The Gold Train

Book excerpt: In 1944, the great "Gold Train" headed west from Budapest, carrying gems, cash, furs, carpets, wedding rings, and even gold teeth -- all possessions stripped from Hungarian Jews before their murder. The Gold Train took on a legendary quality even as it steamed out of the station -- hundreds of millions of dollars in assets were on the move, accompanied by cunning, desperate, or gullible passengers trying to reach an illusory Nazi stronghold in the Alps. Drawing on a decade's worth of research into American, Israeli, and European archives, as well as private papers, eyewitness accounts, and other sources, Ronald Zweig tells the full story of the Gold Train. He introduces us to the large cast of players enmeshed in the drama, examines the myths that have developed around the journey, and places this incredible event within the annals of Holocaust and Cold War history, including its impact on restitution policies from the postwar years to today.