Dec. 23



USA:

Pact: $25M Fund Created for Hungarian Jews


A $25 million humanitarian fund would be created in a U.S. settlement with
Hungarian Holocaust survivors who blamed Army officers for plundering a
trainload of Jewish family treasures seized by Nazis, but
no payments to people who lost family possessions are
contemplated, sources said Wednesday.

The money would be distributed to needy Hungarian Holocaust
survivors under a concept used in previous settlements of
reparations claims, sources close to the talks said on
condition of anonymity. Details were first reported in the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The settlement is secret and details are still being
negotiated, sources said. The U.S. government has not
committed to an acknowledgment of wrongdoing.

A final package is due before a federal judge Feb. 18.

Participants in the mediated talks have signed confidentiality agreements,
and the Justice Department and attorneys for Hungarian Jews had no
comment.

People who lost their family possessions had mixed views on
a settlement that would not satisfy individual claims. But
the United States has insisted it would be impossible to
definitively prove whose property was on the so-called Nazi
Gold Train when it was caught by U.S. troops in 1945.

``As usual justice will not be served,'' said Baruch
Epstein, whose mother had a receipt for gold coins and
jewelry taken from a family safe. ``I am a very strong
Republican, but sometimes the government, even your own
people, do not do exactly the right things. That's life.''

He said he might change his mind if the final agreement
included money for the study of Holocaust Jews or a
memorial to Hungarian Jews.

Well-established Jewish organizations have received funds
in past Holocaust settlements. Alex Moskovic, who lost 41
relatives in the Holocaust, noted some survivors need money
now because they may not be alive in five years.

``I agree with that concept. We have to settle this thing
now and get some closure,'' Moskovic said. ``To say to the
individuals, 'We'll pay you for the things your family had
on the train,' I think is an impossible situation. I don't
think it can be done.''

The fund ``wouldn't have been our choice because, at the
time, we felt that all that stuff was taken from us
personally,'' said David Mermelstein, a Hungarian who was
sent to Auschwitz as a teenager. ``But to have a closure,
that's what we wanted.''

A United Jewish Communities survey issued a year ago
estimated about 5,000 Hungarians were among about 122,000
Holocaust survivors living in the United States.

In the waning days of World War II, the Nazis sent 24 train
cars toward Germany carrying gold, silver, paintings,
Oriental rugs, furs and other household goods seized from
Hungarian Jews. French troops intercepted a separate cache.


Nazis, Hungarians and Austrians stole from the train along
the way. A commission appointed by then-President Clinton
concluded in 1999 that American officers helped themselves
to china, silverware and artwork for their homes and
offices. The rest was later auctioned.

(source: Associated Press)