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Jewish World Review / August 17, 1998 / 25 Menachem-Av, 5758
Fair Settlement
For Survivors of the
Holocaust
SETTLEMENTS OF DISPUTES rarely
leave everybody happy. But
the historic $1.25 billion
agreement reached in Brooklyn
Federal Court on Wednesday
between major Swiss commercial banks and
representatives of Holocaust survivors is not
only a major victory for the survivors, it's an
equitable resolution of a struggle to force the
Swiss banks to face the ignoble truths of their
past.
Although some Swiss still grouse about any
settlement, there's little doubt this is a great
deal for the banks. The settlement will save
them the billions they could have lost as a
result of planned American sanctions and
class-action suits — both of which are to be
dropped under the terms of the settlement.
Sanctions alone threatened the stability of the
Swiss banking industry.
Just hours after the announcement, I spoke
with an elated Elan Steinberg, executive
director of the World Jewish Congress, which
initiated the struggle to press the Swiss banks
toward a settlement. "What we have here," he
said, "is a triumph for justice and historic
memory."
The Swiss banks will finally pay back at least
part of the family savings that Holocaust victims
deposited before the war — moneys the banks
conveniently swallowed after the depositors
were murdered by the Nazis. They also will
refund some of the millions in Nazi plunder
that the Germans and their agents looted from
European Jews, then stashed in Swiss vaults.
Payments will be made by the Swiss over the
next four years. The beneficiaries will be, first
and foremost, Holocaust survivors, many of
whom are aged and indigent. In some cases,
heirs will benefit. The disbursement
mechanisms are being worked out by the
World Jewish Restitution Organization and the
Joint Distribution Committee, both of which
operate worldwide. Some $32 million already
is available from another Swiss fund. And I'm
told that next week an 800 number will be
published for American survivors to call to
apply for immediate assistance.
An enormous effort went into this triumph.
Immense credit is due New York's Sen. Alfonse
D'Amato, whose Senate Banking Committee
pressed the Swiss banks to come clean.
Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat led a
government team that uncovered some of the
history that persuaded the Swiss to finally fess
up. But I think the biggest mazel tovgoes to the
World Jewish Congress. Its president, Edgar
Bronfman, its secretary general, Israel Singer,
and Executive Director Steinberg were the first,
driving, tireless force behind this 53-year battle
for justice.
But no one is resting on his laurels. As Steinberg
puts it: "What we have now is a template for
resolution for other Holocaust-era assets in
some dozen other countries." The new goal:
Persuade the world's insurance companies,
many of which have never paid death benefits
to the heirs of policyholders, to make their own
settlement. And then there are the other
countries of Europe that conveniently absorbed
what was left of the Nazi loot. Those nations
include France, the Netherlands, Poland and
even Austria, which to this day tries to tell the
world it was a victim of Nazism, not an
enthusiastic partner.
The Dutch and French have established their
own investigative commissions, which have yet
to reach conclusions. Meanwhile, a major
class-action suit has been initiated against
French banks by New York lawyer Kenneth
McCallion and his associates representing
French-born Holocaust survivors.
The struggle for justice
By Richard Z. Chesnoff
JWR contributor and veteran journalist
Richard Z. Chesnoff is a senior correspondent at US News
And World Report and a columnist at the NY Daily News.
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