Pressure Building on U.S. Over WWII Suit

[Rose Siding]

MIAMI - Bipartisan political pressure is building for the Bush administration to settle a lawsuit by Hungarian Jews who claim the United States plundered family riches that had been seized by the Nazis during World War II.
......
John Kerry (news - web sites) borrowed that line earlier this month in a statement calling for a quick and fair settlement.

On the opposite side of the political spectrum, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (news, bio, voting record), a Miami Republican, wrote White House strategist Karl Rove on Sept. 30, urging that the Holocaust survivors receive restitution.

Three survivors wrote President Bush (news - web sites) on Sunday, begging him to "step in and ensure that there is justice for the victims in the Hungarian gold train case."
.......
The Justice Department said last summer that the United States "bears neither the legal nor the moral responsibility" for the losses. In court papers, Justice attorneys said that Hungarian Holocaust victims, many of whom lost relatives to the Nazis and survived the war penniless, "lived generally prosperous lives" in North America.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=693&e=2&u=/ap/20041011/ap_on_go_pr_wh/gold_train

[jdj]

1. sounds like they do bear responsibility

The train and cargo worth an estimated $50 million to $120 million were shrouded in official secrecy until the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets (news - web sites) detailed it in a 1999 draft report.


In the waning days of the war, the Nazis sent 24 boxcars toward Germany, filled with gold, silver, paintings, Oriental rugs, furs and other treasures seized from Hungarian Holocaust victims.


Nazis, Hungarians and Austrians stole from the train along the way. The U.S. Army eventually seized control of the riches, but American officers helped themselves to china, silverware and artwork for their homes and offices, according to the commission

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So I guess 60 years from now we should expect the Iraqis to demand restitution for their looted museums. (I'm sure that stuff is beyond priceless, especially to the entire human race since so much of our history as humans took place in that area.)

[livinbella]

2. figures that Karl Rove is for this

I say forget about it

[Eye and Monkey]

3. If Herr Rove is for this, it's to sweep something under the rug -

something such as Granpoppy Prescott Bush's profiteering with the Nazis.