This is an essential timeline of the events related to the international dispute on the handling and recovering of the Holocaust assets, with a special focus on Switzerland. It is constantly updated.
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30.6.98 -- The lawyers of the Holocaust survivors have filed a class-action suit against the Swiss National Bank. The bank's gold reserves in the US could be blocked. Meanwhile, the WJC is still looking for an out-of-court settlement in the amount of $1.5 billion.
30.6.98 -- Backed by "La Liberté" newspaper, Swiss citizens have launched a fund-raising campaign for Joseph Spring after the Federal Council turned down his request for a compensation sum last week.
29.6.98 -- The pending law to boycott Swiss banks introduced at the New Jersey Senate will not be discussed before next Fall. Contrary to what was scheduled, the Banking Committee did not discuss this point during their last meeting before the Summer break.
26.6.98 -- Gizella Weisshaus, one of Ed Fagan's clients and one of the most well-known Holocaust survivor, sent two letters to an American judge requesting a new
the appointment of a new lawyer. Weisshaus claims Fagan does not keep plaintiffs (his clients) informed and serves the interest of the Jewish organisations before the Holocaust survivors'.
24.6.98 -- A group of Swiss parliament members have proposed to their colleagues to pay Joseph Spring 300 francs each, representing a daily indemnity, following the fact that the Auschiwtz survivor's demand for compensation was turned down by the Federal Council.
24.6.98 -- The Independent Commission of Experts, known also as the "Bergier commission", has opened its Web site. It is at http://www.uek.ch. The recent Intermediate Report on Gold Transaction is available there.
23.6.98 -- The Federal Council has drafted the legal framework for the creation of a Swiss Solidarity Foundation and has submitted the project to diverse interest groupe for their views, a process called "consultation". [press release] According to the draft, victims of the Holocaust will be among its beneficiaries. The objective of the foundation is to promote solidarity, equally between Swiss and foreigners, by transferring part of the National Bank's gold reserves (approximately 7 billion francs, which would yield 300 millions francs interest per year). This amount should benefit projects such as those against poverty, violence, racism, discrimination or come in aid to developping countries; it is not intended to be paid out to single
individuals. The project is described as a "political act by which Switzerland acknowledges and is grateful for 150 years of peace and democracy".
23.6.98 -- The Swiss Federal Council has refused the request for 100'000 francs as compensation to Joseph Spring. A Holocaust survivor, in 1943 Spring was refused entry into Switzerland and was then captured by the nazis and interned in Auschwitz. Though the episode is "distressing", the governement wrote, Spring request was refused because it was not based on any "solid legal ground". Spring's lawyer is appealing.
23.6.98 -- Talks in Washington between Swiss banks, Jewish organizations and Holocaust victims' lawyers have not made any kind of breakthrough. According to Reuters, the banks have said they could increase their offer from 600 up to 700 million dollars, whereas the jewish organizations are asking for $1.5 billion. The discussions however, mediated by Stuart Eizenstat, will continue.
19.6.98 -- Switzerland's three biggest banks -- Credit Suisse, SBC and UBS -- offered $600 million (about 900 million francs) to settle claims that they stole the assets of Holocaust victims. The banks called it a fair figure and their top offer, while Jewish leaders said it is insultingly low. It is the first time the banks specify a figure for a possible settlement. The $600 million offer would include $70 million already paid into a Swiss fund to help needy Holocaust survivors, the banks said, but won't include the payments that may be decided by the international commission chaired by Mr. Volcker, which could more than double the total settlement figure at about $1.5 billion. The claimants' groups accused the banks of violating a confidentiality agreement, yet the banks said they were breaking their silence after two months of negotiations, mediated by US Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, because of repeated news leaks by Jewish organizations and the claimants' lawyers attempting to create a misleading general impression of the banks rejecting any agreement.
18.6.98 -- The Swiss national bank acknowledged the criticism in the recent Bergier Commission's report but will not consider a settlement to avoid a class-action lawsuit. "We will oppose any such lawsuit", confirmed in Geneva the VP of SNB, Jean-Pierre Roth. "We question the jurisdiction of US courts with regard to this matter".
18.6.98 -- In an interview with a Swiss magazine, US lawyer Michael Hausfeld said that he was considering requesting the block of the gold reserves held by the SNB in the United States, which amounts to approximately one million ton of gold.
15.6.98 -- The Swiss Federal Council will not pursue legal action against the Simon Wiesenthal Center. In replying to several members of the parliament who wanted to know what the government's intentions were in responding to the accusions published last week, president Flavio Cotti said that they have already denounced the "perfidty and absurdity" of the report. The Federal Council will not enter into a debate on this matter, it would be giving it too much importance.
15.6.98 -- New orientation for the funds of the "Swiss Solidaire" Foundation. After dismissing aid to Holocaust victims from its objectives, the Federal Council now intends to allocate part of these funds to nazi-caused dramas. This idea was already outlined in Arnold Koller's speech in front of Parliament in Mars 97, but was abandoned under pressure from the right-wing parties. The Swiss government said it will publish the details of the project before July 7.
15.6.98 -- Member of Parliament Remy Scheurer has asked the Swiss government to publish the names of all refugees, Jews and non Jews that were welcomed in Switzerland during WW2 (approxiamtely 62'000).
15.6.98 -- In a speech in Jerusalem, US Under Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstat praised Switzerland highly: "no other country has done so much in seeking
the historical truth", he said. He also confirmed that the discussions between the Swiss major banks, the Jewish organizations and the Holocaust survivors' lawyers have come to a deadlock, but a new meeting is scheduled June 23 in Washington.
10.6.98 -- Two of the most well-known members of the jewish community in Switzerland, member of Parliament François Loeb and honorary president of the Zurich Jewish Community, Sigi Feigel, are considering filing a class action lawsuit (or having it filed by Swiss residents in the US) against the Sam Wiesenthal Center for libel, demanding financial repair, following Alan Schom's report published yesterday accusing Switzerland of having been pro-nazi in the the 30s and 40s.
10.6.98 -- The right wing parties have violently criticized during the current Swiss parliament's session the Foundation "Swiss Solidaire"'s project, stating that "it is only going to indicate to the world there is alot more money to be had from Switzerland" (the Foundation should be funded with approximately 7 billion francs)
10.6.98 -- According to a German newspaper, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Ignaz Bubis, predicts that Holocaust victims and their heirs will soon file class-action suits againts British and American banks where heirless accounts can also be found, as is the case in Switzerland.
10.6.98 -- The Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles released a report by historian Alan Morris Schom titled "A Survey of Nazi and Pro-Nazi Groups in Switzerland 1930-45" stating that during WW2 "every Swiss canton and the Swiss elite" were completely infiltrated by nazi, fascist or extreme right mouvements. Schom had already published a very superficial document at the beginning of the year on Swiss alleged "slave camps". His new report has been qualified as "undefendable", "perfidious" and "absurd" by Swiss authorities. François Loeb, a jewish memeber of the Swiss parliament reacted to the first report by sending the Wiesenthal Center dozens of written testimonies of Holocaust survivors which disproved the historian's allegations. "I was never answered. These people are not looking for the truth", he said to the press. Nazihunter Simon Wiesenthal (who has almost no ties to the institute that bears his name) distanced himself from the report, describing Schom as an "amateur historian".
4.6.98 -- The State of New York's Banking Committee has approved the merger of SBC and UBS. The Swiss governement had intervened by diplomatic channel so that the decision was made according to the law and was not delayed "for politic reasons", ie. to settle the Holocaust asset issue.
4.6.98 -- Avraham Hirschson, member of the Israeli parliament, asked Swiss president Flavio Cotti in a letter to remove from his present position the head of the Swiss taskforce on Holocaust assets, Thomas Borer, who -- Hirschson accused -- made anti-semitic comments by saying he was "disgusted" by the jewish organizations' financial demands. The Swiss government categorically rejected the request.
3.6.98 -- US lawyer Ed Fagan filed class-action suits against German banks Deutsche and Dresdner in New York. The plaintiffs are demanding $18 billion from the banks for their dealings with gold coming from Holocaust victims during WW2.
2.6.98 -- Publication of the second Eizenstat Report. The report suggests that European countries that were neutral in WW2 played as crucial a part as Switzerland in sustaining the Nazi war effort, with hundreds of millions of dollars of trade in key materials such as iron ore (Sweden), tungsten (Spain and Portugal) and chromite (Turkey), "in many cases well past the point where there was a genuine threat of a German attack" against these countries. Much of it was paid for by gold looted from banks and taken from Holocaust victims. While the majority of the looted gold passed through Switzerland, in all the five neutral countries considered in the report (the above mentioned plus Argentina) handled $500 million in assets for the German government and its citizens during WW2 and dealt in $300 million in looted gold. The report also includes some criticism of the US attitude, since most of the neutral countries accepted more Jewish refugees than the US -- "America's response to the early stages of the slaughter of European Jews was largely one of indifference", Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat told the AP -- and calls for greater openness by the Vatican. The report singles out Switzerland for "conducting the most searching national debate" on its own past.
30.5.98 -- The Center Democratic Union, one of the four political parties of the Swiss government, said that the money obtained from the upcoming revaluation of the SNB gold reserves must only benefit the Swiss social security program and not the Swiss Solidarity Foundation. "We will not give in to blackmail, nor will we wave banking secrecy ", said the president of the party.
27.5.98 -- Reactions to the Bergier report. The Federal Council says it is "very upset" over the 119.5 kilos of "victims gold" but is waving all ulterior claims based on these findings. The Swiss political parties estimate that the SNB should have expressed its regrets in a more forceful manner but add that financially, the SNB has more than compensated. The vice-president of the SNB, Jean-Pierre Roth as well as several historians have criticized the simplifications and politico-moral distortions published in the introduction and the conclusions of the report: "If you read the report, it comes through quite clearly that the SNB's leaders felt that in no way this was "business as usual" as stated in the conclusion; it was war and the issues raised then were not the same as today", stated a Swiss historian. US lawyer Michael Hausfeld confirmed his intention of filing a class-action suit against the SNB. WJC's executive director Elan Steinberg commented that a "refusal from the SNB and the Federal Council to reconsider the issue of moral and material repair would be a treason to the Swiss people".
25.5.98 -- Publication of the intermediary report on Nazi gold by the expert commission chaired by historian Jean-François Bergier [overview in English | Conclusions en français | Auszüge auf Deutsch]. The 200-pages report stated that the Swiss National Bank knew that some gold sent to Switzerland by the Nazis had been looted from occupied countries and confirmed allegations that the gold included about 119.5 kilograms stolen from Holocaust victims -- although it states that SBN officials did not know about the source of the latter. The head of the panel criticized wartime SBN responsibles for making no attempts to trace the origins of the gold, even though starting in 1941 they "became increasingly aware that Jews and other persecuted groups were being robbed" and in 1943, at the latest, the SNB had knowledge of the systematic extermination of victims of the Nazi regime. Overall, the report estimated that Switzerland's central bank had bought gold worth $280 million in wartime dollars from the Nazis, while in a first statistical document published last December, the same commission had estimated at $61,2 million the amount of nazi gold acquired by the Swiss commercial banks. The final report of the panel led by Bergier should be published in 2001.
21.5.98 -- The Federal Council has hardened its position with regard to the New Jersey boycott. For the first time, the Council has taken a diplomatic initiative towards the United States, outlining the contradiction between the US Federal governement's position and the position taken by several US States.
21.5.98 -- The Baloise insurance company has signed the agreement to implement an international commission which would examine heirless insurance policies. The agreement was signed April 8th by four other Euroepan companies, amongst which is Zurich Insurances.
20.5.98 -- In front of the Swiss Federation of Isrealites Communities, Swiss minister Moritz Leuenberger thanked the Swiss Jews for taking a clear position with regard to the debate over Switzerland's past behaviour. The Swiss Jews criticized amongst other statements some of the positions taken by the WJC.
19.5.98 -- The Swiss banks, the Holocaust victims and survivors' lawyers and the jewish organizations have set a deadline of June 30th to review the situation and to come up with a global agreement, according to Michael Hausfeld on Swiss Television. Five meetings are scheduled before the end of June.
19.5.98 -- Swiss President Flavio Cotti took part in the inauguration of the new synagogue of the University of Tel-Aviv, drawn by Swiss architect Mario Botta.
19.5.98 -- Swiss banks have protested against the boycott measures taken by the State Parliament of New Jersey. They stated that these measures are an obstruction to the ongoing negociations and make it more difficult to come to a global agreement on the Holocaust assets issue. According to a spokesperson from Credit Suisse, the sactions are like "a knife in the Stuart Einzenstat's back" who is currently the mediator between the banks and the jewish organizations. The boycott is in violation of the moratorium agreed upon in March when the three large Swiss Banks agreed to the principal of a global settlement.
18.5.98 -- The Parliament of New Jersey adopted unanimously a law which forbids the State to invest funds in Swiss banks or use their services. The law has still to be ratified by the Senate and signed by the State's governor. The Federal Council is considering appealing to international law and to the WTO, but is not considering retortive measures.
18.5.98 -- In a discussion with Swiss ministers Ruth Dreifuss and Pascal Couchepin in Geneva, president Bill Clinton stated "very clearly" that he opposes all boycott measure against Swiss banks. He added that he considered theses measures "counter-productive".
18.5.98 -- According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, during negociations for the 1946 Washington agreement, the Americans had a spy in the Swiss camp. A member of the Swiss parliament informed the Americans of the strategy adopted by the Swiss delegation. These allegations are based on an OSS document (ancestor to the CIA) dated April 4, 1946 and recently discovered.
17.5.98 -- According to Israeli magazine "Globes", the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) demanded the participation of both the Swiss governemnent and the National Bank in an eventual global settlement of the Holocaust assets issue. The organization threatened to file another class-action suit if an agreement is not reached by June 30th. The Swiss government and the SNB have already stated several times that they have no intention to participate in a global agreement, which regards the Swiss banks.
15.5.98 -- After being delayed several times, the report of the Bergier Commission on Nazi gold will be published on Monday May 25 in Zurich in 4 languages, French, German, Italien and English.
15.5.98 -- The president of the Swiss Confederation Flavio Cotti has left for the Middle East. On Sunday May 17 and Monday May 18 he will meet Israeli President Ezer Weizman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is the first time since 1985 that a Swiss minister travels to the Middle East.
14.5.98 -- According to a poll published by the Swiss press, 69,5% of the Swiss population would be in favor of the creation of a "Swiss Solidarity" Foundation, while 22,5% would be against it.
13.5.98 -- Reuters wrote negotiations among Swiss banks, the WJC and lawyers for Holocaust victims about a global settlement of claims against the banks are making progress, but obstacles remain, including banks' worries that any settlement may not put a final end to huge financial claims.
13.5.98 -- The European section of the WJC means to part with their vice-president Michael Kohn following the comments he made in an interview published today (below) where he criticized the WJC's attitude towards Switzerland. Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary of the WJC, made a statement along those lines that was released during a press conference in Zurich.
13.5.98 -- In an interview with the Tribune de Genève daily, Michael Kohn, former president of the Swiss Federation of Isrealites Communities and VP of the European section of the WJC, stated that "when looking back, former Swiss President Delamuraz was not wrong" when he said in December 96 that Switzerland was being "blackmailed". "With regard to the Holocaust assets, money has taken precedence over ethics " he added, referring to the WJC's "agressive methods".
12.5.98 -- In front of the Commission for Foreign Policy of the Swiss Parliament in Bern, the secretary of the WJC, Israel Singer presented in very diplomatic terms apologies for WJC president Edgar Bronfman's verbal statements. "We apologise for any misundertanding this may have provoked" he said in a declaration that, according to the president of the Commission, Francois Lachat, had been discussed and negociated beforehand.
8.5.98 -- Former Swiss Secretary of State Edouard Brunner said in an interview with the weekly magazine Cash that the three big Swiss banks should not be alone in negociating towards a global settlement. He suggested that the government should nominate an intermediary, "the Swiss equivalent to Stuart Eizenstat".
5.5.98 -- The merger between UBS and SBS has been formally cleared by the Swiss anti-trust commission.
5.5.98 -- The Parliament of Saing-Gall (Eastern Switzerland) has approved a credit of 1,3 million francs for the creation of a "Paul Grüninger Foundation". Grüninger was the former local police chief who helped hundreds of Jews enter Switherland and remain as refugees.
5.5.98 -- Barbara Ekwall-Uebelhart, 43, is the new executive secretary of the Special Fund for Holocaust victims. She replaces Marco Sassoli.
5.5.98 -- UBS has asked the New York State Supreme Court to dismiss a suit filed against them by former security guard Christoph Meili, claiming $2,6 billion in damages. The bank argued that this matter is not the concern of the Amercan courts.
4.5.98 -- According to the Swiss press, Credit Swiss is likely to pay a settlement of $500'000 to Estelle Sapir, 72, a New York woman whose father allegedly deposited $82'000 in the Swiss bank before WW2. Mrs Sapir was unsuccesful in claiming this account as she was unable to produce a death certificate per the bank's request. Her father died in a concentration camp. Until a few weeks ago, Sapir was expecting to get $50'000 from CS. The bank confirmed the agreement but didn't comment on the figure quoted in the news reports.
1.5.98 -- After meeting the Swiss President Flavio Cotti, representatives of the Swiss Federation of Isrealites Communities confirmed that it would be reckless for the Swiss government to cave into the political pressure and end up co-signing or supporting a global agreement between the banks and the US plaintifs.
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