61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

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11 Banken, Degussa, 1999. 12 SNB Archives, 2224, Jacobsson to Weber, 25 November 1940 (original German); see also Perrenoud, Banques, 1987/88, pp. 53–54; DDS, Vol. 13, No. 419; Marguerat, Suisse, 1991, p. 113; Fior, Schweiz, 1997, pp. 73–74. 13 Quoted in Perrenoud, Banques, 1987/88, p. 53 (original German). See also Basel University Library, Manuscript Department, NL Per Jacobsson, Diary, 27 November 1940. 14 This is the argument put forward by Maissen, Nationalbank, 1999, p. 539. 15 Salomon Wolff: Das Gold in der Kriegswirtschaft, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, No. 1291, 16 August 1942, p. 4. 16 SNB Legal Service, note of 5 April 1944; Schindler, expert opinion of 22 July 1944, which was commissioned by the SNB, and Sauser-Hall, expert opinion of 28 March 1946. Astonishingly, the Reichsbank lawyers in Berlin came to the same conclusion. 254
4.6 The Banking System and Financial Services The question of how the Swiss banks dealt with the assets of victims of National Socialism and Nazi agents was the catalyst for the most recent debate surrounding Switzerland’s relationship with Nazi Germany. 1 After the First World War, Switzerland had become an important international financial centre. Against the background of the world economic crisis two problematic developments emerged: firstly, Swiss banks had to face the fact that their business assets in Germany were blocked from 1931 on; and secondly, large amounts of flight capital were flowing into Switzerland, some of whose owners remained silent even before 1945, while others sent capital which became «dormant» in the post-war period. The following section provides an overview of some characteristics of the structure of the Swiss financial centre. It then addresses the relationship between Swiss banks and their business operations with Germany during the war, deals with the trade in securities, and finally examines the causes for later dormant accounts. Swiss banking in the inter-war period The Swiss financial centre comprised a broad spectrum of banks, financial and holding companies, investment trusts and intermediaries (trustees, lawyers, and notaries). The bank sector was made up of the major banks, private, cantonal, and local banks. In 1939, there was a total of 363 banks in Switzerland whose balance-sheet totals together amounted to17.7 billion francs. The major banks included (in order of size of the balance-sheet total) the Swiss Bank Corporation – SBC (Schweizerischer Bankverein, SBV), the Credit Suisse – CS (Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, SKA), the Swiss Volksbank (Schweizerische Volksbank, SVB), the Union Bank of Switzerland – UBS (Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft, SBG), the Federal Bank – FB (Eidgenössische Bank, EIBA), Leu & Co. AG and the Basel Commercial Bank – BCB (Basler Handelsbank, BHB). They financed international trading and long-term industrial investment, yet were also involved in short-term transactions. A second group comprises the cantonal banks which fundamentally differed from major and private banks in that they were public companies with a state guarantee. It must be said, however, that some of the cantonal banks acquired a highly international clientele. These included the Bernese Cantonal Bank, the Basel Cantonal Bank, and in particular the Zurich Cantonal Bank which, in 1939, had a higher balance-sheet total than the largest major bank. Together the cantonal banks held 44.4% of the sum of the balancesheet totals of all the banks, while the major banks held only 24.2%. The Swiss National Bank’s definition of local banks included 80 Bodenkreditbanken (over 60% of the balance-sheet total made up by Swiss mortgage loans), including 255
Page 1 and 2:
Final Report of the Independent Com
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Independent Commission of Experts S
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Preface This book focuses on Switze
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the monetary system and refugee pol
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sometimes difficult conditions and
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5 LAW AND LEGAL PRACTICE 391 5.1 Pu
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Abbreviations A.G.I.U.S. Assistenza
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EFV Eidgenössische Finanzverwaltun
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OECD Organization for Economic Coop
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UFA Universum-Film-Aktiengesellscha
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clever policy managed not to be dra
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economic and military power». 10 I
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Holocaust and the context of the Se
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informed will see more options, set
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with a violent threat, emergency le
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Germany although against the couran
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concerned, the findings are release
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Projects that had been suggested in
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Conscious of the importance of pers
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Considering all these developments,
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over the next few years. Only a few
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war the Soviet Union seized massive
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12 It is symptomatic in this contex
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2 The International Context and Nat
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The revolutionary upheavals at the
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1935 established a racial basis for
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The small state of Switzerland The
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Figure 1: Import and export trends,
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system. Payments from Swiss debtors
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Foreign investors desired security
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Although the political equality of
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the state and legislation was also
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Switzerland - «come what may». 28
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the Radical Party leading to a comb
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in the economy in the post-war peri
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in a far more clear-cut manner. It
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«original» Swiss values, so to sp
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take the measures deemed necessary
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also committed to an ideological co
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defence sector. The consumer price
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economic, social, cultural and spir
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28 November 1937 for a ban on Freem
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Supreme Commander - the General - a
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The phases of the war Hitler hoped
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Bircher sending Swiss doctors to th
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The victorious powers were in agree
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on 7 March 1945: «after the ‹Rus
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significantly bogged down after 194
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18 There are no recent studies on G
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73 See Imhof/Ettinger/Boller, Flüc
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126 Stucki’s speech on 12 Februar
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papers, had to go back to France. T
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Increased persecution of Jews and i
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created a legal basis for the pract
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to supervise the internees, to meet
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discourage refugee smugglers and th
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Nazi regime were forced to leave as
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times in the statistics concerning
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deal of information circulated thro
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defensive system that led to restri
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consequences - as well as from the
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epeatedly as justification. At the
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even betrayed in the face of the Ge
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situation. 83 As was customary, the
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The immense popularity of Swiss aid
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admission of illegal «French, Span
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the decisions made. As far as refug
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with the authorities in individual
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The main role played by the church
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with Switzerland and other countrie
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and resulted in improving in the fl
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occupied areas as well as taking in
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war in particular, tension arose be
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claim they were wealthy in order to
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sight of the German border police t
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of the war, the Federal Political D
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would be estranged from their famil
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country were subjected, was finally
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egard to the post-war period - favo
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the export of foreign currency and
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post-war period through «humanitar
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Federal Council’s delegate for in
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taken seriously. It was not until 1
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25 Ludwig, Flüchtlingspolitik, 195
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67 See Häsler, Boot, 1971, pp. 275
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113 Narbel, Eglises, 2001. Study un
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162 With reference to the first cam
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approaches to a critical debate abo
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But there was more to Swiss objecti
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transition to economic warfare as o
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that this important economic potent
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market became much more important a
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members of the management. In any c
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machine tools and aluminium the con
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to obtain only limited supplies, if
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of the various areas of economic ex
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«The nations which are today fight
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11 Vereinigung des Schweizerischen
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4.2 The Armaments Industry and the
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Table 2: Export permits issued for
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Page 206 and 207: acquired what it needed from abroad
Page 208 and 209: military expenditure in Switzerland
Page 210 and 211: 32 light machine gun and the MG 34
Page 212 and 213: the disastrous situation with regar
Page 214 and 215: In summer 1940, the Swiss diplomacy
Page 216 and 217: important of these was the Dixi-Jun
Page 218 and 219: Whether the contribution of Swiss e
Page 220 and 221: 4.3 Electricity The authorities of
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Page 224 and 225: provided by Switzerland to the Axis
Page 226 and 227: Passenger transport In recent years
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Page 230 and 231: Table 4: A few examples of transit
Page 232 and 233: to ensure that the volume of suspic
Page 234 and 235: - first Italy, then Germany - were
Page 236 and 237: Closing remarks The aim of this sec
Page 238 and 239: 4.5 Gold Transactions During the Se
Page 240 and 241: on 7 December 1942, when the Federa
Page 242 and 243: shipped to Switzerland even during
Page 244 and 245: lished two different dollar categor
Page 246 and 247: icance of these transactions on the
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Page 250 and 251: customers (such as the Reichsbank)
Page 252 and 253: corporations could therefore not co
Page 256 and 257: Figure 5: Balance-sheet totals of S
Page 258 and 259: phenomenon. Having such a well-esta
Page 260 and 261: the Geneva bank had to be liquidate
Page 262 and 263: the Swiss institutions was the guar
Page 264 and 265: esumption of debt service and were
Page 266 and 267: position they were still prepared a
Page 268 and 269: The banks provided Germany with oth
Page 270 and 271: of Swiss ownership, others without
Page 272 and 273: from Germany. The corresponding fig
Page 274 and 275: the certification procedure had dam
Page 276 and 277: owners. In cases where the company
Page 278 and 279: 1 This section is principally based
Page 280 and 281: 4.7 Swiss Insurance Companies in Ge
Page 282 and 283: 1934 and 1939, which decreased slig
Page 284 and 285: 1936 and in Frankfurt in 1939. Rent
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Page 288 and 289: Did this anti-Semitism spill across
Page 290 and 291: In cases where foreign exchange pol
Page 292 and 293: In Switzerland, insurance policies
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Page 296 and 297: Swiss-German border, and these firm
Page 298 and 299: leading figures in the Nazi regime
Page 300 and 301: which, once peace returned, would b
Page 302 and 303: independently. They backed this up
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egime. The same was the case for th
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options: either the «Generalgouver
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ities such as synthetic silks (Lonz
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6 Burrin, France, 1995, pp. 468f. 7
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Phases and extent of the use of for
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Table 7: Proportion of foreign work
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Fischer, the Aluminium-Walzwerke Si
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At Lonza, the Board Committee knew
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10 Quoted from Herbert, Fremdarbeit
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if the owner or the personally liab
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improving their position in the Ger
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their shareholders; according to a
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Willstätter to emigrate to Switzer
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of 193, not including «half-Jews»
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As a major manufacturer, Bally Wien
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their intention was to sell the thr
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December 1933 started negotiations
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were of the opinion that the admini
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ments and common international laws
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The Swiss authorities were prepared
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24 With reference to what follows,
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70 After the «Anschluss», Austria
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and irreplaceable; they are artefac
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Another channel for the transfer of
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In the case of Fides, five sub-cate
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«Switzerland plays a significant r
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was merely the first phase leading
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Case study: Curt Glaser - «I put t
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His art collection and art library
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well-known event is the «official
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Out of a total of around 20,000 con
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4 The following comments are based
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4.12 German Camouflage and Relocati
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documentation developed out of the
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ank collapses in the summer of 1931
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British branch out of the Netherlan
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interests of Switzerland. However,
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its former Swiss holding company mu
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spring 1944, as had already happene
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SS member Helmuth Maurer and the Zu
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economy syndicate in Switzerland, P
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Figures and Legends As a result of
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comply with the duty, established b
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25 On the «Red House» conference,
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emergency plenary powers). This «e
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provide for emergency powers for th
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In terms of international law, Swit
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those concerned, the rigorous separ
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opinion which had been commissioned
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material. This duty of equal treatm
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the systematic plundering of privat
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orne in mind in this context that i
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securities described above. 104 Her
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international law is applicable if
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Heynau’s petition against the Olm
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cation of Nazi injustice. This feel
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27 This included not only «politic
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66 Schindler, Fragen, 2001 (Publica
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106 Vischer, Handel, 2001 (Publicat
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142 After the war, the German crimi
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concerned, it was stated that «ind
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actions] assets in such countries o
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eplaced it with «Wiedergutmachung
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individual. 23 Reparations do not i
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6.2 Restitution Claims in Switzerla
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commission concluded that investiga
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prevented numerous claimants from m
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advantage for Switzerland was that
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was also justified by the argument
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vention of international law carrie
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transfer instructions received from
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e «never to mention the entire aff
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in question. Often, therefore, inve
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The Cold War and agreements with Po
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hensive survey to be carried out an
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of which 1.7 million francs came fr
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Learning processes of the 1990s In
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Table 8: Restitution proceedings ag
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Germany at that time, or were depor
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Judges at that time also had proble
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policies belonging to Jews who rema
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the International Commission of Hol
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international law and it had theref
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as many cases as possible by amicab
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under duress to be between 50 and 1
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Table 9: Restitution claims involvi
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Restitution claims after 1947 After
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ook with the title «Vénus de Cyr
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camouflaging. After the Allied occu
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elief that relations would continue
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group of companies was not a tradit
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communities in Switzerland supporte
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44 Letter from the three leaders of
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94 Investigations carried out by th
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139 FA, E 2001 (E) 1970/217, vol. 2
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Switzerland?» can be found in the
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French-speaking Switzerland called
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conformist tendencies, served only
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different type of conduct displayed
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also in more recent legal proceedin
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Discussions about the high level of
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this kind would be abrogated after
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State and private business. This ha
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tutional rights of Switzerland’s
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The task of the Commission did not
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The defensive attitude of private b
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much which would have failed to bec
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seemed to function outside establis
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spectre of a renewed post-war crisi
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«Axis» under the terms of the cle
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dissuasion in the broadest possible
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Sources and Bibliography The follow
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SVB (Schweizerische Volksbank) Fund
Page 531 and 532:
Federal Department of Justice and P
Page 533 and 534:
2.3 USA National Archives and Recor
Page 535 and 536:
- Zweiter Weltkrieg (ed.): Die Schw
Page 537 and 538:
Unabhängige Expertenkommission Sch
Page 539 and 540:
mémoire en construction, in: Allge
Page 541 and 542:
Bloch, Marc: Apologie der Geschicht
Page 543 and 544:
Erster und Zweiter Weltkrieg. Demok
Page 545 and 546:
Arbeitskreises «Zweiter Weltkrieg
Page 547 and 548:
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ge
Page 549 and 550:
Haab, Robert; Simonius, August: Art
Page 551 and 552:
Volkswirtschafts-Departementes, ed.
Page 553 and 554:
des réfugiés entre 1933 et 1945.
Page 555 and 556:
Kunz, Hans Beat: Weltrevolution und
Page 557 and 558:
Lüthy, Herbert: Die Disteln von 19
Page 559 and 560:
Vonarb, Zurich 1995 (Archäologie u
Page 561 and 562:
Radbruch, Gustav: Gesetzliches Unre
Page 563 and 564:
Schumann, Wolfgang: Die wirtschafts
Page 565 and 566:
Stutz, Hans: Frontisten und Nationa
Page 567 and 568:
Waeger, Gerhart: Die Sündenböcke
Page 569 and 570:
Zuschlag, Christoph: Die Ausstellun
Page 571 and 572:
Lussy Hanspeter Marden Matthew D. M
Page 573 and 574:
Ball, Alexander, 473, 474 Ball, Ric
Page 575 and 576:
Budge, Emma, 356 Bührle, cf. Oerli
Page 577 and 578:
Dynamit Nobel AG, Bratislava, 266 E
Page 579 and 580:
Grosz, George, 51 Grüninger, Paul,
Page 581 and 582:
Jezler, Robert, 113, 156 Jöhr, Ado
Page 583 and 584:
Maggi GmbH, Singen, 295, 297, 300,
Page 585 and 586:
Papen, Franz von, 381 Parfümeriewa
Page 587 and 588:
Schenker, Alois, 139 Schering AG, B
Page 589 and 590:
Sturzenegger, cf. Bank Sturzenegger
Page 591:
Wartmann, Wilhelm, 358 Weber, Ernst
Page 594 and 595:
Volume 6 Geschäfte und Zwangsarbei
Page 596 and 597:
Volume 16 Die Schweiz und die Goldt
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