61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

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142 After the war, the German criminal law expert and legal philosopher, Gustav Radbruch, put forward the natural law thesis that «[...] wherever there is no attempt even to strive for justice, wherever equality, which is the core of justice, is deliberately denied in the making of positive law, the law is not only ‹false law›, it has no legal character whatsoever». Radbruch concluded that in light of its intolerable conflict with justice, Nazi legal injustice should be denied any validity ex tunc. On this point, see Radbruch, Unrecht, 1946, p. 346. 422
6 Issues of Property Rights in the Post-War Period It was first and foremost the outstanding property rights issues which, by raising the subject of «dormant accounts», rekindled the debate in 1996 about Switzerland’s role during the Second World War. As an international centre for asset management, Switzerland had also, since the First World War, been attracting the savings of people who would subsequently become victims of the Nazi regime. At the same time, this financial centre also served a wide variety of German interests. The previous chapter presented some legal aspects of the issues involved and highlighted the tensions arising from the unswerving continuity of (international) private law while far-reaching changes were taking place in Swiss public law. This chapter addresses the post-war period. At the centre are the questions of the way Swiss banks and insurance companies dealt with the property entrusted to them by private individuals and how they interpreted these property rights. What was the attitude of other players in the financial market towards claims for reparations and restitution after 1945 and what measures did the authorities decide to take? How did authority, law, and the economy interact as regards «Wiedergutmachung» for the victims of Nazi persecution? 6.1 Reparations, Restitution, «Wiedergutmachung»: Concepts and Premises Efforts to return looted property and to make individual restitution can be traced back to the wartime period. 1 Already in 1939, shortly after war broke out, plans to this effect were made by Jews in Britain and Palestine. Until this time, the demand for compensation was confined to «small circles», although voices raised with reference to the problem of individual compensation payments were not entirely absent. 2 In 1944 the World Jewish Congress (WJC) published a study by Nehemiah Robinson, who addressed this topic and, among other things, estimated Jewish property in the countries and territories occupied by the Third Reich to be worth 6–8.6 billion dollars. 3 In the same year, an interdepartmental committee established by the US government (the Interdivisional Committee on Reparations, Restitution and Property Rights) published its final report. 4 As far as individual restitution rights were 423
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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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International tolerance of and cond
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acquired what it needed from abroad
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military expenditure in Switzerland
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32 light machine gun and the MG 34
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the disastrous situation with regar
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In summer 1940, the Swiss diplomacy
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important of these was the Dixi-Jun
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Whether the contribution of Swiss e
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4.3 Electricity The authorities of
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closer to the Swiss electricity gen
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provided by Switzerland to the Axis
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Passenger transport In recent years
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a day passed through the Gotthard T
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Table 4: A few examples of transit
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to ensure that the volume of suspic
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- first Italy, then Germany - were
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Closing remarks The aim of this sec
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4.5 Gold Transactions During the Se
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on 7 December 1942, when the Federa
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shipped to Switzerland even during
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lished two different dollar categor
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icance of these transactions on the
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their gold transactions and positiv
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customers (such as the Reichsbank)
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corporations could therefore not co
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11 Banken, Degussa, 1999. 12 SNB Ar
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Figure 5: Balance-sheet totals of S
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phenomenon. Having such a well-esta
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the Geneva bank had to be liquidate
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the Swiss institutions was the guar
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esumption of debt service and were
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position they were still prepared a
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The banks provided Germany with oth
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of Swiss ownership, others without
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from Germany. The corresponding fig
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the certification procedure had dam
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owners. In cases where the company
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1 This section is principally based
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4.7 Swiss Insurance Companies in Ge
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1934 and 1939, which decreased slig
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1936 and in Frankfurt in 1939. Rent
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- were able to withstand this «Ger
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Did this anti-Semitism spill across
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In cases where foreign exchange pol
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In Switzerland, insurance policies
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the German economy was to an ever-i
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Swiss-German border, and these firm
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leading figures in the Nazi regime
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which, once peace returned, would b
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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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Page 386 and 387: Figures and Legends As a result of
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Page 390 and 391: 25 On the «Red House» conference,
Page 392 and 393: emergency plenary powers). This «e
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Page 396 and 397: In terms of international law, Swit
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Page 402 and 403: material. This duty of equal treatm
Page 404 and 405: the systematic plundering of privat
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Page 412 and 413: Heynau’s petition against the Olm
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Page 416 and 417: 27 This included not only «politic
Page 418 and 419: 66 Schindler, Fragen, 2001 (Publica
Page 420 and 421: 106 Vischer, Handel, 2001 (Publicat
Page 424 and 425: concerned, it was stated that «ind
Page 426 and 427: actions] assets in such countries o
Page 428 and 429: eplaced it with «Wiedergutmachung
Page 430 and 431: individual. 23 Reparations do not i
Page 432 and 433: 6.2 Restitution Claims in Switzerla
Page 434 and 435: commission concluded that investiga
Page 436 and 437: prevented numerous claimants from m
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Page 440 and 441: was also justified by the argument
Page 442 and 443: vention of international law carrie
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Page 446 and 447: e «never to mention the entire aff
Page 448 and 449: in question. Often, therefore, inve
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Page 452 and 453: hensive survey to be carried out an
Page 454 and 455: of which 1.7 million francs came fr
Page 456 and 457: Learning processes of the 1990s In
Page 458 and 459: Table 8: Restitution proceedings ag
Page 460 and 461: Germany at that time, or were depor
Page 462 and 463: Judges at that time also had proble
Page 464 and 465: policies belonging to Jews who rema
Page 466 and 467: the International Commission of Hol
Page 468 and 469: international law and it had theref
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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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