With typical timeliness, PBS' vigorous FRONTLINE documentary series examines the issue...echoing and adding to the chorus of doubts that previous reports have raised about World War II and Switzerland's reputation for neutrality."

"...The documentary raises anew charges that Switzerland allowed German train cars full of Jews bound for death camps to travel through the country--charges Borer also denies."

"The film's taking-off point is the efforts of Edgar Bronfman, the Seagram's liquor heir and president of the World Jewish Congress, who two years ago began efforts to try to recover Jewish money that had been deposited in Swiss banks before the war and had seemingly disappeared afterward."

"...Skilled in the editing of film for maximum impact, Olgiati alternates historical black-and-white film of Hitler and emaciated bodies in Nazi death camps with modern, color shots of snow-covered Swiss mountains and picturesque villages. Most haunting in the context of the film's subject is a single shot of a peaceful; idyllic Swiss meadow, partially covered by snow, seen through barbed-wire fence."

"...More than half a century after the war, documents are few and memories cannot be confirmed. Although tonight's wartime photographs make their own case against the Swiss, they are evidence mainly of the producers' skill in putting together a strong documentary. So some of the charges advanced here seem shaky, while others are only too plausible and along with the recent revelations do little credit to the Swiss notion of neutrality."

"...Nazi Gold ends another strong FRONTLINE season on a typically timely note."

"...While this FRONTLINE lacks the news-breaking value of other programs in the series, it does humanize the story of theft, deceit, and murder."

"...Beyond the story of the suit, Nazi Gold documents Swiss collusion with the Nazis in arms production. FRONTLINE makes its point clear--under the guise of neutrality, the Swiss, out of fear of invasion, conspired with the Germans, and Swiss neutrality was a myth."

Technically, that's because the class-action suit filed by families of war survivors against Swiss banks still is pending. Practically, it's because any challenge to the long-held notion of Swiss neutrality is met with lots of resistance, and very little evidentiary support."

"Some of these allegations are backed only by testimony from witnesses and family survivors; others are being pursued and proven in the courts. The highlight of Nazi Gold comes when one Swiss bank official is confronted with proof about the existence of one wartime account. The official confirms that it existed and that one tiny withdrawal was made from it by a business partner--but that's it."

"...Nazi Gold ... takes quite a few steps in the right direction."

The documentary, in typical FRONTLINE style, doesn't skirt the issues regarding Switzerland's relationship to Nazi Germany and her financial actions against the Jews."

"...In addition to the Swiss financial wheelings-and-dealings, perhaps the most riveting segments of Nazi Gold deal with the internal political events that allowed Switzerland's border police to turn fleeing Jews away and into the hands of the Gestapo."

"...The film provides a number of chilling accounts of how Jews were robbed and their savings sent to Switzerland for deposit. "

"...Still, tonight's film presents some evidence that Switzerland profited enormously as a nation by allowing German businessmen to travel in and out of the country without interference and by helping the Nazi regime convert gold stolen from Jews and from the banks of conquered nations into convertible funds."

In the show, some of the people interviewed admit the country made a wrong turn, but others continue to rationalize or explain away these problems.

'The Swiss bitterly resent that foreigners are calling their history into question,' said Olgiati.

With Nazi Gold , Olgiati does more than question--he finds answers that demonstrate that this fresh examination of this chapter of history is long overdue."

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