61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

hensive survey to be carried out and for all «heirless assets» found to be collected
in a «fund for humanitarian purposes». 80 Huber repeated the suspicion voiced
time and again by critics of the financial centre that, since the early 1930s, on
account of increasing exchange control regulations «significant amounts of
capital had fled – not only from Germany but also from the countries occupied
and threatened by the Axis powers during the Second World War – and had
been entrusted to Swiss banks, insurance companies, fiduciaries, lawyers and
notaries as well as other people, e.g., business friends». 81 The fact that Huber’s
motion met with general approval and was successful was also the result of a
changed international scene. In 1962, the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem drew
international attention to the Shoah; questions about the legitimate claims of
survivors, relatives, and restitution organisations could now no longer be passed
over in silence.
The Registration Decree of 1962
The Federal Decree of 20 December 1962 obliged all natural and juridical
persons, commercial companies, and associations to report any assets whose
last-known owners were foreign nationals or stateless persons of whom
nothing had been heard since 9 May 1945 and who were known or presumed
to have been victims of racial, religious, or political persecution. 82 The
definition did not confine itself to the clearly ascertainable concept of
dormancy but, in a second part, focused on mere presumption, thereby
allowing asset managers a great deal of leeway as regards interpretation.
Doubtful cases were to be submitted for verification to the Justice Division
of the Federal Department of Justice and Police, which was to be used as a
registration office (Meldestelle).
If no rightful claimant could be found, an asset adviser as specified in Article
393 of the Civil Code was to be appointed by the guardianship authority in
the place where the main asset was located. One year after the adviser was
appointed, a presumptive death procedure could be carried out (Article 7). If
the procedure found that the entitled person was dead, the succession process
had to take place in Switzerland. The succession process had to be confined
to the assets located in Switzerland (Article 8).
Any assets whose rightful claimants could not be traced were included in the
«fund for heirless assets». The Federal Decree of 3 March 1975 stipulated
that two-thirds of the money in this fund was to be transferred to the Swiss
Federation of Jewish Communities and one-third to the Swiss Central Office
for Refugee Relief (Schweizerische Zentralstelle für Flüchtlingshilfe).
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