61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

the monetary system and refugee policy as areas which – logically – were
pertinent to the investigation of Switzerland’s role during the period 1933–45.
The Commission took the view that it should also examine the exploitation of
forced labour by Swiss companies in Germany and other Nazi controlled territories
– an issue which had become the focus of renewed debate. The research
mandate also focused explicitly on the post-war period and especially on issues
concerning the restitution of assets, the handling of property claims and – more
generally – how Switzerland has dealt with its past and its memory thereof.
In spring 1997, at the ICE’s request, Parliament substantially increased the
Commission’s initial budget of 5 million francs and commited itself to
allocating 22 million francs. With these financial resources, a research organisation
was set up under Jacques Picard and a research project elaborated. 4 In
Berne and Zurich, different teams examined and evaluated source material held
in private and public archives. At the same time, the ICE commissioned a
number of experts to deal with specific issues; in particular, they included Marc
Perrenoud, who acted as scientific advisor for the various part-projects, and
Benedikt Hauser, who coordinated research in private archives. Research teams
also worked in archives in Germany, the USA and other countries; in Italy,
Israel, Austria, Poland and Russia, the ICE employed individual researchers on
a commission basis. In total, more than 40 researchers collaborated on the
project – mainly on a part-time basis – during the two most intensive years of
work in Swiss and foreign archives (cf. list of researchers in the Appendix).
In 1998, at the Federal Council’s request, the ICE published its interim report
on the gold transactions between the Third Reich and the Swiss commercial
banks and the Swiss National Bank. This was followed a year later by the report
on «Switzerland and Refugees in the Nazi Era». Seven teams worked on themes
relevant to the ICE’s mandate, especially the role of the banks, insurance
companies, industrial enterprises, foreign trade, and asset transactions
(including the transfer of cultural assets and securities) during the period
1933–1945. A series of juridical reports provided the basis for a legal
assessment of the historical events. From summer 2000 on, the factual research
– which had always covered the issue of restitution as well – drew to a
conclusion. Under the Scientific Project Management team set up at the start
of 2000 and comprising Stefan Karlen, Martin Meier, and Gregor Spuhler (until
March 2001), as well as Bettina Zeugin (from February 2001), a total of 17
studies and 6 (shorter) research contributions were produced as well as two
volumes containing 11 juridical reports by legal experts. With the support of
the ICE secretariat (Regina Mathis and Estelle Blanc), these volumes were
published from August 2001 by Chronos Verlag Zürich, which specialises in
academic literature (cf. list of ICE publications in the Appendix).