Copyright (c) 1997 - Ingrid A. Rimland
Mr. Eizenstat speaks of a "legalizing" attitude. Ladies and gentlemen, now it becomes dangerous. What does "legalism" mean exactly? It means nothing other than the strict adherence to law! In this case, it relates to the sovereignty of a small state. Because the small state has only the law on its side, and not the power.
The small state, limited in its power, has little to offer in terms of grandiose gestures and ponderous phrases. It is discomfiting for the increasingly numerous "visionaries" and moralists in our politics who suffer under the small state because it painfully limits their extravagant daydreams.
After the war, the Western Allies passed laws according to which the assets of German citizens were seized for the benefit of the Allies. Although Switzerland was threatened with the blocking of Swiss funds abroad, it steadfastly refused to adopt these measures. Not all Germans, those who had long been living in Switzerland for instance, should be treated without exception as Nazis and war criminals and robbed by the victors.
Our country finally came to an agreement with the Allies in 1946. According to the terms of the Washington Accord, Switzerland, without acknowledging any guilt, paid the Allies gold valued at 250 million francs. In addition, it had to surrender a part of German assets which were in Switzerland, whereby Switzerland as a constitutional state allowed a compensation claim to the Germans concerned.
In Switzerland, the Washington Accord was considered to be highly unjust and humiliating. To say today that the small state of Switzerland cunningly duped and outwitted the fully unsuspecting Allied powers in these negotiations is absolutely ridiculous. A re-negotiation of the Washington Accord is absurd and would, if at all, turn out in favor of Switzerland.
A new solution must be found for those cases in which the victim and the heirs could not be granted legal redress, and the purpose must be clearly stipulated. Today it is unclear if injustices were committed in relation to dormant assets. If such is the case, it must be rectified with compensation according to the basic principles of law. The Swiss people as a whole have nothing to do with it. They had nothing to do with it 50 years ago, and they have nothing to do with it today!
Trade relations with national socialist Germany were self-evident for all nations. Who should know this better than the United States! All large American companies maintained especially intensive trade relations with Germany. Before Hitler seized power, they filled the party coffers with 128 million Reichsmark and helped to arm and motorize the forces of the German Reich. American managers even accepted the distinguished Verdienstkreuz, the highest Nazi decoration awarded for military or other service.
The Second World War was not only a military and political war, it was also an economic war.
The idea that dental gold of murdered concentration camp victims could be found in gold bars and gold coins in Swiss deposits, and even in our living room closets, seems to be one of the favorite images for critics of today's banks and the financial center of Switzerland.
If the Jewish World Congress today assumes astronomical figures in the case of gold from concentration camps, it is historically incorrect and, on top of everything else, dangerous. It approaches the old anti-Semitic prejudice to the effect that the persecuted Jews were immeasurably rich and would have lugged away all of the kilos of gold, so to speak, on their backs.
In reality, the Jews who perished in the concentration camps, and especially the Jews of eastern Europe, were poor, and undoubtedly poorer than the rest of the population. This has often been pointed out by researchers of the Jewish Holocaust."
Thought for the Day:
"In the heart of any pious Jew, God is a Jew. Is your God an Englishman or an American?"
(Maurice Samuel in "You Gentiles", p. 75)