-Caveat Lector- Friday October 15 4:15 PM ET U.S. Army Looted Holocaust Treasures - Report By Mark Egan http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991015/ts/holocaust_usa_1.html WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High ranking U.S. military officers decorated their homes with treasures belonging to Jewish Holocaust victims and American troops stole suitcases of Jewish gold, according to a new report on the fate of World War II assets. The report, published this week by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets, paints a picture of seedy greed among the American military. It reveals that Americans profited from the silver, gold, diamonds, paintings, and even the furs and wedding bands of Hungarian Jews despite calls to return the treasures to their rightful owners. The preliminary report details ``The Mystery of the Hungarian 'Gold Train.''' In May 1945, during the last weeks of the war, U.S. troops seized a 24-railcar train in Werfen, Austria. The train was laden with a dizzying array of treasures, worth more than $200 million in 1945 dollars, which had been confiscated by Adolf Eichmann's Nazi forces from 800,000 Hungarian Jews. The report found evidence that Americans ``misappropriated'' some assets from the train and refused to allow the Hungarian government and Jewish community the opportunity to identify the property which the United States deemed ``unidentifiable.'' One letter from the Central Board of Jews in Hungary, sent to the U.S. Legation in Budapest, wrote that ``Hungarian Jewry suffered immeasurable losses in human life and property owing to Fascistic inhumanity.'' ``600,000 Hungarian Jews lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps,'' it said. ``The remaining valuables of the 200,000 Hungarian Jews, who survived, are on the 'Train of Gold' and we think the greatest injustice would befall these people if they could not get back even the remaining few valuables after what they have been through.'' U.S. policy stated that identifiable art and cultural material should be returned to the country it was taken from, even if like Hungary, the country was an Axis state. But despite pleas from the Jewish community, and assurances the property could be identified, the property was not returned and the chance to identify ownership never given, the report said. American Jewish Congress Executive Director Phil Baum said reports that wedding rings and other valuables of Nazi victims were stolen were ``shocking and disheartening.'' ``The U.S. Army valiantly fought to the death against Adolf Hitler to destroy evil, not to permit some of those who fought to enrich themselves at the expense of Hitler's victims,'' Baum said, adding that ``those of all ranks who did these vile acts'' should be disciplined. Furthermore, the report said more than 1,100 paintings were given to the Austrian government, in breach of U.S. policy, and many of the cultural valuables aboard the train, from silver platters to loose diamonds, were sold at auction in New York to benefit non-repatriable refugees. The decision to decree the assets ``unidentifiable'' was the key reason cited by the United States for not returning the assets to Hungarian Jews. That was highlighted by a 1948 cable from then Secretary of State George Marshall which stated that, ``U.S. Commander (Gen. Mark Clark) determined that the contents ... were unidentifiable as to owners and, in view of the territorial changes in Hungary ... restitution to Hungary (is) therefore not feasible.'' But perhaps the most shocking aspect of the report was the behavior of some U.S. military leaders who bedecked their homes with furnishings fit for a king from the train. The report made particular note of Gen. Harry Collins, commander of U.S. forces in the region, who adorned his home with a cornucopia of finery from the train. The report showed the general requisitioned items of ``the very best quality and workmanship available in the land.'' Among other things, Collins sought formal banquet chinaware and silverware for 45 people, glassware for 90 people as well as a mountain of fine table and bed linens. The report notes Collins was not alone. ``Numerous high ranking officers of the American forces in Austria appropriated Hungarian Jewish treasures found on the Gold Train for the decoration of their residences.'' The commission found no record of what happened to goods requisitioned by senior military personnel. In addition, other treasures such as watches were sold through the Army exchange and other items were stolen, the report said. One document revealed that among the thefts were ``two small suitcases of gold dust.'' 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