Research into Holocaust Assets Unearths Constant Revelations

At this rate, historians of the Nazi Holocaust will be busy for a long time.

Hundreds of people crowded this week into a midtown Manhattan office building to hear U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, present the latest round of findings about the fate of both Jewish and non-Jewish assets from the World War II era, particularly those that had been deposited in Swiss banks.

Switzerland is at the center of a controversy on the whereabouts of Nazi gold, among other charges.

The revelations that have come in recent months are based on documents uncovered from the U.S. National Archives as well as from archives overseas.

“History is being changed and revisited almost on a daily basis,” said D’Amato, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Jewish leaders say D’Amato has been instrumental in the effort to learn what actually happened to the assets deposited during the time of the Nazis.

At the gathering Wednesday, which brought together New York City and New York state politicians; heads of various Jewish organizations; and officials from the Israeli Consulate in New York, the following recent discoveries were presented:

Hungary and the Czech Republic may have had deals with Switzerland similar to that of Poland. A secret deal between Poland and Switzerland allegedly enabled the Swiss to use Polish Jewish assets deposited in Swiss banks for safekeeping to compensate Swiss citizens. The assets of the Polish victims of the Holocaust is believed to have gone to Swiss nationals who owned property in Poland that was nationalized by the Communist government in Poland.

Nazi gold recovered by American troops immediately after World War II at a salt mine at Merkers, Germany, appears to have included personal possessions and gold dental fillings of Holocaust victims. The items included silver Passover cups and candlestick holders, according to a copy of a U.S. Archives document.

Norway appears to have auctioned off the property of 800 Holocaust victims in 1946. Jewish officials will meet with Norwegian leaders to discuss the issue next month. The current value of that property is $80 million, said Bronfman, also the president of the World Jewish Restitution Organization.

Officials said investigations into the wartime activities of Holland, Belgium, France and Sweden would continue.

In addition, other newly uncovered documents reveal lists of European Jews who held accounts in New York branches of Swiss banks during the war. The lists provide the first hard evidence outside of Swiss banking records that the missing accounts existed.

“This isn’t just about money,” Bronfman said at Wednesday’s gathering. “It’s about justice and human rights.”

“It’s about Jewish dignity, Jewish rights,” Bronfman said, adding, “It’s about the fact that we’re not going to get pushed around anymore.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the WJC co-sponsored the event.