Language:
German
Year of publication:
2004
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitgeschichte
Angaben zur Quelle:
31,4 (2004) 242-258
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jewish property
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Reparations
Abstract:
Between 1997-2004 Swiss companies, under U.S. pressure, paid more than 2 billion Swiss francs for Holocaust survivors all over the world. Switzerland did not declare these payments as reparations, although it took typical measures associated with reparations: restitution of dormant accounts, compensation for slave labor and refugees, and juridical rehabilitation of citizens who were sentenced for what was then illegal help given to refugees. Since the end of World War II, Switzerland has refused to talk about "reparations" due to the dominance of a strictly legal point of view according to which the German Reich was responsible for the crimes. Switzerland took these steps not only because of American pressure; it was also a combination of the problem of the dormant accounts with Switzerland's moral guilt because of its restrictive policies toward Jewish refugees.
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