Even if the train does not contain the Amber room, it is likely that Russia will make a claim to at least some treasures on board, according to a Russian lawyer, as compensation from Germany for the war. Mikhail Joffe told the Independent, “Representatives of Russia should undoubtedly be involved in determining the value of items … In this case. Poland is obliged to engage international experts to clarify what is in the cargo. If the property has been taken away from a territory, including the USSR, then the cargo, in accordance with international law, must be passed to the Russian side.” Polish Vice Minister for Conservation Piotr Zuchowski told the media, as reported by the Independent, “The analysis we have conducted with our lawyers quite clearly states that if the train is found, it will be owned by the State Treasury.”
Families of Holocaust survivors whose art and valuables were plundered by the Nazis are hopeful that the train may contain family treasures that have been hidden for decades. Included among items the Nazis regularly looted from Jews were priceless works of art, jewelry, bars of gold from vaults owned by Jews, silverware, including silver Judaica items, such as rare kiddush cups, which in many cases were family heirlooms. The Nazis were known to systematically dispossess Jewish victims prior to handing them over to concentration camps, and keeping their valuables. Trains were used to transport the valuables to other locations. Mary Kate Cleary of the Art Recovery Group told CTV news, “If this train was one of those trains, then it would contain materials from Eastern European countries, possibly from dispossessed Jews, victims of the Holocaust … we at our recovery group, in addition to other groups, would work to identify these objects and get them back to the victims and their heirs.” Robert Singer, head of the World Jewish Congress, said, according to the Australian, “If any of these items were stolen from Jews before they were murdered or sent to forced labor camps, every measure must be taken to return them to their owners or their heirs. We very much hope the Polish authorities will take the appropriate action in that respect. If no such survivors or heirs can be found, any gold or other property that is found to have belonged to Jewish families or businesses must now inure to the benefit Polish Jewish survivors who unfortunately have never been adequately compensated for the suffering they endured and their catastrophic economic losses in the Holocaust.”
The recovery of Nazi treasure from the train could lead to new claims by Holocaust survivors and their descendants, reminiscent of the 1990s lawsuit of the World Jewish Congress against Swiss banks that cooperated with the Nazi regime in dispossessing Jewish victims. The suit was led by Edgar Bronfman and involved class action suits in New York, California and the District of Columbia. Among the claims were that descendants could not recover accounts of Holocaust victims from Swiss banks because of the absence of death certificates. US government officials were cooperative with the claimants, and Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-NY, held hearings of the Senate Bank Committee, which had documents detailing the extent of the cooperation of Swiss banks during the war in holding assets seized by Nazis from Jewish victims. As a result of the lawsuit, $379 million was awarded to Holocaust survivors and their heirs.
The Nazis took gold from the vaults of victims, and also removed rings, jewelry and even gold teeth from Jewish victims at concentration camps, and then sent the gold to the Reichsbank to be melted down into bullion. Some of the gold was stored in mines, such as Merkers Mine, which was discovered by the Allies after the war. The Nazis transferred looted gold overseas for safe keeping, and this effort involved cooperation with some financial institutions, many of which have not been identified. American Thomas McKittrick, who was president of the Bank for International Settlements, willingly accepted Nazi gold and brokered deals for the Reichsbank, as reported by Adam LeBor in Tablet. He recognized the annexation of territories, and through this, facilitated the seizure of Jewish assets. It was said the Reichsbank referred to BIS as its only foreign branch.