungarian Gold Train Settlement
In 2005, a settlement was reached in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Patricia Seitz presiding, in a class-action lawsuit brought by Jewish Hungarian Holocaust survivors against the United States government regarding the handling of property contained on the “Hungarian Gold Train.”
The Hungarian Gold Train consisted of approximately 24 freight cars that contained personal property seized, confiscated or stolen from Hungarian Jews during World War II by the Nazi regime and its collaborationist Hungarian government. The train came into the possession of the U.S. military in Austria soon after the war’s end. In 1999, the Presidential Commission on Holocaust Assets in the U.S. concluded that the U.S. had not handled the contents of the train correctly.
As part of the Settlement, the U.S. government agreed to pay $25 million, of which $21 million is being used to fund social welfare projects over a period of five years. These projects are designed to benefit Jews who are today in need, were born before May 8, 1945, and who lived in the 1944 borders of Greater Hungary some time between 1939 and 1945. The Claims Conference is administering emergency assistance and other social welfare allocations on behalf of, and under supervision of, the Court.
To date, $16.8 million has been allocated to 27 agencies in seven countries, including $4.2 million for 2009.
The U.S. government is paying $500,000 to ensure that documents and materials relating to the Hungarian Gold Train and other property belonging to Holocaust victims are declassified and open to public inspection.
The Claims Conference implemented the notice program to Class Members concerning the preliminary Settlement. The Claims Conference also participated in negotiations leading to the Settlement.