BANK LIST MAY HOLD NAZI NAMES; WIESENTHAL CENTER FINDS 6 POSSIBLE SUSPECTS IN COMPILATION RELEASED BY SWISS ASSOCIATION.Byline: Luz Villarreal Daily News Staff Writer As 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 and their heirs pored over a new list of World War II-era depositors in Swiss banks Wednesday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center Among the 2,000 names of depositors released by the Swiss Bankers Association The Swiss Bankers Association is a professional organization of Swiss financial institutions. Background The trade association known as the Swiss Bankers Association was founded in 1912 in Basel, Switzerland. were those of six potential Nazi elite who profited from Holocaust survivors. ``This is totally unexpected,'' said Rabbi Abraham Cooper Abraham Cooper (1787-1868), English animal and battle painter, the son of a tobacconist, was born in London. At the age of thirteen he became an employee at Astley's Amphitheatre, and was afterwards groomed in the service of Sir Henry Meux. , associate dean at the center. ``We assumed the names of dormant accounts were primarily the names of the victims of the Holocaust.'' The names of depositors were published Wednesday in newspapers around the world, and the Wiesenthal Center cross-referenced them with a list of 334 Nazis. The center found six possible matches. Cooper and Rabbi Marvin Heir, dean and founder of the center, wrote a letter to the Swiss Bankers Association on Wednesday asking for assistance in figuring out whether the depositors had been Nazis. ``We'd like to hear quickly from the Swiss banks, if they are serious about this,'' said Cooper. ``We want them to share the information and then make a decision on what they are going to do with it. Remember, the monies they put in didn't come from stock portfolios. They should return the money to make sure they go to work for victims of the Holocaust and those of genocide.'' The Wiesenthal Center identified these people as suspected Nazis on the list of depositors: Willy Bauer, an alias used by Anton Burger Anton Burger (1911-1991) born in Ireland was a Sturmbannführer in the Nazi SS. He was the Commandant of Concentration camp Theresienstadt between 1943 and 1944. He went into hiding after the war under an assumed name and his identity was not uncovered until 1994, three years after his death. . The name is spelled ``Willi'' on the published list. Burger was an aide to Adolf Eichmann Noun 1. Adolf Eichmann - Austrian who became the Nazi official who administered the concentration camps where millions of Jews were murdered during World War II (1906-1962) Eichmann, Karl Adolf Eichmann and deputy commandant of Theresienstadt. Elisabeth Eder, born in Austria and wife of Ernst Kaltenbrunner Ernst Kaltenbrunner (October 4, 1903 – October 16, 1946) was a senior Nazi official during World War II. He was the highest ranking SS leader to face trial. He was executed for war crimes and crimes against humanity. , one of the most notorious Nazi officials executed at Nuremberg. Adolf Hitler appointed Kaltenbrunner as his successor. Eder's first name was listed as ``Elise'' on the bankers records. Hermann Esser Hermann Esser (1900-1981) entered the Nazi party with Adolf Hitler in 1920, became the editor of the Nazi paper, Völkischer Beobachter, and a Nazi member of the Reichstag. In the early history of the party, he was Hitler's de facto deputy. , vice president of the Reichstag, equivalent to a position such as House speaker for the Nazi hierarchy. The last name is spelled with one ``s'' in the published version. Hermann Schmitz, chairman of the Board of Directors of I.G. Farben, a major German conglomerate that used thousands of Jews as slave labor. The name appears as ``H. Schmitz'' on the published list. Heinrich Hoffman, a confidant of Hitler and a major Nazi profiteer. He was Hitler's personal photographer and marketed many of Hitler's books and photographs. The last name appears with one ``f'' on the published list. Karl Jager, a Gestapo official in charge of the liquidation of Lithuanian Jews. The Wiesenthal Center in February first released a list of 1,600 names of potential Holocaust victims who deposited millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts. Researchers from the center compiled the list from 1941 documents filed in archives of the U.S. Treasury U.S. Treasury Created in 1798, the United States Department of the Treasury is the government (Cabinet) department responsible for issuing all Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Some of the government branches operating under the U.S. Treasury umbrella include the IRS, U.S. Department and published them on the Internet. From that list, 17 families were linked with names of Holocaust victims. Since then, the center also compiled the list of 334 Nazis believed to have profited from Holocaust victims. The names were given to the Swiss government in May. Additions are expected to be made in the future, said Cooper. Officials with the center believe the Swiss Bankers Association released the 2,000 names under mounting international pressure. ``It's a step in the right direction, but at the same time, nobody should rush and shower them with kudos because they could have and should have done this 50 years ago,'' he said. ``They should win no Nobel Prize Nobel Prize, award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a fund to provide annual prizes in the five areas listed above. . They are merely returning stolen property.'' The president of the Swiss Bankers Association, which published the list, agreed that mistakes were made. ``I have found no fig leaf big enough to cover the negligence of my colleagues in the postwar era,'' Georg F. Krayer told the Associated Press on Wednesday. ``With a bit of effort we could have achieved better results.'' |
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