A Deep Denial Is Fading

Switzerland was one of a handful of European countries that stayed officially neutral during World War II, aligning itself with neither the Axis powers--Germany, Italy and Japan--nor the U.S.-led Allies. But political neutrality did not preclude profitable commerce. Nazi gold was transferred to Switzerland and used to buy war materiel. Loot from German-occupied countries was stored in Switzerland for safekeeping. Jews seeking to escape Nazi persecution were usually denied haven, though money deposited by Jews in Swiss banks in the 1930s to keep it from being seized by the Nazis was welcomed. Most of that money is still there, its owners murdered in the Holocaust, their survivors, if any, lacking documentary proof to recover what is theirs.

For more than half a century, Switzerland has been in deep denial about its wartime role. Recent prodding from Jewish organizations and the United States and other governments is bringing about a change, one welcomed by many though not all Swiss. There is now a good chance that a great deal more will soon be known about the role Switzerland played in World War II and about how it behaved in the aftermath.

The Swiss Parliament has appointed a commission of historians to report on the country’s wartime financial activities and its behavior toward Jews. A separate American study is due in March. Paul Volcker, former head of the Federal Reserve, is heading another panel seeking to identify dormant bank accounts belonging to the victims of Nazism; by some estimates, with accrued interest these accounts could now total billions of dollars.

Among the significant signs of change is the decision this week by the three largest Swiss banks to make an initial contribution of $70 million to a fund for Holocaust victims. The banks have invited the government and others to contribute. Until recently the government resisted such a fund, arguing that it would imply some moral culpability for wartime activities. But the evidence of culpability, and the sordid record of legalistic obstacles erected to prevent recovery of stolen property, is past ignoring or denying. Switzerland is nearing a moral accounting with its recent past. Out of that could come at least some restitution for some victims of Nazism.