SWISS OFFER TO SET UP FUND FOR HOLOCAUST VICTIMS.Byline: The New York New York, state, United StatesNew 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 Times Seeking to defuse the crisis over its financial dealings during the Nazi era, the Swiss government offered on Tuesday to use money from unclaimed bank accounts dating to World War II to set up a fund ``in favor 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. and their descendants.'' But the offer failed to deflect a tide of Jewish anger over recent remarks by a high Swiss official who called Jewish demands for compensation from Switzerland ``extortion and blackmail Ask a Lawyer Question Country: United States of America State: California Hi, Recently I was threatened by someone telling me they would plantilligal substances in my car then call the police... .'' Jewish groups have demanded an apology for the remarks by the official, Economics Minister Jean-Pascal Delamuraz Jean-Pascal Delamuraz (April 1, 1936 in Vevey - October 4, 1998 in Lausanne) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1983-1998). He obtained a degree in political science in 1960 and became that same year deputy director of the Swiss National , but the government statement on Tuesday offering to set up a Holocaust memorial fund made no reference to an apology. Last week, Delamuraz said he had been ``misunderstood'' and was sorry for any grief he might have caused. The Swiss government's announcement was ``a step in the right direction'' but fell far short of resolving the matter, 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 director 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. .
The Center has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Swiss banks on behalf of Holocaust survivors. ``The main issue here is coming clean . . . and making sure that the heirs of the victims are compensated for what was stolen from them,'' Cooper said. ``What we're talking about is not charity, but justice.'' The public confrontation between Switzerland and Jewish groups in the United States and Israel has been building since last year, fueled by assertions that Swiss banks profited from wartime dealings in Nazi gold and subsequently hoarded bank deposits belonging to Jews who had been killed in the Holocaust. Switzerland's banks - and their reputation as havens of security and confidentiality - are central to its economic well-being. But the insistent clamor, particularly from the United States, for disclosure of their activities during and after the Nazi era has worried Swiss bankers. After 90 minutes of telephone conversations, the seven ministers in Switzerland's Cabinet issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the 40 million Swiss francs, or $29.5 million, discovered so far in dormant accounts should be ``put to proper use.'' |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion