The Romanian Treasure is a collection of valuable objects which was given given to Russia for safekeeping during World War I, but it was never returned to Romania.

Contents

1 Historical background 2 Sending the Treasure 3 The Communist Revolution in Russia 4 The Treasure since 1917 5 Recent negotiations 6 References

Historical background

During World War I, as Bucharest being occupied by Germany, the Romanian administration moved to Iaşi, and with them, the most valuable objects which belong to the Romanian state. Fearing an eventual victory of the Germans, the Romanian government decided to send the Treasure abroad.

Among the ideas was sending it for safekeeping to the vaults of the Bank of England or even to send it to the United States, but there was the problem of transporting it there, since Germany and its allies controlled most of Central Europe and sending it via Northern Europe was dangerous, as the Germans could have intercepted it.

The decision had to be taken by the Romanian Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu. Although the great banker Mauriciu Blank adviced him to send it to London or to a neutre country, such as Denmark, Brătianu feared the German submarines of the North Sea and had chosen another ally of Romania in World War I, Russia using the argumentation that "Russia would feel offended if we sent it to England".

It's interesting to note that during World War II, the valuables of the National Bank of Romania were not taken outside of Romania, but hidden inside a cave near Tismana, Gorj county and from there, they were safely recovered after the war.

Sending the Treasure

The Romanian government signed a deal with the Russian government which stated that Russia would safekeep the Romanian Treasure in Kremlin, until the war is over.

At 3:00 AM in the night of 14-15 December 1916, a train with 17 carriages, full of gold bars and gold coins (around 97 tonnes) departed the Iaşi train station eastwared. In four other carriages, two hundred gendarms were guarding the train. The gold load of this train has as of 2005 a value of $1.25 billion.

Seven months later, in the summer of 1917, as the war situation was getting worse for Romania, another transport was sent to Moscow, which contained most precious objects of the Romanian states, including the archives of the Romanian Academy, many antique valuables, such as 3,500 years-old gold jewels found in Romania, ancient Dacian jewels, the jewels of the voivodes of Wallachia and Moldavia, as well as the jewels of the Romanian Royalty, thousands of paintings, as well as precious cult objects owned by Romanian monasteries, such as 14th century icons and old Romanian manuscripts. It also various deposits of the Romanian people at the National Banks. The value of this train is hard to estimate, especially because most of them are art objects, but most likely nowadays could even surpass the value of the other train.

The Communist Revolution in Russia

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the new Communist government of Russia refused to respect any treaty signed by the previous government. The Romanian government tried in 1922 to recover, but with little success. In 1935, Russia did return a small part of the archives and 1956 a part of the paintings and ancient objects. Most important and valuable part (about 40 of the 42 carriages), however, was never returned.

All the governments of Romania since World War I, regardless of their polical coulour, tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a return of the gold and of the objects with cultural value, but in the same time, all governments of Russia refused.

The Treasure since 1917

Very little is known about the Treasure after the ruling of Russia was seized by the Revolution, but it appear that during World War II all the valuables held by the Soviet state (and presumably of the Romanian state) were taken out from Moscow and sent toward the regions which were 'not endangered'. However, it is clear that they were not kept sealed, as the agreement with the Romanian government said, as the chests of the archives which were returned in 1935 were obviously rummaged and with many objects and documents missing.

Recent negotiations

After the fall of the USSR, the Russian governments' position toward the Romanian Treasure remained the same and various negotiations failed. The Romanian-Russian treaty of 2003 did not mention the Treasure, but presidents Ion Iliescu and Vladimir Putin decided to create a commission to analyze this issue, but no advances were made.

References

• Jurnalul Naţional: Special report on the Romanian Treasure (http://www.jurnalul.ro/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7362&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0) (in Romanian)
• BNR nu renunţă la tezaurul de la Moscova (http://www.severpress.ro/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=495) (The National Bank of Romania is not giving up on the issue of the Treasure of Moscow) (in Romanian)