The Independent Committee
of Eminent Persons released its Report
on Dormant Accounts of Victims of Nazi Persecution
in Swiss Banks today in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Report is the culmination of an unprecedented
three-year investigation that has thoroughly
examined the conduct of the Swiss banking
system over a 66-year period concerning these
accounts.
The Committee was unanimous
in supporting the findings and conclusions
of the Report. It is chaired by Mr. Paul
A. Volcker, former Chairman of the U.S. Federal
Reserve Board, and is made up of 3 members
and 2 alternates appointed by the Swiss Bankers
Association, and the same number appointed
by the World Jewish Restitution Organization
and the World Jewish Congress (and Allied
Organizations).
One major focus of the investigation
was the identification of accounts that have
a probable or possible relationship to victims
of Nazi persecution. The accounts so identified
as "probably or possibly" related
to a victim vary widely in the degree of
probability attached to them, and there is
now no way of determining the number of accounts
that will be claimed or that will be recognized
for payment by the claims resolution process.
Bearing these considerations in mind, 54,000
accounts were identified as probably or possibly
related to victims. These identified accounts
are the result of a careful review of some
4.1 million accounts out of 6.8 million accounts
that are estimated to have existed in the
1933-45 period, leaving some 2.7 milllion
accounts for which there was no surviving
documentation and a gap that may have contained
some victim accounts that cannot now be identified.
With respect to the claims
resolution process, the Committee recommended
that:
-
the Swiss Federal Banking
Commission ("SFBC") promptly
consolidate the existing but scattered
accounts databases (established during
the investigation) of 4.1 million accounts
open in the 1933-1945 period, and to
assemble them into a central archive
that can be used in this process;
-
the SFBC authorize publication
of the names of approximately 25,000
account holders since they have a higher
probability of a relationship to victims
of Nazi persecution allowing victims
or their heirs to identify more easily
the accounts to which they have a valid
claim based on plausible evidence;
-
any person with a claim
to a dormant account of a victim, whether
or not the name is published, should
be provided facilities for submitting
a claim. Claims already submitted to
ICEP, new claims submitted to the Claims
Resolution Tribunal ("CRT"),
claims filed with the Class Action Settlement,
and claims from the New York State Holocaust
Claims Processing Office should be matched
against the centralized database of accounts
and resolved, as appropriate, by the
CRT. This process, which should begin
promptly, will provide claimants the
opportunity to have a determination made
on whether or not the identified account
holders were, in fact, victims of Nazi
persecution and on the amount of any
award that may be appropriate; and
-
to provide a fair return
to victims (and their heirs), whose accounts
became de facto illiquid, individual
account values should be adjusted on
the basis of long-term Swiss rates of
return, involving multiplying 1945 account
values by 10 times.
On another major focus of
the investigation, the question of the treatment
of the accounts of victims of Nazi persecution
by Swiss banks, the Committee has concluded
that:
-
the auditors have reported
no evidence of systematic destruction
of records of victim accounts, organized
discrimination against the accounts of
victims of Nazi persecution, or concerted
efforts to divert the funds of victims
of Nazi persecution to improper purposes;
and
-
there is, however, confirmed
evidence of questionable and deceitful
actions by some individual banks in the
handling of accounts of victims, including
withholding of information from Holocaust
victims or their heirs about their accounts,
inappropriate closing of accounts, failure
to keep adequate records, many cases
of insensitivity to the efforts of victims
or heirs of victims to claim dormant
or closed accounts, and a general lack
of diligence--even active resistance--in
response to earlier private and official
inquiries about dormant accounts.
In the area of potentially
looted assets and accounts of possible intermediaries
of Holocaust victim beneficiaries, where
evidence is particularly difficult to develop,
the information identified on these matters
during the investigation derived from matching
and other forensic techniques should be followed
up by the Bergier Commission.
Finally, the members of
the Committee are unanimously agreed that
its investigation has provided as full and
complete accounting of the status of the
accounts in Switzerland of victims of Nazi
persecution as is now reasonably feasible.
The Committee also believes that with the
establishment of the claims resolution process
for the accounts identified by the Committee
as soon as possible, and its prompt implementation,
a framework has been established for providing
a measure of justice for those whose claims
have been too long denied, and a line can
be drawn under this difficult and contentious
matter, bringing this one chapter in the
long and sad story of Nazi brutality to a
close.