In continuation of a long-standing national self-image, Switzerland saw
itself after 1945 as a small neutral state, which because of its will to
resist and a clever policy managed not to be drawn into the Second World
War. However, this self-image has been the subject of an increasingly
heated debate since the 1970s. The argument that Switzerland had above
all been a victim of developments in world politics, was increasingly
confronted with the counter-argument that this country had aided the
perpetrators in important - mainly economic - areas. More recently,
dealings in looted gold and the issue of dormant bank accounts and
stolen cultural assets have come into focus, in addition to inquiries
into the mysterious disappearance of the assets of victims of
persecution and extermination.
In this situation, the Swiss Parliament and Government set up, at the
end of 1996, an internationally composed Independent Commission of
Experts whose five-year assignment was to investigate these allegations
in their historical and legal context. Thanks to the unique privilege of
access to archives, it was possible for the first time to overcome the
obstacle of Swiss banking secrecy - believed to be insurmountable until
then - and to extend the research to the archives of banks and other
companies. A crucial document on 20th-centruy European history, this
volume presents the full and final report of the Commission,
illustrating Switzerland's predicament as a country not only with strong
economic, but also close cultural ties to Germany, the neighbor that
threatened the country's very survival. A multifaceted picture emerges
of the challenges of those dark years - challenges that Switzerland met
with varying degrees of success.
Distributed for Pendo Verlag, Switzerland
