61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

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Table 8: Restitution proceedings against Swiss insurance companies Company Property/circumstances Com- Chamber of Resti- Date plainant tution/Judgment Mannheim, P 1 3a Mannheim Regional Basler Leben Acquisition through compulsory JRSO Court 23.4.1952 auction Judicial Settlement Basler Leben Frankfurt/M., Mainzer Landstr. 59/63 Former Acquisition through compulsory owner auction Frankfurt/M. Regional Court Judicial Settlement 22.12.1952 Rentenanstalt Cologne, Lindenstr. 52 Acquisition through compulsory auction URO Cologne Regional Court Application rejected 16.12.1953 Rentenanstalt Düsseldorf, Kölnerstr. 44 Acquisition through compulsory auction Former owner Düsseldorf Regional Court Application rejected 10.4.1951 Rentenanstalt Hannover, Engelbostelerdamm 47 Acquired on liquidation Former owner Hannover Regional Court Application withdrawn 19.5.1953 Berlin, Innsbruckerstr. 22 Berlin-Schöneberg Vita Acquisition through compulsory JRSO Compensation Office 7.8.1952 auction Application withdrawn Vita Frankfurt/M., Haus zum Braunfels Acquisition through compulsory auction Former owner Federal Supreme Court Application rejected (appeal) 28.10.1953 Source: Basler (Leben) Archives 01 000 667, File 32; Rentenanstalt Archives, 2 Files «Rückerstattungsverfahren»; Zürich (Unfall) Archives E 104 208: 25952; Zürich (Leben) Archives Q 105 207:29198:2. Other claims resulting from the activities of insurance companies had already become the subject of restitution proceedings immediately after the war. First to be dealt with was the return of «aryanised» property and real estate which had been acquired by Swiss insurers as part of their investment strategy. Without exception, this property was situated in the Federal Republic of Germany or West Berlin; these cases were thus subject to the corresponding legislation imposed by the Western Allies, in particular US Military Government Law No. 59. The assets thus dealt with in the early fifties were all cases where the Swiss company held a mortgage on the «aryanised» property. The ICE did not undertake any systematic efforts to uncover similar cases in East Berlin (where the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization claimed three buildings from the Rentenanstalt), 90 in the former German Democratic Republic, in the German Eastern territories within the 1937 borders, or in the occupied countries. Evidence has been found that already during the war at least one Swiss insurance company was thinking about possible future claims from former employees who had lost their jobs and were in many cases deprived of their pension rights. As already quoted in section 4.10, Swiss Re noted in 1943 with regard to withheld compensation and pension benefits: «These matters may give rise to endless 458
difficulties in the future.» 91 Such losses of legitimate entitlements must have been frequent, yet no evidence has been found of court proceedings or subsequent payments in the post-war era. Future research could shed further light. There is also the question of whether outstanding claims exist against Swiss companies which insured Jewish property that was destroyed in the pogrom of 9November 1938, or in other incidents of persecution-related vandalism. Claims of this type raise a host of complex legal questions. The vast majority of the policies affected contained a clause to the effect that losses resulting from «internal unrest» were not insured. Nevertheless, insurance companies – Swiss included – had paid for losses by «Aryan» and foreign policyholders, whereas claims from Jewish policyholders were paid not to the policyholders themselves, but rather in the form of a lump sum to the Nazi fiscal authorities. On 23 April 1952, a decision was taken by the (West German) Federal Supreme Court regarding a pogrom loss. A decisive factor for the outcome of the proceedings was whether the payment to the Nazi authorities was seen as waiving the application of the clause which excluded internal unrest. The Federal Supreme Court found that this was not the case. It found that this payment had been made only «under pressure from the instruments of power», 92 and that the victims of the pogroms must therefore lodge their claims not with the insurance companies, but with the West German state under the reparations laws. The most problematic cases involving restitution liabilities are connected with insurance benefits which were paid in full to the Nazi authorities, and with policies where there were no heirs, or where the benefits have remained unclaimed. Policies paid out to the Nazi authorities As already discussed (see section 4.7), a considerable number of insurance policies were paid out prematurely (surrendered) in the second half of the 1930s, mainly at the request of the policyholders, in order to pay taxes or meet legal constraints. Where these payments took on the status of confiscation, they represented a form of «legalised expropriation». In the majority of cases, the policyholders’ requests were in fact made under pressure, either of a very direct nature, or in a more general sense as a result of economic necessity brought about by the National Socialists’ exclusion policies. The behaviour of the insurance companies varied considerably in the face of this situation. Many of them evidently paid out large numbers of the policies affected without objection, whereas others went further to protect the interests of their clients. From November 1941, all assets – including insurance policies – belonging to German citizens who as victims of persecution were either living outside 459
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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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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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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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 422 and 423: 142 After the war, the German crimi
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
Page 438 and 439: advantage for Switzerland was that
Page 440 and 441: was also justified by the argument
Page 442 and 443: vention of international law carrie
Page 444 and 445: transfer instructions received from
Page 446 and 447: e «never to mention the entire aff
Page 448 and 449: in question. Often, therefore, inve
Page 450 and 451: The Cold War and agreements with Po
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 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
Page 470 and 471: as many cases as possible by amicab
Page 472 and 473: under duress to be between 50 and 1
Page 474 and 475: Table 9: Restitution claims involvi
Page 476 and 477: Restitution claims after 1947 After
Page 478 and 479: ook with the title «Vénus de Cyr
Page 480 and 481: camouflaging. After the Allied occu
Page 482 and 483: elief that relations would continue
Page 484 and 485: group of companies was not a tradit
Page 486 and 487: communities in Switzerland supporte
Page 488 and 489: 44 Letter from the three leaders of
Page 490 and 491: 94 Investigations carried out by th
Page 492 and 493: 139 FA, E 2001 (E) 1970/217, vol. 2
Page 494 and 495: Switzerland?» can be found in the
Page 496 and 497: French-speaking Switzerland called
Page 498 and 499: conformist tendencies, served only
Page 500 and 501: different type of conduct displayed
Page 502 and 503: also in more recent legal proceedin
Page 504 and 505: Discussions about the high level of
Page 506 and 507: 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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