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Swiss banks publicize more dormant Nazi-era accounts
Money withheld from suspected Nazi sympathizers
October 29, 1997
Web posted at: 12:16 p.m. EST (1716 GMT)ZURICH, Switzerland (CNN) -- Swiss banks released another list Wednesday of dormant World War II-era accounts in an effort to find their rightful owners and return the assets of Holocaust victims.
Under the supervision of international investigators, the list of 14,000 accounts -- with a value of about $12.4 million -- was supplied by 123 banks and other financial institutions.
With the latest finding, officials have uncovered $54 million in unclaimed accounts over the past two years. That is far short of the hundreds of millions of dollars that some Jewish organizations maintain is missing.
But the banks have said they will add interest according to a formula to be devised by American financial consultant Henry Kaufman.
The new list -- which follows a similar one published in July -- comes with no assurances that all accounts belong to Holocaust victims.
"Probably most names are not related to Holocaust victims," Sylvia Matile, spokeswoman of the Swiss Bankers Association, said.
They simply give the names on accounts found in 57 banks that were opened by non-Swiss before the end of World War II. That means the banks have no records that the owners of the accounts ever contacted them again after May 9, 1945.
And, in case a Holocaust victim had asked someone in Switzerland to open an account -- a common practice -- the list includes all Swiss-opened dormant accounts containing about $70 or more.
As part of the new release, the names of about 3,700 account holders from 42 nations were made available at five Ernst and Young offices around the world that have been set up to handle the bank accounts.
List 'a significant step'
There are about 10,900 names of Swiss account holders, some of whom were believed to have deposited funds on behalf of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution.
Tens of thousands of other accounts belonging to Swiss nationals were not listed, because the amounts they showed -- an average of $12 -- were deemed too small to publicize. That money has been donated to the Swiss Red Cross.
"It seems that the banks are taking their work seriously," said Martin Rosenfeld, President of the Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center welcomed the new list as "as a significant step," but urged the banks to freeze any Nazi-linked accounts on the latest list, which the banks have pledged to do.
But some relatives of Holocaust victims said they didn't believe the lists include all the names of people who had accounts.
"The lists are a fraud," said Gizella Weisshaus of New York, who is part of a $20 billion class-action suit filed against the banks in U.S. District Court.
Weisshaus is seeking an account she says was opened by her father, Eugen Stern of Sighet, Romania. His name is not on the new list, nor was it on the July list.
People can search among nearly 3,700 names on the new list via the Internet at http://www.dormantaccounts.ch by typing in the full name.
Accounts of suspected Nazi sympathizers on hold
In July, Swiss banks were embarrassed when Jewish organizations pointed out that the list included Nazi names. The Swiss Bankers Association short-listed 15 names of alleged Nazi sympathizers. "We have told banks to put those assets on hold, not to pay anything to anybody," Matile said.
It was those links with Nazi Germany that led high-profile American Jewish organizations and politicians to accuse Switzerland of being the bankers and brokers of the Nazis.
Under intense international pressure, the Swiss banks agreed to lift the stringent banking secrecy laws for a thorough probe.
Swiss banks and the government set up several investigation teams -- with international participation -- to research Switzerland's economic and political links with the Nazis.
Switzerland also set up a multimillion dollar aid fund to benefit survivors of the Holocaust, as well as victims of conflict and disasters.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Swiss banks publish dormant WWII-era accounts - July 23, 1997
- Vatican drawn into scandal over Nazi-era gold - July 22, 1997
- Swiss envoy promises full disclosure on unclaimed Holocaust accounts - May 30, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Simon Wiesenthal Center
- Swiss banks dormant accounts site
- The ITA Pressroom/U.S. Efforts to Seek Justice for Victims of the Holocaust - from the Office of Media Affairs, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce
- Switzerland and Jewish Funds - a discussion forum from Geneva-International
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