61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

had the impression that they were dealing with a trustworthy partner. Many
Swiss bankers tended to view the new regime in a positive light all in all. Like
a large section of the German financial sector, they felt that the fact that the
danger of a socialist form of National Socialism seemed to have been eliminated
was especially important and that there was little likelihood of the German
banks being destroyed or nationalised. The impression also prevailed that the
authorities responsible for economic policy (in particular the Reichsbank) were
successful in their efforts, evidently based on economic reasons, to repress anti-
Semitic outbreaks. Nazi Germany was therefore considered a respectable
negotiating partner by Swiss bankers. After returning from a trip to Berlin in
April 1933 (shortly after the «boycott» of Jewish businesses on 1 April that year
which was stopped by an official order), Rudolf Bindschedler, Managing
Director of Credit Suisse, for example, reported to his colleagues that the basic
tenets of Hitler’s government were anchored in the Christian faith, family
values, and respect for private property. Its merit lay in the fact that
«communism has been put down once and for all, which means that Europe has
perhaps been saved from Bolshevism and Western culture will remain intact.»
At that time, «the Jewish question, in which there had been an easing of
tension», seemed «to have been settled for the time being». 16 Although it was
believed that there was political «detente», the economic prospects did not look
any brighter. During these months German firms which were dependent on the
state in one way or another, either because they relied on public contracts or
needed public funding for reorganisation, were put under pressure to remove all
Jews from senior management positions. In view of the «politicisation of the
economy», the directors of Credit Suisse were no longer entirely confident about
the future prospects of Jewish companies. They tended more to concern
themselves with loans already granted to such firms, in particular with some of
the department-stores which were being badly harassed by the Nazis, such as
Leonhard Tietz AG and Rudolph Karstadt AG.
Banking operations with Nazi Germany until the end of the war
After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the British
and American banks cancelled their participation in the German credit
agreement. The Swiss banks, for their part, signed a further agreement with
Germany on 18 September 1939 which formed an irrevocable basis for
maintaining their mutual relationship and for this reason was also welcomed
by the Germans. From 1942 on, the representatives of the Swiss banks
demanded higher repayments and the cancellation of unused credit lines, no
doubt as a reaction to the change in the military situation which appeared to
strengthen their negotiating position. In order to maintain their special
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