 Dear Barry, I heard a wild story about a train filled with treasure that disappeared in Germany in the final days of World War II. Supposedly among the loot where a large number of rare carpets. paintings, and crates filled with gold. Have you heard about the train and if so what happened to the carpets. Best wishes, |
| Hello Tom, There was a train filled with Nazi treasure seized by American troops. Actually American troops and personnel looted Germany as best they could during the occupation. If you want to read about it try: "The Spoils of World War II : The American Military's Role in the Stealing of Europe's Treasures" by Kenneth D. Alford. The train I suspect you refer to was one filled with the household possessions of major Nazi leaders. What made this one noteworthy was that the loot was impounded, inventoried and then requisitioned by American Generals who used the inventory to furnish confiscated castles they made their residences. The key point is they signed for the loot and then never turned it back in. Currently investigators are tracking down the goods for recovery. The American rational was that it was Nazi loot and they did not deserve it back. But some of it appears to have been taken from concentration camp victims and should have gone back to the rightful heirs. As to the carpets there were no great treasures that I heard of on that train. They were primarily high class valuable furnishing Carpets. Certainly not on a par with the Rothschild Carpets that Christie's auctioned recently. I do not want to seem too hard on our brave American troops, in war soldiers loot. My great great grandfather became an architect studying the books he and his father looted during the siege of Atlanta Georgia. He was a soldier in General Sherman's army and his father was at the siege and subsequent looting as a civilian contractor with Sherman's Army. A large number of civilians were with the armies in those days in fact the father of a friend of mine ran away from home at age nine and spent the Civil War with the Union Army but I do digress. Best wishes, |
