Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 32. (Budapest, 2018)
Hilda HORVÁTH: Golddosen vom „Goldzug“. Die Sammlung von Hugó Hoffmann
On 16 April 1944, following the German occupation of Hungary, the government issued decree 1600/1944. M. E., ordering the declaration and seizure of Jewish property. Hugó Hoffmann deposited his boxes— along with other precious items—with the Hungarian Mortgage and Loan Bank in two instalments on 28 April 1944 and 1 May 1944. Decree no. 3840/1944. M. E. came into force on 4 November 1944. It required that all Jewish property be transferred to state ownership, which amounted essentially to the confiscation of Jewish property, the looting of members of the Jewish community. In accordance with decree 8306/1944, items kept in bank safes also needed to be handed over to the Commission for the Management of Jewish Assets. On 14 November 1944, the valuables Hugó Hoffmann had deposited with the Hungarian Mortgage and Loan Bank were seized. At the end of 1944, objects taken from the Jews, including those belonging to Hugó Hoffmann, were shipped on the so-called Gold Train to the west, to keep them out of the hands of the approaching Soviet army. Items were added to the shipment along the way, including objects that had not been owned by Jews; still, the majority of goods belonged to Jews who had been robbed and, in most cases, murdered. The Gold Train was escorted by government officials, armed guards and customs officers. At the end of March 1945, the Gold Train headed west from Hungary with almost 50 railcars and automobiles. On 11 May 1945, an officer of the American army took over command of the train in Böck- stein. Between 11 May and 19 July, the train was under joint Hungarian and American supervision. On 16 May it was sent to Werfen, where it remained for some two months. Finally, the shipment was placed in a warehouse in Salzburg. The Americans took control of the shipment without any written acknowledgment. Already the shipment had been looted, and under American supervision further plundering occurred. Tracking down the items after World War II Hungary led among European countries in goods lost during and following World War II. According to estimates, around 70 to 80 percent of artworks were destroyed or disappeared, and there was hope of recovering only a small fraction of them. After World War II, Hugó Hoffmann wrote several official letters trying to discover their whereabouts and reclaim his possessions. In 1946, he filed an official report. In early 1948, he turned to Sándor Jeszenszky, the state commissioner for artworks seized from private and public collections. Hoffmann attached the records of the estimated value of the boxes and a lor- gnon, documented with photographs, that had been prepared by director of the Museum of Applied Arts Károly Csányi in 1940. Thus began the Hungarian investigation into the issue of Hoffmann’s stolen works. The search for Hoffmann’s objects was fruitless until June 1948, when the Preparatory Committee of the International Refugee Organization, which offered assistance to destitute and displaced Jews who had survived the war, sold them at an auction. The information published in the catalogue was compared to the photographs and descriptions by Károly Csányi, resulting is a 101
