`JUSTICE' FOR JEWS; SWISS BANKS TO PAY OUT $1.25 BILLION.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services A $1.25 billion settlement with Swiss bankers represents a ``small measure of justice'' - something that survivors of the Holocaust have been seeking for more than a half century, Jewish leaders said after the historic agreement was announced Wednesday. ``Today this is a victory for the victims of Naziism,'' said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center  This article is currently semi-protected to prevent sock puppets of currently blocked or banned users from editing it. in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , which was instrumental in the fight to obtain the
settlement from Swiss banks.
``To the hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors There are many famous Holocaust survivors who survived the Nazi genocides in Europe and went on to achievements of great fame and notability. Those listed here were, at the very least, residents of the parts of Europe occupied by the Axis powers during World War II who survived , the money isn't going to amount to much, but it will be a small measure of justice that they waited over 50 years for,'' Hier said. ``The Swiss bankers should not be viewed as philanthropists for doing this. They were merely returning stolen goods.'' Under the settlement, the banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion in reparations reparations, payments or other compensation offered as an indemnity for loss or damage. Although the term is used to cover payments made to Holocaust survivors and to Japanese Americans interned during World War II in so-called relocation camps (and used as well to to victims of the Nazi era. ``I am tremendously pleased and gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. to announce that we've reached a historic agreement,'' said Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N R-N Raion (Russian, district; used in postal addresses) .Y., who helped lead the effort to obtain justice. The deal was announced in front of U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, where three suits filed over the past two years had been consolidated into one class-action suit Noun 1. class-action suit - a lawsuit brought by a representative member of a large group of people on behalf of all members of the group class action . The suits had accused the banks of retaining the assets of Holocaust victims While victims of the Holocaust were primarily Jews, the Nazis also persecuted and often killed millions of members of other groups they considered inferior, undesirable or dangerous. , assets that the plaintiffs' lawyers said had been deposited in the banks by the victims or that had been looted by the Nazis and stored in Swiss banks. The litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. had been part of a growing effort to force the banks to scour scour, scours 1. the chemical and physical cleaning of fleece wool. 2. diarrhea. dietetic scour see dietary diarrhea. peat scour see secondary nutritional copper deficiency. their records to identify dormant accounts and the proceeds of Nazi plunder Nazi plunder refers to art theft and other items stolen as a result of the organized spoliation of European countries during the time of the Third Reich by agents acting on behalf of the ruling Nazi Party of Germany. and to pressure them to return the assets to the elderly and frail victims and their heirs. ``This is not charity from the Swiss,'' said Estelle Sapir, a 73-year-old New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of resident who was interned at the Rivsalte camp in France. ``My father deposited money there. It is my money.'' A number of states and cities, including New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and New York state, had threatened to impose sanctions on the Swiss banks if they did not agree to an acceptable settlement. The threat had outraged the Swiss government, and the sanctions also were opposed by the U.S. government, which feared that the threats could complicate efforts at a settlement. Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat said in a statement Wednesday night that the accord ``represents a major step'' in achieving justice for Holocaust survivors and strengthening American-Swiss relations. One condition of the settlement, Eizenstat said in an interview, was that the plaintiffs publicly call for all elected officials to drop their threat of sanctions against the Swiss. Many details of how to pay the money and who would qualify remain to be worked out. The payments are to be made in four installments over three years, with the first installment of $250 million not likely for nine months to a year because of the work needed to implement the deal, according to lawyers for both sides. The work includes devising a plan to distribute the money to victims with claims against the Swiss banks who live in the United States and abroad, they said. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, called the settlement, a ``major victory.'' He said the accord was the result of intensive negotiations in federal court in Brooklyn over the course of the past two days. ``We're looking at a settlement that forces the Swiss banks to go from the original figure of $600 million that was rejected by every Jewish group around the world,'' Cooper said. He said the $600 million would have amounted to about a dime on every dollar that was taken. The Jewish groups claim the Swiss banks took in Nazi deposits looted from Holocaust victims, held them in dormant accounts and made money on the cash deposited. Hier said the return from this money to the Swiss banks over 50 years was in the tens of billions of dollars. ``For them to pay out $1.2 billion is a very small sum of money,'' Hier said. Cooper agreed with Hier that the case goes beyond money. ``This is not a bean count. This is not a matter of dollars here. It's a matter of justice,'' Cooper said. ``By coming to this kind of a settlement, it also means the Swiss are acknowledging that they not only kept the dormant accounts of the victims'' but also ``cashed in'' on the victimizers' deposits. He said it means ``that, first and foremost, after 50 years-plus a measure of justice will have been done.'' ``The greater part of these proceeds should go directly to help indigent indigent 1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for himself/herself. 2) n. one without sufficient income to afford a lawyer for defense in a criminal case. , elderly and sick Holocaust victims,'' Cooper said. On Feb. 25, 1997, the Simon Wiesenthal Center released a list of 1,600 names of potential Holocaust victims who deposited millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts, and the center continued to play a major role in the matter. Its lawyers were among the principals involved in negotiating Wednesday's settlement, Hier said. ``If it were not for pressure and the lawsuits, there would never have been a settlement,'' he said. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Holocaust survivor Estelle Sapir, 73, right, is comforted by her niece after the settlement was announced at a New York courthouse Wednesday. Melanie Einzig/Associated Press |
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