61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

humanitarian fund. In 1950, the Swiss Bankers Association discovered dormant
Polish accounts worth 598,000 francs in Switzerland. In the 1960s, however,
the banks and insurance companies transferred only the small sum of
15,498 francs (of which only 849 francs came from the insurance companies).
In 1975, the somewhat more substantial sum of 463,955 francs was paid as a
result of the Registration Decree, which had prompted the Polish government
to file more wide-ranging claims. A similar agreement was concluded with
Hungary in 1950. Of the total amount of 460,500 francs estimated in 1965 to
be held in dormant accounts belonging to persons resident in Hungary, the sum
of 325,000 francs was finally transferred to the Hungarian government in 1976.
The agreement got no or only very little publicity. It was therefore virtually
impossible even for heirs living abroad to assert their claims. Neither private
property rights nor banking secrecy had been a barrier to the release of these
assets.
The Registration Decree of 1962
The Registration Decree, adopted in 1962 thanks to massive external pressure,
was meant to provide a genuine solution of the problem that had remained
unresolved throughout the 1950s. In its message, the Federal Council stated
that such a measure was mandatory because Switzerland «(should) give no cause
for suspicion that it intended to enrich itself from the assets of the victims of
contemptible events». 77
As already outlined, the history of this measure did not generate a great deal of
hope. Two earlier attempts to settle the problem in 1947 and 1956 had
foundered on the concerted resistance of the banks who then conducted their
own survey, which produced meagre results. For instance, Swiss Bank Corporation
(Schweizerischer Bankverein, SBV) indicated in 1956 that it could not state
«with certainty» that it had such accounts but there were 13 cases (with a total
value of 82,000 francs) where this was probable. 78 Faced with this situation, the
Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities proposed that a trustee company be
set up to administer unclaimed assets. This the Swiss Bankers Association
rejected, arguing that this would breach banking and professional secrecy. 79 The
extent to which this concern for discretion was being used as a pretext, however,
is evident from the fact that by 1959 Swiss Bank Corporation had quite warmed
to the idea of such a project. On the suggestion of Paul Guggenheim, the bank
proposed the setting up of a trustee company to the Swiss Bankers Association,
but this initiative too was unsuccessful.
The Federal Decree of 20 December 1962 on the Law relating to the Registration
of Dormant Accounts followed a motion submitted on 20 March 1957
by the Socialist National Councillor Harald Huber who called for a compre-
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