Swiss Banks and Jewish Souls by Gregg Rickman

Author:Gregg Rickman [Rickman, Gregg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, General, Social Science, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781351289504
Google: YpRXDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-04-24T01:32:33+00:00

“Healing the remaining wounds”

“Our reputation has suffered,” stated Borer at the gathering of the World Jewish Restitution Organization at the Seagrams Building in New York on February 14. Borer, Bronfman, D’Amato, Eizenstat, and thirty-nine Jewish leaders met under the auspices of the WJRO to discuss the case of Switzerland and its new fund.

The delegates gathered to discuss the disbursement mechanism under which the Swiss Humanitarian Fund would operate. Bronfman, Singer, and Eizenstat spoke of the urgency to bring to a close the Swiss fund and get it working and providing aid to those survivors in Eastern Europe, the “double victims” as Eizenstat called them, before it was too late. The double victims were those who survived the war and the Holocaust, but then were stranded in Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain under Communism, whose fall made the Swiss banking scandal a reality. Eizenstat warned against sanctions which were then being discussed by the New York State legislature and updated the meeting on the progress toward getting the gold sitting in the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England consigned to a fund to benefit Holocaust survivors. He also praised D’Amato for being the “lone voice in the wilderness for a very long time,” on the issue.

Borer, who came to the meeting more at ease than his trip to the U.S. in December before the Congress, nevertheless was repentant and remorseful. “We are deeply aware of the mistrust, pain and confusion surrounding this issue,” he confided to the Jewish leaders.

Jean François Bergier, the Chairman of the Historical Commission, also offered apologies seeking mercy from the leaders. “We have to restitute our past to face the present,” Bergier declared. On his visit to the National Archives in Maryland the day before, he commented that he saw the various tables where the opposing teams of researchers sat each researching a different aspect of the growing problem. In a hope for the future, he wished for the day that “all the researchers will be at one table working together.”

Finally, explaining what was obvious to the world by Swiss actions and miscues, Paul Volcker, during his statement, concluded that a few weeks prior to this meeting, “the situation was getting dangerous.” As for Swiss handling of the crisis, “it was uncoordinated...with a lot of accusations going on.”25

Aside from the formalities of it all, the meeting was a useful one, if only for the fact that all the leaders on the issue were meeting in the same place at the same time. Yet, this was more than a gathering of all the central players in the Swiss story. It was a coming-out party for Borer. On previous occasions, Borer came to meetings with trepidation, fearful of the assault he would face from hostile Congressmen and Senators, or distrusting Jewish leaders. This time, however, Borer had progress to report. Yes, there was mention of the shredding, the “blackmail,” and the leaked memo, but he was treated more as an equal than as a target suitable for pummeling.

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