Bergier Commission - Some Summary Conclusions

Some Summary Conclusions

German race laws were implicitly endorsed by the Swiss government

• In 1938 the Swiss asked the German government to stamp a J in the passports of all German Jews in order that they could be treated differently from other German passport holders.
• In 1942 the Swiss officials closed their borders and for example refused to admit Jewish children among children brought to Switzerland for holidays.
• Anti-semitic attitudes held by Swiss authorities contributed to such decisions.
• In 1941 when the Nazi government stripped German Jews of their citizenship, the Swiss authorities applied the law to German Jews living in Switzerland by declaring them stateless; when in February 1945 Swiss authorities blocked German Bank accounts held in Switzerland they declared that the German Jews were no longer stateless, but were once again German and blocked their Swiss bank accounts as well.

While it is true that Swiss offered humanitarian assistance to refugees in Switzerland and others in distress abroad, the Swiss government did not use its unique geographical and historical positions to offer protection to those persecuted by the Nazi state, rather they progressively closed their borders and returned refugees to Nazi authorities, driving many people to certain death.

Consistent with historical business ties and Swiss neutrality, Swiss firms continued and often increased their relationship with the economies in Nazi occupied Europe. However, in a number of cases Swiss businessmen went out of their way to conform to the German political climate to the extent of removing Jewish employees in their factories and offices in Germany and even sometimes in Switzerland. Swiss firms also neglected the interests, particularly in the banking and insurance sectors of clients who were persecuted by the Nazis. Some Swiss firms in adapting to the restructured German economy found themselves employing forced labour and in some cases labour from concentration camps.

Even though statistics are hard to come by, it is clear that Nazi-plundered gold flowed into Switzerland with the knowledge of the highest authorities in spite of promises that were made to the Allies to forbid such trade.

The Commission concluded that the dual responsibilities of a democratic state to its own people and to the international community were not met during the period examined, and were often ignored during the fifty year post-war period.

After the war, when victims of the Holocaust or relatives of victims tried to access bank accounts that had be dormant during the war, Swiss banking authorities hid behind an interpretation of banking secrecy laws to block access and restitution. Such behavior was deemed to have been determined by institutional self-interest rather than the interests of the victims of the Nazi state who had transferred their assets to Switzerland for safekeeping.