Do people feel that it is fair that in popular culture it seems that Switzerland and Swiss companies are being the World’s bitch as a result of WWII? By this I mean that many of the atrocities of the Nazi’s are being blamed on the Swiss over 50 years later, for the pure purpose of financial rewards for something they had nothing to do with.
As seen today, this is going far beyond paying money owed from Swiss bank accounts. It includes numerous other money awards from the government and banks. Suites have been brought against companies such as IBM, for having division based in Switzerland at the time of war. In this case IBM had a Swiss office that had owned another company in Germany that they lost control of Nazi’s before, or at the being of WWII. The contention is that in turn, computer punch cards provided by this german company greatly contributed in some way to jewish deaths in prision camps
It is certainly clear that WWII and Nazi Germany was a horrible thing and millions of jews needlessly suffered and died. No one should minimize that, however this desire for financial reward by people today that were not even there or involved, I believe is wrong and insulting to the people that suffered and died. The problem is seeking monetary awards- over 50 years later- from people that were not even responsible for the things that happened. While I don’t see Germany being sued for WW2, I see the Swiss government and Swiss companies taking a fall for the profit of lawyers of class action lawsuits looking for deep pockets.
This was bothering me in light of recent news I so wanted to express it. The Swiss now seem to be the fall guys for anything Nazi related in terms of being a lawsuit cash cow.
I don’t know how long this will stay in GQ, but there are a couple of misconceptions to clear up that are factual.
While there has been criticism of IBM for the participation of their franchisee, Dehomag, in preparing census computations that enabled the identification of Jews. it is hardly a general attitude and is not often aimed at Switzerland. (Dehomag was a German company.
On the other hand, investifgations over the last 60 years have, in the last decade, produced evidence that a number of Swiss banks made survivors of the Holocaust jump over unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to identify funds that they either owned or should have inherited. This was money that the records demonstrte that the Swiss bankers knew were owed, but that they felt comfortable keeping (and using) on the grounds that the claimants had not provided the correct paperwork. In addition, a number of Swiss institutions have been shown to have deliberately taken advantage of refugees. Beyond that, the Swiss, better than many countries, had information about the death camps and continued to turn away people attempting to seek sanctuary during the war. (The Swiss actually apologized for that action around ten years ago.)
Since tomndebb provided some facts, I think it’s now time to move this to Great Debates, since the OP was looking to express his point of view and evidently wanted someone to take the other side.
First I want to apologize, and thank samclem for moving this to great debates, as that is where I had intended to post this. As this is clearly a debate issue. As a side comment, I will also apoloze to any readers in advance that may be offended by the title, finding it vulgar or otherwise. However it seemed appropriate and likely to inspire debate.
As I commented in my orginal email, I am all for the recovery of lost bank funds and this is not about recovery of funds.
It should also be noted that the Swiss were orginally the ones that initally went through records indentifing them around 20 or more years ago, but it was more recently that other groups tried to gain publicity by going over these records. It should also be note these are SWISS accounts… the secret accounts that so well known, which is exactly the reason Jews put money there to begin with. These banks did just what they promise to do, and are required to do by law: keep them secret, and depositers delibately didn’t want identities known so went to lengths to keep things secret. This creates the issue of no real records on many of those accounts. My point here is that there wasn’t some secret nazi conspiracy with these banks, and that the banks acted in good faith.
My main issue isn’t really even with basic lawsuits against banks. I do want to make very clear that I do strongly believe that the banks should pay out the money owed to the heirs of the people with funds. I feel that some of this goes way beyond recovery to be insulting to the people that did die and suffer in the name of a buck. There have been many lawsuits, most of which have wanted FAR more than money deposited and interest (it should also be noted that these are not interest bearing accounts, but rather actually charge substantial fees to hold funds.)
I don’t want this to be just about the banks paying money owed, because for me, that is not the issue.
Seeing the government and other businesses of the Swiss being made patsies for WW2 with seems wrong. It is to me the equal to calling your neighbor a Nazi, because they are of German descent. It is also important to remember that the Swiss are very strong about their neutrality in world affairs, possibly to their own detriment.
First I want to apologize, and thank samclem for moving this to great debates, as that is where I had intended to post this. As this is clearly a debate issue. As a side comment, I will also apoloze to any readers in advance that may be offended by the title, finding it vulgar or otherwise. However it seemed appropriate and likely to inspire debate.
As I commented in my orginal email, I am all for the recovery of lost bank funds and this is not about recovery of funds.
It should also be noted that the Swiss were orginally the ones that initally went through records indentifing them around 20 or more years ago, but it was more recently that other groups tried to gain publicity by going over these records. It should also be note these are SWISS accounts… the secret accounts that so well known, which is exactly the reason Jews put money there to begin with. These banks did just what they promise to do, and are required to do by law: keep them secret, and depositers delibately didn’t want identities known so went to lengths to keep things secret. This creates the issue of no real records on many of those accounts. My point here is that there wasn’t some secret nazi conspiracy with these banks, and that the banks acted in good faith.
My main issue isn’t really even with basic lawsuits against banks. I do want to make very clear that I do strongly believe that the banks should pay out the money owed to the heirs of the people with funds. I feel that some of this goes way beyond recovery to be insulting to the people that did die and suffer in the name of a buck. There have been many lawsuits, most of which have wanted FAR more than money deposited and interest (it should also be noted that these are not interest bearing accounts, but rather actually charge substantial fees to hold funds.)
I don’t want this to be just about the banks paying money owed, because for me, that is not the issue.
Seeing the government and other businesses of the Swiss being made patsies for WW2 with seems wrong. It is to me the equal to calling your neighbor a Nazi, because they are of German descent. It is also important to remember that the Swiss are very strong about their neutrality in world affairs, possibly to their own detriment.