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MAJORITY RULE: GUARANTEE OF DEMOCRACY?

Swiss Bank Controversy: Who's Money Is It?
It is hard to imagine having everything you ever owned taken away in a split second. Many
Jews experienced this after the years of oppression by the Nazi regime. The Jews had
everything stripped away: their families, their possessions, their futures, and their
dignity. "I would give that money away for anybody. I should have had some relatives
survive. I mean most of my friends, they had sisters, or cousins, or aunts or somebody to
belong to. I had nobody," said Gizella Weisshaus (Jones 1996). It has been about fifty
years now since the end of the Holocaust. Up until recent times, the survivors of the
Holocaust have decided that they deserve their money that they put into the neutral Swiss
bank accounts before the war. They did this to protect their assets from the Nazis. This
then provides the controversy, fifty years later, do the Holocaust survivors and their
families deserve the money back from the Swiss banks, or are the Swiss banks even
responsible for paying back the money? The controversy first arose with Gizella
Weisshaus, when she could not receive her father's money after the war ended because she
did not know her father's bank account number. When she was a young girl, her father had
been taken away to the concentration camps. As he was being taken away, he mentioned to
her that he had put money away in a Swiss Bank account and that she should go and claim
it when the war ended. Years after the war she went back to claim the money, and the
teller told her that with out an account number she could not do this. They then told her
it would take five years to research the dormant account; therefore she would have to
wait. Her response was, "It made me angry that even now they claim they need five years
to find these dormant accounts, as if fifty years wasn't enough" (Jones, 1996). Weisshaus
was the first one to raise the red flag of the Swiss Bank controversy. Which has three
main sides to the issue, the Swiss side, the United State's side, and the side of the
Holocaust victims. The Swiss believe that they do not owe the survivors and their
families any money because of the laws that protect them. They said that they are a
neutral country and that the money put into the accounts was not claimed in time. The
United States took the position that if the money belonged to the victims of the
Holocaust, the money then should be returned back to them, regardless if the claim is
made one or fifty years later. The money belongs to the victims just as it did before the
war. The Holocaust victims' position is that they are owed this money back because it was
theirs in the first place before the war, no questions asked.
Switzerland was a neutral country at the time of the war, and is still a neutral country
at this period of time. The Swiss position on this controversy is that they do not
believe that they owe the unclaimed money to the Jewish survivors and their families, if
there is not proper documentation to back up the claims. The Swiss are examining the
situation and are unable to conclude what happened to the money in the accounts and where
the money went. The Swiss are very defensive with the allegations from the Jewish
survivors. They do not like being accused of destroying bank accounts and being called an
"ally" to the Nazis during the war (Border 2, 1998). That, therefore, is the reason why
the banks are so hesitant to giving the money back to the survivors. They have a valid
excuse why the documents may be gone after fifty years, but the banks as a whole, do not
like being seen as the bad guys. The Swiss even have laws protecting them and their
reasons for not returning the money back to the survivors. "Switzerland does not provide
for the government to receive the unclaimed property of those who have died with out
leaving a will or heirs. Therefore, the banks themselves are permitted to retain such
money"(Levin, 1998). After the war, the documents that showed proof of accounts were
destroyed and/or came up missing. The Swiss do not like the reputation they are receiving
for this mistake in the past. They are examining all of the allegations and are
determined to get to the bottom of the problem (Defrago, 1997). They are working with the
Jewish, British, German, and United States officials in recovering information and
documents that would exonerate or prove corruption of the Swiss accounts. Either way, the
Swiss are cooperating and are willing to give the money back to the survivors, if the
documents hold true to the accusations (Border 1, 1998). "The Swiss have pledged that at
the end of this process [searching for documents], not one penny will remain in
Switzerland that may have belonged to a victim of the Holocaust," said Jeffery Taufield,
a spokesman for the Swiss bankers Association (Jones, 1996). It was only until a great
outcry from the Holocaust victims that the Swiss agreed to form a committee to
investigate the missing bank accounts. If the documents do not appear, they propose
giving the survivors one lump sum to be divided up equally amongst themselves. 
Next is the position of the United States. The Unites States of America was an ally
during the war. They have a biased position towards the Germans and the Swiss because of
their stance on the war. The US does not listen to the facts presented and is quick to
point fingers of who is at fault. They are sticking with their guns in that they say the
Swiss took the money, they were not neutral during the war, and they owe the Jewish
survivors the money back (Jones, 1996). The United States claims that the Swiss took the
money, and that the case is cut and dry. The controversy should be resolved soon. The US
then appointed officials to look into the findings of the documents. Working along side
the US officials are officials from other countries including England and Germany. They
are working hard to find out the facts of the situation. The US also formed a Senate
Banking Committee, which is headed by Senator Alphonse D'Amato. The committee has been
holding hearings with survivors and their families. They said that they found evidence
that supports the claims that the Swiss withheld many deposits (Jones, 1996). The United
States also granted American citizenship to a Swiss guard who was caught burning account
documents. The guard was granted citizenship after he told on the Swiss for what they
have been doing to the documents. Yet, even more proof for the Holocaust victims. 
The final position is that of the Holocaust victims and their family members. They
believe that the money they put into the accounts in a "neutral country" should be given
back to them, after all it was theirs in the first place. They say that they deserve the
money back no questions asked. They believe that what the Swiss did was wrong in
destroying the records, and playing dumb to the whole incident is inexcusable, but the
Jews are willing to let bygones be bygones if the Swiss return the money. They realize
that everyone makes mistakes and is a shamed of things they have done in the past, they
just want them to forget about the past and do the right thing. The Jews themselves find
the whole process of recovering the money back very painful. They recall the horrible
moments from the war and some find it is not even worth going through the painful
memories all over again just to recover the money. Another position of the Jews is that
they reject firmly to the Swiss proposal of giving only the survivors one lump sum
divided up in equal parts, if proper documentation is presented. They dislike this idea
because the family of the victims would not be able to claim money from their family and
because not everyone had the same amount of money, everyone deserves the money that they
put in, not more or less the amount of the original account (Levin, 1998). 
In conclusion, the controversy of the lost Swiss bank accounts has many different
positions and opinions from countries and nationalities involved. There is the Swiss view
of that they acknowledge the disappearance of Holocaust victims bank accounts and they
are trying to get to the bottom of the problem. The view of the United States, who is
standing up for the victims and are trying to help them recover their money. Finally,
there is the view of the Holocaust victims, who are furious at the Swiss for the
disappearance of their bank accounts after the war. They are also disappointed in the
Swiss because they are giving the Holocaust victims a hassle when they try to recover
their money. They feel that the money is clearly theirs and they want it back. Over all,
there are many viewpoints and opinions over these issues neither of which are either
right or wrong. 
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