What has been Happening?

31.8.98 -- In order to avoid a battle of "jews against jews" Israeli Prime minister Netanyahu has stepped in and made a statement on the distribution of the $1.25 billion which are to be paid out by the Swiss banks and of other sums coming from different funds in favor of the Holocaust victims, including other agreements such as those reached with Italian insurance company Generali. "All must be done to guarantee the coordination and understanding between the different parties" said a spokesperson for the Isreali goverment, which up to date had kept quite silent on the issue.

31.8.98 -- The first political TV commercial of Senator Al d'Amato in view of the upcoming elections has been aired on American television. It features Estelle Sapir, one of the main plaintiffs against the Swiss banks. She describes her struggle to restitute her father's assets and the help she got from the politician. She finishes off by saying "God bless you, Senator D'Amato".

31.8.98 -- US lawyer Ed Fagan has filed a new lawsuit against 14 German companies, amongst which are Siemens, Daimler Benz, Audi, Leica and Volkswagen and one Austrian company, claiming they used forced labor during WW2.

30.8.98 -- Movie director Brian De Palma is preparing a movie on Switzerland and the Nazi gold issue. He said in an interview with a Swiss newspaper that the film will be about Jews holding up a bank and stealing its gold. "It will be the perfect crime, since officially theis gold does not exist".

27.8.98 -- The plaintiffs in the lawsuit agains the Swiss banks will gather on Sept. 2 to discuss how to proceed after the settlement concluded in New York two weeks ago. The banks are working on a contract concerning the distribution of the funds and detailing the general agreement, while disputes are arising among jewish organizations and the plaintiffs' lawyers. The former have declared they oppose the lawyers receiving any fee. WJC executive director Elan Steinberg has said to the "Jüdischen Rundschau", a Swiss jewish magazine, that "only a court can decide how much they will get" and that "the WJC has spent alot of money in this dispute but will not receive a penny".

26.8.98 -- Half a dozen German companies could face legal action over use of slave labour in their factories during WW2, according to US lawyer Michael Hausfeld. According to the Financial Times, several possible targets such as Daimler, VW and BMW have said they would be prepared to contribute to funds which benefit former slave labourer. The plaintiffs allegedly include US, British and Dutch citizens, many of them non-Jews.

25.8.98 -- Four insurance companies (Switzerland's Winterthur and Baloise, Germany's Allianz and France's Axa) have signed the Memorandum or Understanding that was approved by the Zurich group August 14 involving the jewish organizations and the American insurance controlling body NAIC in order to settle the issue of heirless insurance policies.

Lawyer Ed Fagan, initiator of the class-action suit against 16 European insurance companies has stated however that the MoU is not worth the paper it's printed on and that he intends to continue to go after the companies, the plaintiffs having not been included in the extra-judicial procedures. Elan Steinberg, director of the WJC, a major partner in the negociations, answered that the Holocaust survivors are better off represented by hir organisation. This is not the first time the defensors of the Holocaust victims and survivors confront each other and accuse each other publicly. The MoU includes a provision to set up an international research commission made up of six members coming from the WJRO, the State of Israel and the NAIC and of 6 people appointed by the European insurance companies.

25.8.98 -- Swiss groups Oerlikon-Bührle and SIG have not authorized the anti-military historian Peter Hug to access their archives on behalf of the Bergier commission, judging him too "politically biased" against both companies. The two companies claim Hug "is a first-hand anti-armement-industry activist", and Consellor to the socialist party. Both companies however said they will open their archives to someone else.

25.8.98 -- After the New York agreement part of the Swiss political class wants the dissolution of the Swiss Holocaust task force (25 people) in order to show that things are back to normal. President Flavio Cotti opposes this dissolution.

23.8.98 -- The head of the Holocaust Taskforce, Thomas Borer, said in an interview to a Swiss newspaper that the Swiss would be wrong to think that the Holocaust assets issue is over. "Non-negligeable risks still exist", he added.

21.8.98 -- By a strong majority, the Board of directors of SNB has voted not to associate themselves with the New York settlement. "By participating in such an agreement, SNB would give it an official stamp, which is not in the best interest of the country", confirmed president Hans Meyer. SNB thus satisfied the government's desire as well as the desire of a large portion of the Swiss political parties which wanted SNB to stay out of the agreement. The Swiss official position is thus clearly defined: neither the political authorities nor the central bank feel the need to be directly involved in the agreement.

20.8.98 -- Assicurazioni Generali, the Italian insurance group that along with 15 other European companies is the target of a class-action lawsuit, has announced it will pay $100 millions in damages to Holocaust survivors. The Swiss companies Winterthur and Baloise said that they may sign a memorandum of understanding in the next few weeks to settle the heirless insurance policies. A third Swiss insurance company, Zurich, has already signed the MoU, which will create an international commission. The German insurance company Allianz has confirmed that the process to compensate the Holocaust survivors was well on its way, whereas the French Axa group indicated they were about to sign the MoU.

19.8.98 -- An Isreali organisation of Holocaust survivors has rejected the New York agreement. Its president Moshe Zambar has threatened to file a lawsuit if the clause on the SNB was not removed from the final settlement; he believes that the agreement should not include the question on SNB's gold.

19.8.98 -- Swiss President Flavio Cotti has confirmed that "the State will not participate in the private negociations and will not participate financially to a global solution" of the Holocaust assets issue.

18.8.98 -- Ruth Dreifuss, Minister of the Interior and the only jewish member of the Swiss government has confirmed that the Confederation should stay out of the agreement between the Swiss banks and the Holocaust survivors. Dreifuss stated in an interview in Le Temps newspaper that a "State can sometimes negociate on behalf of banks, but this can never happen the other way around".

18.8.98 -- Socialist members of th Swiss parliament suggested that the SNB should liberate all the gold stolen from the central banks of nazi-occupied countries between 1942 and the end of WW2. At today's price, this gold (approximately 155 tons) has a value of 2.167 billion francs. According to them, the gold should be used to reconstruct Europe, for instance, such as financing projects in Eastern Europe. In order not to jeopardize the creation of the Swiss Soildarity Foundation, they suggested to unite both projects.

18.8.98 -- 45% of the Swiss are satisfied with the agreement on the Holocuast assets issue, versus 41% who are against. These are the findings of a survey conducted by swiss magazine L'Illustré. The agreement is in disfavour mainly amongst old people and right wing voters. 42% (vs. 34%) of the people surveyed think the amounf of $ 1.25 billion is exaggerated. The majority (78%) think it's normal the banks should pay.

17.8.98 -- Three members of the Swiss government commented the New York agreement. Economy minister Pascal Couchepin said that "it's a relief for the Swiss economy". Finance minister Kaspar Villiger said that the accord "stands up", while president Flavio Cotti reiterated that the government will not participate in the private agreement between plaintiffs and banks, and reconfirmed the commitment to set up the Solidarity Foundation.

14.8.98 -- After the agreement reached two days ago, the City of New York and the States of New York, California, Vermont and Pennsylvania have dropped threats of boycotting the Swiss interests in the US.

14.8.98 -- Zurich insurances company has signed an agreement with the American surveillance authorities in order to establish a procedure to research heirless policies. This agreement would lead to the formation of an independent international commission in charge of handling requests from survivors or descendants of the Holocaust victims. Zurich is part of a group of 16 European insurance companies named in a class-action suit.

13.8.98 -- Following the agreement between the jewish organizations, the Holocaust survivors and Swiss banks, it's now the turn of Austrian, German and other European banks and insurance companies to be the focus of attention. US lawyer Ed Fagan has declared that he will not stop litigation "until all the victims have been paid back". He did not exclude filing a lawsuit against American companies as well.

13.8.98 -- Several large Swiss companies such as Novartis, Sulzer and Roche have announced they are prepared to participe in the financial settlement of the Holocaust assets dispute. The Swatch Group on the other hand has clearly stated they are against such a participation.

13.8.98 -- The World Jewish Restitution Organization stated that regardless of the New York agreement, it does not intend to withdraw its lawsuit against the SNB. The WJRO has not participated in the negotiations for the global settlement.

12.8.98 -- Representatives of Swiss banks, Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors have reached a settlement in which the banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion in reparations to victims of the Nazi era. The deal was announced after a two-days discussion in a US District Court in Brooklyn, where three class-action suits had been filed over the last two years by tens of thousands of survivors and victims' heirs. According to a press statement by Credit Suisse, the agreement provides for release of all claims, including dormant account claims, against CS and UBS, as well as the Swiss National Bank, other Swiss banks, the Swiss government, and Swiss industry. Another condition of the settlement, US undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat said, is that the plaintiffs publicly call for all elected officials to drop their threat of sanctions against Swiss financial interests. The first $250 million of the settlement is payable within 90 days, and the rest will be paid out over the next three years in annual payments. A detailed plan to distribute the money still needs to be devised.

11.8.98 -- Yehezekl Landau, director of an Israeli center for reconciliation between Jews and Arabs, pleaded in a seminary that Switzerland not be made the scapegoat for the Nazi gold issue.

11.8.98 -- The two Swiss big banks have increased their settlement offer with regard to the class action lawsuits according to information gathered following a preliminary hearing in New York. The banks have now brought their offer up from $600 million to over $1 billion.

11.8.98 -- In the next few days, the Special Fund for Holocaust Victims will pay out 4 million francs to several 2000 Roms, Sintis and Jenisch survivors of the holocaust. The beneficiaries were interned or persecuted by the Nazis because of their gypsy origins.

9.8.98 -- The Swiss special fund for Holocaust victims will open its New York offices on August 17. President Rolf Bloch expects about 40'000 requests from the US. Concerning the ongoing negociations, Bloch (who is also president of the Swiss federation of jewish communities) believes that "it's up to the Americans to take the next step now; the Swiss have done everything in their power to find a solution to this painful issue", he told a Swiss newspaper.

7.8.98 -- In an article published by a catholic magazine, John Cardinal O'Connor of New York called on the Swiss government to ensure that the banks provide restitution to Holocaust victims and survivors. "The question now is whether the Swiss government will consistently throw itself actively into assuring that the discussions [on settlement issues] will be successful and will be followed by constructive action", he wrote.

6.8.98 -- The probability that the two big Swiss banks, UBS and Credit Suisse are to suffer major financial damages following the Holocaust assets issue is very low, according to US rating agency Moody's, which confirmed the current ratings at AAA (UBS) and AA3 (CS).

6.8.98 -- Zurich Insurance has published an annoucement in ten american newspapers seeking the rightful owners of insurance policies dating back to WW2, among them the heirs of contractors of insurance policies with companies that where bought by Zurich Insurance after the war, such as Vita, Genevoise et Agrippina.

1.8.98 -- The Holocaust assets issue was one of the main topics of the hundreds of speeches given around the country on August 1st (Switzerland's national holiday). President Flavio Cotti stated that Switzerland must defend itself firmly against unjustified accusations. The conduct of the Swiss people during WW2 was full of "valor" and "can still be cited as an example today", he said. US ambassador Madeleine Kunin in Sankt-Gallen qualified the boycott threats as counter-productive.

Copyright 1997, Bruno Giussani | All Rights Reserved