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May 25, 1946
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Switzerland and the Allied powers sign the Washington Agreement whereby the
Swiss agree to pay $58.1 million in gold to a commission set up by the Allies
after the war . The amount is a voluntary contribution to rebuilding Europe.
In return, the Allies drop further claims to the monetary gold Switzerland
bought from Germany during the war. (The May 1997 U.S. government report -
the 'Eizenstat report' - estimates Switzerland held $305 million -$409 million
in looted Nazi gold.)
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December 20, 1962
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Prompted by Jewish agencies and Israel, the Swiss Bankers Association asked
Swiss banks to investigate bank accounts that may have belonged to Holocaust
victims. A total of 9.5 million Swiss francs are eventually turned over to
claimants, the Swiss Jewish communities, and a Swiss refugee organization.
Swiss bankers say that this represents the last of unclaimed wartime desposits
which they hold.
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1992
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A coalition of Jewish organizations forms the World Jewish Restitution
Organization. Its purpose is to coordinate claims for the return of assets
and property lost in the Holocaust and the claiming of any heirless property
for Jewish people.
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November 1992
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The Israeli Minister of Finance Avraham Shohat signs a memorandum recognizing
that the State of Israel considers itself the heir to Jewish public property
and heirless Jewish private property lost in the Holocaust.
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January 1, 1996
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The Swiss Bankers Association establishes a central information service to
facilitate inquiries into Holocaust accounts. The information service
processes all claims and forwards them to one of 400 Swiss banks.
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February 7, 1996
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The Swiss Bankers Association announces that after an internal investigation it
conducted on its own behalf into Swiss Holocaust-era accounts, roughly $32
million was found in 775 dormant accounts. Many Jewish leaders believe this
sum is far too small.
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April 23, 1996
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Senator Alfonse D'Amato chairs a hearing on the Swiss bank Holocaust account
controversy before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs. President Clinton expresses support for a full investigation.
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May 2, 1996
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Jewish leaders and representatives from the Swiss Bankers Association agree to
create a commission to investigate the status of Holocaust victims assets in
Switzerland. Known as the Volcker Commission (also as 'The Committee of
Eminent Persons' and headed by former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Paul A. Volcker) it will investigate both accounts opened by Holocaust victims
and assets stolen from Holocaust victims that may have passed through
Switzerland or been deposited by the Nazis in Swiss banks. The investigation
will include audits performed on the Swiss banks by three international
auditing companies.
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September 10, 1996
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The British Foreign Ministry publishes a memorandum describing transactions
between the Swiss National Bank and Nazi Germany for gold sales. The
memorandum causes an international controversy.
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September 26, 1996
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Senator D'Amato asks the Federal government to re-negotiate the 1946 Washington
Agreement.
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October 5, 1996
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Gizella Weisshaus, a Holocaust survivor, files the first U.S.class action
lawsuit against Swiss banks for an account opened during World War II.
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October 16, 1996
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Senator D'Amato holds a second hearing on the Swiss Holocaust accounts.
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October 18, 1996
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A second class action suit is filed in The U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of three classes of plaintiffs
against the Swiss Union Bank. The complaint accuses the bank of knowingly
accepting looted assets and acting to prevent the recovery of these assets by
their owners.
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October 24, 1996
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A task force is formed in Switzerland by the Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs to investigate the Holocaust assets controversy.
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November 15, 1996
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Senator D'Amato reports evidence that the Nazis placed
sympathizers inside Swiss banks during the war to gain access to secret account
numbers and information. According to documents provided by Senator D'Amato
the Nazis then used this information to extort money from Jews and other
account holders in Germany.
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November 29, 1996
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Argentina's President Carlos Saul Menem promises full
support of investigations into Argentina's actions during World War II, and
says Argentina will release all secret files on Nazis who fled to Argentina
after the war.
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December 13, 1996
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historical and legal investigations into the fate of assets brought to
Switzerland because of the National Socialist rule." The Parliament waives
the customary Swiss banking secrecy laws for the next five years to facilitate
the Volcker Commission's investigation.
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December 19, 1996
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The Swiss Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (The Bergier
Commission) is formed. It consists of nine historians who are to investigate
all aspects of Switzerland's wartime actions.
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January 1, 1997
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Former Swiss president Jean-Pascal Delamuraz makes a
statement calling demands for the compensation of Holocaust victims by Swiss
banks and threats to boycott Swiss banks "blackmail."
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January 5, 1997
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Negotiations between Jewish Leaders and the Swiss cease
because of Delamuraz's remark, and the Swiss government's failure to repudiate
his statement.
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January 7, 1997
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The Swiss government announces that it intends to establish a
fund for Holocaust survivors with money from unclaimed Swiss bank accounts.
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January 14, 1997
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The UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland, one of Switzerland's
largest banks) is caught by one of its security guards, Christophe Meili,
shredding documents related to accounts opened before and during the war.
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Week of January 20, 1997
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French Prime Minister Alain Juppe announces that he
will create a commission to investigate the seizures of Jewish property by the
occupying Nazi forces and the French collaborationists during the war. He said
attempts would be made to trace the ownership of any questionable property and
return it to rightful owners or heirs.
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January 28, 1997
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Swiss high school students begin a collection for Holocaust
survivors. The students release a statement saying that Holocaust victims
cannot wait for the Swiss government investigations, but need aid now. The
students will donate the money they collect to AMCHA, an Israeli organization
that provides psychological and social support for Holocaust survivors.
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January 29, 1997
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A resolution to boycott Swiss banks is presented to the City
Council of New York.
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February 5, 1997
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Three major Swiss banks establish a humanitarian fund of 100
million Swiss francs (around $70 million U.S.) to benefit Holocaust victims.
Jewish organizations in New York announce that they intend not to participate
in any boycott of Swiss banks. A coalition of Swiss businesses contributes
about $100 million to the fund.
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February 19, 1997
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The Ambassadors to the United States from Spain and
Portugal are presented with new evidence that their countries received
shipments of Nazi gold from Switzerland during the war.
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February 26, 1997
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The Swiss Federal Council announces that the Holocaust
humanitarian fund will be administered by a group of seven, four will be Swiss
appointees and three will be appointed by the World Jewish Restitution
Organization.
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March 5, 1997
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The Swiss Parliament announces plans to create a $4.7 billion
investment fund whose earnings would be used to compensate Holocaust victims.
The fund is subject to a referendum in Parliament. At the time of the
announcement, the fund has approval ratings of 60% among Swiss voters.
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March 7, 1997
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A Brooklyn Federal Judge rules to consolidate three
U.S.-based class action lawsuits that have been brought against Switzerland's
banks. The lawsuits will be administered by a 10-member executive committee.
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April 2, 1997
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French museums display art work acquired during World War II
and its aftermath in an attempt to trace the owners and heirs. During the war
the Nazis took possession of some 61,200 artworks; more than 45,000 were
returned to their rightful owners.
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May 1, 1997
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The Swiss humanitarian fund has grown to approximately $300
million.
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May 7, 1997
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U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Stuart Eizenstat releases the
U.S. government's comprehensive report "U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and
Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During World War II."
(The 200+ page text is available at the Web site of the U.S. Holocaust Museum. The report harshly criticizes the
actions of most Allied and neutral countries for failing to aid Holocaust
victims both during and after the war and details the extent of Swiss financial
transactions with Nazi Germany. It suggests that by acting as bankers for the
Nazis, the Swiss prolonged the war.
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May 23, 1997
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The Swiss Federal Council officially responds to the Eizenstat
Report saying it is "one-sided" and some of its conclusions are "unsupported."
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June 4, 1997
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The United States House of Immigration subcommittee approves a
measure granting sanctuary to Christophe Meili, the Swiss security guard who
reported that the Union Bank of Switzerland was shredding account information
from World War II. Meili testified that he no longer can live comfortably and
safely in Switzerland.
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July 23, 1997
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The Swiss Bankers Association publishes a list of 1,756 non-Swiss dormant accounts with a value of roughly $42 million. These accounts have been inactive since the end of World War II.
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September 13, 1997
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The United States and Britain agree to transfer their Nazi gold holdings (worth up to 40 million pounds) to a fund for victims of the Holocaust or their surviving relatives. This action unlocks a 50-year old post-war reparations deal (the Washington Agreement) that had divided Nazi gold up among the Allied powers. The deal specifically had excluded all claims from individuals whose gold was stolen by the Nazi Reich.
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October 29, 1997
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The Swiss Bankers Association issue another list of 3,687 dormant accounts (available at the web site listed above) containing roughly $4 million.
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November 1997
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Switzerland disburses the first money from its newly-created $200 million fund for Holocaust survivors.
Documents show that a leading United States bank accepted $30 million worth of looted Nazi gold as collateral in a loan to Spain after the gold had been laundered in Switzerland.
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December 1, 1997
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The first interim report on the "Nazi gold" affair is released by a panel of historians (the Bergier Commission). It states that Swiss banks handled 76% of Nazi Germany's gold transactions amounting to $450 million. A portion of this had been looted. This Swiss government-appointed panel of Swiss and international historians is the first to put a figure on the amount of Germany's gold which Switzerland handled.
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December 2-4, 1997
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A 41-nation international conference is held in London on the fate of the 330 tons of gold stolen by the Nazis and the need to compensate Holocaust victims. Many countries pledge to contribute to a new compensation fund for Holocaust survivors. However, some delegates say key records about the looted gold remain secret and question whether the full story will be revealed. Delegates agree to meet next spring in Washington, D.C. to consider artwork, real estate, insurance funds and other property stolen by the Germans during WWII. U.S. delegation chief Stuart E. Eizenstat calls for all investigations into stolen wartime property to be completed by the end of 1999.
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December 8, 1997
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Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, asks U.S. city and state officials to postpone any action/boycotts against Swiss banks until March 31, 1998, while negotiations continue on a settlement with Swiss banks on behalf of Holocaust survivors.
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August 12, 1998
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Swiss commercial banks agree to pay Holocaust survivors
and their relatives more than $1.25 billion over the next three
years to end claims that Swiss banks had withheld millions of
dollars since World War II. The accord involves the banks UBS and
Credit Suisse. As part of the settlement, the plaintiffs agree to drop
a lawsuit against the Government-owned Swiss National Bank. Many U.S. states
and cities had threatened sanctions on the Swiss banks if they had not agreed to an
appropriate settlement.
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December 6, 1999
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The Volcker Commission, which had been set up in 1996 to conduct an "investigative audit" of any dormant Swiss bank accounts that may have been held by Nazi victims, concludes its audit. The Commission says it found 54,000 accounts that were probably linked to Nazi victims. The report was very critical of the actions of individual banks but stated there was "no evidence of systematic destruction of records of victim accounts" and no "organized discrimination" against them. However, the Commission found that the banks showed "a general lack of diligence--even active resistance--in response to private and official inquiries." The Commission's head, Paul A. Volcker, said he saw no reason to revise the $1.25 billion settlment that the two largest banks reached in 1998 with surviving Holocaust victims.
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