FOR THOSE SEEKING LOST ASSETS & BANK ACCOUNTS

FOR THOSE SEEKING LOST ASSETS & BANK ACCOUNTS

For Holocaust victims or their heirs or representatives who believe they may have wartime bank acounts in Switzerland, here is a list of those working on behalf of claimants:

The Simon Wiesenthal Center

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles is helping to gather names of claimants to lost assets and bank accounts. The Center has been collecting thousands of names and forwarding them to the law firms handling class action lawsuits.

The Wiesenthal Center's Web site has a 'Claimant's Form' where claimants can list the reasons they believe someone in their family deposited assets in a Swiss bank before or during World War II which were not recoverable after the war. Their Web site also lists over 1500 Swiss bank accounts frozen during WWII.

Phone Number: (310) 553-9036
Fax: (310) 553-4521
Address: 9760 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90035

The Class Action Lawsuits:

There are three class action lawsuits. In March 1997 a Brooklyn Federal judge ruled to consolidate them and they now will be administered by a 10-member executive committee. Therefore, regardless of which law firm gets a claimant's name, all names eventually will be combined into one 'plan of notification.' When plaintiffs are finally in a position where money gets distributed, all names - from all the lawsuits - will be on that list.

  • The first lawsuit against Swiss Banks was filed by Fagan & Associates in New York to recover bank accounts and looted property of Holocaust victims. Attorney Ed Fagan is representing several thousand survivors and their families and in July will begin taking testimony of aged and infirm survivors with important evidence against the Banks.

    Phone: 212-293-1900
    Fax: 212-293-3800
    Email: faganlaw@cybernex.net
    Address: Edward D. Fagan Esq. , Fagan Associates
    26 Broadway, 21st Floor
    New York, NY 10004


  • A Class Action lawsuit was filed by Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll on behalf of three classes of plaintiffs against the Swiss Union Bank for witholding assets deposited prior to and during WWII. The three classes of plaintiffs are:

    --Rightful owners of Nazi looted assets and/or their heirs (people who had their assets looted in the camps or prior to being sent to the camps);

    -- Slave laborers and/or their heirs (people who worked at no pay for German companies to avoid being sent to concentration camps or to avoid being gassed while in those camps);

    -- Certain Swiss bank depositors and/or their heirs (people who made deposits prior to and during the war who have been unable to reclaim those assets)

    Contact: Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll
    Web site: (http://www.plaintiffs-law.com/cwswsgld.htm)
    Email: lawinfo@cmht.com
    Washington D.C. Ph: 202-408-4600
    Seattle, Washington Ph: 206-521-0080


  • A Class Action lawsuit was filed by the Philadelphia law firm of Berger & Montague, P.C. on behalf of the World Council of Orthodox Jewish Communities and other nongovernmental groups whose members are Holocaust survivors.

    This law firm also is receiving names forwarded from Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll. Contact Berger & Montague if you have any information pertinent to this lawsuit , including documents, which you believe would assist the plaintiffs.

    Contact: Bonnie Sperling, Berger & Montague
    Phone: 1-800- 424-6690
    Email: swissbanks@bm.net

  • List of Dormant Swiss Accounts

    The Swiss Bankers Association published this on July 23, 1997 as part of a newly created, expedited claims process. At this web site you can find a list of all known dormant Swiss bank accounts opened by non-Swiss customers before the end of World War II. The web site also contains a Claim Form and an Information Kit describing the claims process and how to file a claim.

    Web site: http://www.dormantaccounts.ch/

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