Feb. 26



USA:

Judge: US dragging its feet on Hungarian Holocaust papers


The federal government is moving too slowly on a request by Hungarian
Jews to examine Holocaust Commission records about a Nazi gold
train commandeered by U.S. troops, a judge said Wednesday.

The Hungarian Jews are suing the government, saying that the United States
illegally sold or distributed the contents of the train seized in 1945
days after the Allied victory over the Germans in World War II.

"Your superiors are dragging their feet," U.S. District Judge Patricia
Seitz told attorneys for the Justice Department and U.S. Army. "The
conduct is unacceptable."

Justice attorney Caroline Wolverton told the judge, "I respectfully
disagree."

Samuel Dubbin, one of the attorneys for the families, wrote the judge last
week to complain, "The United States still continues to do everything in
its power to delay further a proper accounting for its conduct."

The judge said she was concerned that Hungarian Jews with family treasures
on the train are elderly and getting older.

The families claim the government reneged on an agreement to pursue access
to presidential records after weeks of talks because a motion that could
delay the case indefinitely was pending.

Wolverton said she never backed out of anything and was "frankly shocked
and quite perplexed" by the claim because talks are still under way.

Attorneys for the families, Justice Department and Army are working on the
wording of an agreement for a records search to be performed by the
National Archives on former President Clinton's presidential papers in
Little Rock, Ark. Clinton had appointed the commission.

After prodding from the judge, the two sides said they hoped to have an
agreement by Friday. But Wolverton said she still must check with her
bosses before agreeing to anything.

"There needs to be faster movement on this. The plaintiffs are elderly. If
plaintiffs have a claim, they need to pursue it in their lifetime," Seitz
said. She noted witnesses to disputed events in the 1940s "are very
elderly as well."

The U.S. government asked to dismiss the case, but Seitz ruled last August
that Hungarian Jews and their heirs should be allowed to pursue the
lawsuit. The judge refused Wednesday to allow a pretrial appeal on the
dismissal.

She also prodded the Hungarian Jews' attorneys to file a new version of
their lawsuit before an April 1 deadline and told them to narrow the scope
of their records request to avoid "a fishing expedition."

The families claim riches seized from 800,000 people were loaded onto a
train that moved from Hungary to Austria to avoid advancing Soviet troops
days after Germany's surrender.

U.S. Army soldiers intercepted the 44-car train, but its 1,200 paintings,
3,000 Oriental carpets, gold, silver, jewelry and other valuables were
sold or looted without any compensation to the owners.

The survivors say the handling of the train's riches violated U.S. Army
policy and international treaties. The suit was filed in 2001 as a class
action to cover anyone with property on the train.

(source: Associated Press)






AUSTRIA:

Holocaust investigation: Jews had to pay for being deported


An investigative commission determined that looting by Austrians was
widespread, and very little compensation was given.

A report by an international investigative commission appointment by the
Austrian government determined that Austrian citizens took part in
widespread looting of property owned by Austrian Jews before the
Holocaust. After WWII, Austria did very little to compensate the victims.
Among other things, the 14,000-page report reveals that Austrian Jews were
forced to pay for their own deportation to concentration camps. Every Jew
leaving Nazi Germany, whether voluntarily or after being forced out
(usually by the emigration office created by Adolph Eichmann) had to pay a
flight tax and a Jewish property levy. The report did not estimate the
amount of these payments.

200,000 Jews lived in Austria on the even of the Anschluss, the 1938
annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. Of these, 130,000 managed to
emigrate, 65,000 were murdered, and only 1,000 survived.

The commission found that at least 59,000 Jews were expelled from their
homes. 18,800 out of 25,440 Jewish-owned businesses were liquidated by
1940, and given to Nazi party members or other Austrians. 90 out of 100
banks owned by Jews were confiscated or closed, and nearly 1,000 Jewish
non-profit organizations and associations were dissolved by the end of the
war.

Globes investigations and other reports have already revealed that the
Austrian government benefited from looted Jewish property for decades
following WWII. Some of this property has still not been returned.

The report confirms reports in Globes that Austria evaded paying the
compensation to which it was committed under its 1955 agreements with the
Allies. The commission said that Austria had justified its refusal to pay
by falsely claiming it had not cooperated with the Nazis, and had been
Hitlers first victim.

According to the commission, the survivors found it virtually impossible
to navigate the very complex and bureaucracy-laden process for
compensation and restoration of property. The commission added that the
laws were interpreted against the survivors in borderline cases. The
commission rejected the claim that Austria had done nothing to compensate
survivors and lessen suffering, however.

Only in 1995 did Austria begin paying a nominal compensation of $7,000 to
each of the 25,000 survivors still living, including those deported. Only
two years ago did Austria agree to budget $1 billion as compensation for
looted property. To date, Jewish Holocaust survivors from Austria have not
received compensation from any other source.

The Austrian government appointed an investigative commission only in
1998, long after most European countries. It was not until 1993 that
then-Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky apologized for his countrys
wartime actions, and admitted that the claim that Austria was Hitlers
first victim was false.

(source: Israel Business Arena)