The Last Deposit: Swiss Banks and Holocaust Victims' Accounts

(Hardback)

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The injustices committed against millions of Europe's Jews did not end with the fall of the Third Reich. Long after the Nazis had seized the belongings of Holocaust victims, Swiss banks concealed and appropriated their assets, demanding that their survivors produce the death certificates or banking records of the depositors in order to claim their family's property - demands that were usually impossible for the petitioners to meet. Now the full account of the Holocaust deposits affair is revealed by the journalist who first broke the story in 1995. Relying on archival and contemporary sources, Itamar Levin describes the Jewish people's decades-long effort to return death camp victims' assets to their rightful heirs. Levin also uncovers the truth about the behaviour of Swiss banking institutions, their complicity with the Nazis and their formidable power over even their own "neutral" government. From the first attempt to settle the fate of German property in neutral countries at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, through the heated negotiations following publication of Levin's investigative article in 1995, to the Swiss banks' ultimate agreement to a $1.2 5 billion payment in 1997, the pursuit of restitution is a story of delaying tactics and legal complications of almost unimaginable dimensions. Terrified that the traditional and highly marketable wall of secrecy surrounding the Swiss banks would tumble and destroy the industry, the banks' managements were dismissive and unco-operative in determining the location and extent of the assests in question, forcing the United States, other European countries and Jewish organizations worldwide to apply tremendous pressure for a just resolution. The details and the central characters involved in this struggle, as well as new information about Switzerland's controversial policies during World War II, are fascinating reading for anyone concerned with the Holocaust and its aftermath.

Reviews

"The dimension of the robbery is so vast, so expansive, that I believe Itamar Levin's book is just the beginning of the revelations yet to come...This will not atone the deeds already done, and certainly not the loss of life, but there could be no greater mission of human justice."-from the foreword by Avraham Burg, Speaker of the Knesset
"The fact that a series of countries, under international pressure and with the courage of a new generation, are dealing with the darker chapters of the past, proves the moral importance of the struggle."-from the foreword by Israel Singer Secretary General, World Jewish Congress and Edgar Bronfman President, World Jewish Congress
"The Last Deposit and Swiss Banks and Jewish Souls tell their complicated story with passion....[h]elpful in chronicling the campaign against the swiss banks."-Studies In Contemporary Jewry An Annual XVIII
Although the basic lines of the story told here...are now known, new information appears throughout this chronicle by Levin, Deputy Editor in Chief of Globes-Israel's Business Newspaper and one of the first to break the story.-Kirkus Reviews
Levin...has become an authority on the question of dormant Jewish funds in Swiss banks through his investigations for the Israel business daily Globes....Recommended for all libraries.-Library Journal
The Last Deposit and Swiss Banks and Jewish Souls tell their complicated story with passion....[h]elpful in chronicling the campaign against the swiss banks.-Studies In Contemporary Jewry An Annual XVIII
"Levin...has become an authority on the question of dormant Jewish funds in Swiss banks through his investigations for the Israel business daily Globes....Recommended for all libraries."-Library Journal
"Although the basic lines of the story told here...are now known, new information appears throughout this chronicle by Levin, Deputy Editor in Chief of Globes-Israel's Business Newspaper and one of the first to break the story."-Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

ITAMAR LEVIN is Deputy Editor in Chief, GlobesIsrael's Business Newspaper. Levin has led the world's media in reporting and uncovering the fate of looted Jewish property in Europe. A frequent lecturer on the subject, Levin also is an advisor to various public institutions, including the Israeli government. NATASHA DORNBERG is Managing Editor of Israel's Business Arena, Globes' internet site.