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Available at either :The U.S. Dept of Commerce Web site , or
at The U.S. Holocaust Museum Web site.
The best investigative work to date on what happened to the possible billions
of dollars in gold and other asssets plundered by Nazi Germany. This U.S.
government study is a readable, disturbing history of a chapter of World War
II that has been ignored for half a century.
Officially called the "U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and Restore Gold and
other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During WWII," it is based on a
seven-month long effort by eleven U.S agencies who poured through 15 million
pages of U.S. records. Directed by Undersecretary of Commerce Stuart E.
Eizenstat and the State Department's chief historian, William Slaney, the
report is harshly critical of Switzerland's wartime dealings with theThird
Reich saying, "in the unique circumstances of World War II neutrality collided
with morality." In addition, the report establishes that long after the war's end, Swiss banks still clung obstinately to Nazi gold deposits looted
from the banks of occupied Europe and the victims of the Holocaust.
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In this seven-page "declaration of the Swiss Federal Council" the Council
asserts that the conclusions of the Eizenstat report are "unsupported," its
assessments are "one sided," and that it goes beyond history and into
"political and moral values" concerning transactions between Switzerland and
Nazi Germany.
The Council also rejected the charge that "the neutral countries may have
prolonged the Third Reich's ability to wage war by trading with it" and says
there is no support for this charge. While acknowleging some mistakes were
made - such as Switzerland's wartime refugee policy and, "questonable deals"
between Swiss businesses and the Nazis - the Swiss Federal Council's statement
says any balanced review would vindicate Swiss behavior during the war because
it was the only way to guarantee its survival: "neutrality led to a difficult
tightrope walk between adaptation and resistance."
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This 9-page 1996 report by the
World Jewish Congress chronicles how an inquiry into dormant bank accounts of
Holocaust victims ended up becoming a major international investigation into
Switzerland's overall dealings with Nazi Germany and its wartime neutrality.
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"The Swiss had their Villains--and their Heroes" - Louis Rene Beres
"The Swiss Were Prepared to Fight Fascism to the Bitter End" - Stephen P. Halbrook
"Eternally Grateful" - Leopold G. Koss
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Former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Faith Whittlesey here presents a
defense against charges that Switzerland colluded with Nazi Germany. She
maintains the accusations are "false and shallow accounts" of Swiss history and
explains how Switzerland's actions must be evaluated in the context of other
nations' actions during World War II and, the dire threat that Switzerland
faced.
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The Atlantic Monthly offers here several articles which they've published
over the past forty years covering Europe's Nazi past. The earliest
article included ("Loot for the Master Race," September 1946), focuses on
the Nazi looting of European art and Hermann Goring's obsession "to
become a latter-day Medici." Another article looks at an organization
which is pressing a new unified Germany to give compensation to the
victims of the Nazi holocaust.
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Explore this Web site for a perspective on the Swiss press and public's
response to the Nazi gold controversy. Click on the "Forum" section , then go
to "Dossier." There you can access the current Roundtable - "The Ongoing Debate
is Forcing Switzerland to Rethink Its Relations with the Rest of the World on
the Jewish Funds Controversy." It conveys some of the soul searching, debate
and Swiss defensiveness about the growing condemnation of Switzerland's wartime
role. This Web site also contains Swiss editorials and articles by
reporters/commentators such as, "The Amateurishness of Swiss Authorities" or ,
"What Goes Through a Swiss Banker's Mind When Questioned About Jewish
Funds..."
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Israel's largest newspaper offers several articles related to Holocaust
survivors' search for wartime assets and bank accounts To retrieve the latest
articles, perform a search for "Holocaust" and "Swiss."
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"Switzerland-Second World War"
The "Topics in Debate" section offers Swiss statements on the
controversy and some official reactions to the scathing Eizenstat report.
Other sections to explore are: "What are the Issues?" and 'What has been
Done?" which lists Swiss groups investigating Holocaust era assets.
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This page provides the usual press releases, official reports and statements,
and a pamphlet about the dormant bank accounts written by the Swiss-American
Chamber of Commerce. For those interested in the controversy about
compensation agreements negotiated between Switzerland and East Bloc countries,
there's a detailed (and rather dense) report on this commissioned by one of the
newly-created Swiss Task Forces .
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