Hungarian Gold Train

In 1944, Nazis ran a train to Berlin to transport the valuables plundered from some 800,000 Hungarian Jews. Gold, gems, diamonds, pearls, watches, about 200 paintings, Persian and Oriental rugs, silverware, chinaware, furniture, fine clothing, linens, porcelains, cameras, stamp collections, and currency were filled on a 42 car freight train. Estimated to be worth $350 million ($4 billion in 2007), the train was seized by Allied troops and that’s where most the most notable objects started disappearing. US Army auctioned the assets it received for just $152,850 in 1948. US government kept details of this train a secret until 1998 when President Bill Clinton prepared a report detailing the handling of the train's assets by the US and cited a multitude of “shortcomings” of the US restitution efforts. In 2001, a lawsuit against the US government was filed by Hungarian Holocaust survivors in Florida over the mishandling of assets on the Hungarian Gold Train. In 2005, the government reached a settlement worth $25.5 million. It is still a mystery what happened to most of the valuables on the train.