Self-Financing Genocide: The Gold Train, the Becher Case and the Wealth of Hungarian Jews

The economic annihilation of the Jews in Hungary was facilitated by their collaboration with the German government, which attempted to assert its claim to confiscate Jewish assets. The story of the Jewish Gold Train is a small but emblematic chapter of this process, involving the freights assembling, German-Hungarian conflicts, looting attempts, and the fate of the assets seized by the Allies. The book analyzes the role of SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Becher, who administered and benefited from the confiscation of Jewish assets.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 440 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2023
Publisher: Central European University Press

The economic annihilation of the Jews in Hungary during World War II was a significant event that had far-reaching consequences. The Hungarian government, collaborating with the Germans, attempted to assert its claim to the complete confiscation of Jewish assets at all stages of the road leading to the extermination camps. However, the cooperation with the Germans proved to be the most problematic in this area. The story of the Jewish Gold Train is a relatively small but emblematic chapter of the economic annihilation. The circumstances of the freights assembling, the German-Hungarian conflicts concerning the train, the looting attempts, and the fate of the assets seized by the Allies provide the reader with an insight into the history of the repeated looting of the Hungarian Jewry. The book analyzes the role played by SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Becher, one of the most controversial and mysterious figures in the Hungarian and universal history of the Holocaust. Becher, delegated to Hungary by Himmler, administered and benefited from the confiscation of an enormous amount of Jewish assets.

Weight: 636g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789633861172