Introduction

In the early 1920's, Max Ausnit, who became one of Romania's principal industrialists, took over a wire and nail manufacturing factory in Galati founded by his father, and built it into a steel mill complex called Uzinele Metalurgice Titan Nadrag Calan ("TNC"). It included a new steel mill at Ferdinand, now known as the Oţelu Roşu which, along with numerous subsidiaries such as Magazinele Unite, and Socomet, employed about 10,000 people. He had substantial holdings in the steel industry well beyond TNC, but all of his properties were commandeered by Romania's pro-Nazis regime simply because he was Jewish, and then again by the communist regime that followed. Max Ausnit was hunted as a Jew and a capitalist by a series of Romanian governments and fled Romania in danger of losing his life twice - only to now have his son and heirs subjected to the same bigotry and injustice, this time through the indolence, hostility, and prejudice of more recent Romanian governments. While the families of virtually every major Romanian industrialist have received acceptable compensation for the wholesale theft of their properties, the heirs of Romania's only major Jewish industrialist have received only a small part of what was stolen from them, and their major claim has been deferred and hindered by the apparent misfeasance of Romanian bureaucrats intent on depriving this family of what has long ago been adjudicated as rightfully belonging to them.

Romania Hides Evidence in the TNC Case

The restitution process for the shares owned by the Ausnit Family in TNC began in 2001 when, in compliance with the provisions of Law no. 10/2001, Steven Ausnit and his brother Robert - both U.S. citizens -- filed their restitution claim with the Romanian authorities. The Ausnit family then provided the requisite documentation that was at the time available to them to