[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 60 (Friday, May 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4255-S4257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOVERY OF WORLD WAR II GOLD

  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, pursuant to the order, I rise today to 
speak to the release of the report, and I will show you this report. 
The report is entitled, and I think the title is important, ``U.S. and 
Allied Efforts To Recover and Restore Gold Stolen by Germany During 
World War II.'' I think that description of the report is totally 
inadequate. It is a great report. The author and the person who has 
worked so hard, Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, Under Secretary of 
Commerce and soon to be Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs in the 
State Department, should be proud. We should all commend him for his 
efforts at getting the truth.
  What this report might better be called is the report on the greatest 
robbery that mankind has seen take place under the guise of the law and 
under the guise of civilized conventions and under and with the 
approval of allies who did not face the killing machine of the German 
Nazi armies. This was after the war that the greatest looting continued 
and this conspiracy continued for 50-plus years.
  Let me say we owe a great debt of gratitude to Stuart Eizenstat 
because he comes forward with the truth--not all of it, because not all 
of the documents and not all of the evidence are available or have been 
made available, but it is a beginning. His dedication to the truth and 
the perseverance he has demonstrated, and those who work with him, to 
bring us to this point should be commended. He has done this despite 
opposition from many quarters,

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quarters within our own Government, the State Department. The State 
Department was not happy; they were not happy campers. He pushed 
forward and he saw to it that this report was released. It really 
cracks the conspiracy, the veil of secrecy that has existed for 50-plus 
years. It begins to unravel the web and the deception that has been 
continued for 50 years, the so-called neutrality of some nations, and 
particularly the Swiss.
  Simply put, this report details the greatest robbery in the history 
of mankind. It underscores the necessity for a complete review and 
release of all of the documents and a full accounting of the assets 
that the Swiss held during the war and continued to hold for the past 
50 years. It is outrageous that this crime could continue and that 
there were nations and citizens and representatives of this country, as 
well as our allies, as well as the French, as well as the English, who 
countenanced this. There were no great German armies threatening them 
at that point in time. The Swiss cannot claim that they were fearful 
because they were surrounded and they were a tiny little nation.
  The report demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt the guilt and 
complicity of the Swiss Government as the bankers for the Nazis during 
World War II. Holocaust victims and their families have to shudder when 
they read this report. It leaves the unmistakable conclusion that we 
have to look carefully and ask our allies to look with us at whether or 
not we should reopen the Washington accords. The Washington accords set 
the basis for the distribution of billions and billions of dollars 
worth of gold.
  Literally, let me say that it would appear that the Swiss Government 
withheld billions. I will get into some detail and indicate how much. 
It is very clear that the Swiss Government was not forthcoming, that 
they were deceptive in terms of how much in the way of assets they were 
holding, that the Nazi killing machine had deposited with them. They 
kept these billions of dollars illegally and improperly, 
notwithstanding the bonafideness they might claim as a result of the 
accords being agreed to by the Allies.
  Some of this money, unmistakably, came from the death camps, places 
like Auschwitz and Treblinka, as well as from the peoples throughout 
Europe who were slaughtered when the Nazi killing machine swept across 
the Continent. In the 1946 accords between the Allies and Switzerland, 
the Swiss Government only agreed to give the Allies $58 million in 
gold. That would be the equivalent of about $580 million today, despite 
the fact that even some of our negotiators knew they had at least $398 
million, or worth close to $4 billion today. So, while they had $4 
billion that never belonged to them, they distributed and agreed to 
distribute a small portion of that. They basically said, ``We have it, 
we are not telling you how much, and this is how much we are going to 
give you.''
  The report indicates that the Swiss refused to give the Allies any 
more than $28 million in what we call German external assets. Those are 
the assets that are stocks and bonds and insurance policies, real 
estate, and others. Despite the fact that we knew that they had the 
equivalent of between $4 and $8 billion, they said, ``We will give the 
equivalent of less than $300 million.''
  There is a movie that has become somewhat famous called ``Jerry 
Maguire.'' In that, the athlete, I think the movie star Cuba Gooding 
Jr., has a great line when he says, ``Show me the money.'' Well, Mr. 
President, it is about time we said to the Swiss, ``Show us the 
money,'' give to the world a full and proper accounting, reopen those 
accords.
  There was a claim by the Swiss Ambassador the other day saying, ``You 
cannot hold us responsible for what took place 50 years ago.'' To that 
extent I can say, that is correct. Most of the individuals today in 
Government or in positions of responsibility were nowhere around then. 
They did not make those decisions. They did not make the decisions 
relating to trafficking with the Nazis, being their bankers, or, 
indeed, keeping the loot thereafter and refusing to meet their 
legitimate obligations. But we can hold them accountable now. We can 
and we must.

  There are going to be great pressures to say, ``Come on, stop rocking 
the boat.'' There are tremendous international consequences in terms of 
the international corporations that these banks do business with and/or 
control and/or work with. These billions of dollars that they have had 
and have used all these years at their disposal, they are not so 
anxious to depart with them. Indeed, if one were to say, ``Give us a 
real accounting, show us all of the money, the money and profits that 
were made as a result of the billions of dollars that you have kept 
over the years,'' wouldn't that be interesting.
  The question as to where did all of that money go becomes important. 
Who concealed it for all these years? Why did it take a righteous man 
like Christophe Meili, a young bank guard, to stop the records of these 
transactions from being shredded? He attempted to. He is a young bank 
guard who stumbled upon Union Bank of Switzerland shredding records 5 
months ago. Should we say anyone who is alive today is responsible for 
what took place 50 years ago when they were not there? We can certainly 
say, why would you shred records now, records that related to great 
companies and corporations and the business activities that they had 
with the Germans, records that, it would seem, indicated that there 
were properties of Jews that were forced to leave, forced sales? Why 
would the bank historian do this, and what was the fate of this 
particular young man?
  This week we heard testimony from Mr. Meili, who, as a result of 
turning over some documents to the Jewish Historical Society, who then 
turned them over to the Swiss police, has come under tremendous 
pressure. Instead of being held as a righteous person and a man who did 
what was correct, he has received hundreds of death threats, in 
writing--not just by way of the telephone. His children have been the 
subject of harassment, and they are 2 and 4 years old. He has been 
threatened and the lives of his children--it has been indicated they 
would be kidnapped in retaliation for his act of courage. Here is a 
young man who acted as a righteous person, and instead of beinging 
treated as a hero for standing up and doing what is right, he has been 
treated like a criminal.
  Yes, the Swiss Government and their Ambassador has said, ``Do not 
judge us on the events that occurred 50 years ago but on what we do 
today.'' Certainly, if the treatment of Mr. Meili is any indication of 
their commitment to finding truth, then it makes it rather difficult to 
hold out hope that they are really dedicated to attempting to deal with 
the horrors that took place and have been concealed for 50 years.
  The Swiss bankers owe the world a total and full accounting, as do 
our allies. It is about time that our allies and this Government put 
aside the diplomatic niceties and do what they should have done 50 
years ago and do the right thing. You don't have to be a rocket 
scientist to know that there are going to be great pressures to put 
this aside. I think what is taking place is unconscionable, and it is 
time to set the record straight.
  Because of the importance of the report of Mr. Eizenstat, as well as 
the great work of Mr. Slany, the historian of the State Department, we 
will be holding Banking Committee hearings on Thursday, May 15. We will 
hear from Ambassador Eizenstat, and Mr. Slany, the State Department 
historian. They will discuss the findings of the report, what it 
covers, what it doesn't cover. We will also hear from Ambassador Borer, 
of the Swiss Foreign Ministry; he is their special ambassador. Finally, 
we will hear from Tom Bower, author of the book ``Nazi Gold,'' which 
traces the history of the Swiss banks during World War II, and Rabbi 
Marvin Hier, of the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles. Rabbi Hier 
has played a major role in tracing the flow of assets of Europe to 
South America during this period.
  Mr. President, the world deserves the truth. For 50 years, it has 
been hidden in the archives while justice has been denied to the 
victims of the Holocaust and the survivors. This is the greatest 
tragedy, a tragedy of indifference, a tragedy of the indifference of 
the Swiss bankers and it is disgraceful. They knew they were accepting 
laundered gold and that they were financing the Nazi war machine. As 
Secretary Eizenstat said, the Swiss bankers extended the war. How many 
people died

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because of this? We don't know. We may never know the answer. But it is 
our duty to get the facts and have a full accounting from the bankers.
  During these ``Days of Remembrance'' of the Holocaust, it is our duty 
to go forward to try to achieve some measure of justice for those who 
cannot fight for themselves. In memory of those who died in the 
Holocaust, and the people who still act courageously, like Christophe 
Meili, we must continue the inquiry so that the full truth be known.
  This past Tuesday, Mr. President, Mr. Meili came before the Banking 
Committee. His testimony was chilling, to say the least. As we reached 
the end, I asked him several questions. I turn to page 40 of the 
transcript. Mr. President, let me say that this was not a Q and A in 
which the questions were known to the person who was being asked, nor 
did I have any idea or know how Mr. Meili--the 28-year-old bank guard 
who came from Switzerland this past Friday, and is in this country 
now--would respond. I said:

       Let me, if I might, just ask several other questions, and 
     then put some letters . . . into the record.

  And I turned to him and I said:

       What made you, Christophe, think that the records you found 
     were important and should be saved from destruction?

  Through his interpreter, Mr. Meili said this:

       A few months before, I had seen the movie ``Schindler's 
     List.'' And that's how, when I saw these documents, I 
     realized I must take responsibility; I must do something.

  He is a 28-year-old bank guard in Switzerland. He did something that 
was right, that was courageous. He is a non-Jew, but he had seen 
``Schindler's List'' and he was moved, he was compelled to respond, to 
stop the shredding of these documents or the destruction, to report 
them to someone, and to say should this be done?
  And then, Mr. President, if that wasn't chilling enough--and, really, 
it seems to me a call for those of us who have the power and the 
responsibility of righting these wrongs--I asked him if there were any 
closing remarks he would like to make, that we would be glad to receive 
them. I asked that question of the three witnesses who appeared before 
us. Here is what Mr. Meili said:

       Please protect me in the United States and in Switzerland. 
     I think I become a great problem in Switzerland. I have a 
     woman, two little children, and no future. I must see what 
     goes on in the next days for me. Please protect me. That is 
     all. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

  Mr. President, it is not good enough for the Swiss Ambassador to say, 
``You can't hold us responsible for what took place 50 years ago,'' 
when a young man who has attempted to do what is right finds himself 
ostracized, finds the power of the Swiss Government and the Swiss 
banks--who indeed run the Swiss Government, as a practical matter--and 
that remark may draw their ire and their fire and their protest, that a 
young man who acted courageously now finds himself a victim scorned, 
the lives of his wife and children threatened. How can we do any less 
than what one individual, Christophe Meili, attempted to do, and that 
is to do what is right?
  So, Mr. President, I hope that this week when we have these hearings, 
this will be a new beginning and it will energize our Government and 
our allies to come forward in a united way, to put aside the diplomatic 
niceties that have shrouded this over the years, to seek a full 
accounting and to seek justice once and for all.

  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, it is my understanding that we are now 
on general debate on S. 4; is that the order of business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Actually, we are in morning business until 
12:30.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Fine. I will proceed anyway.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is recognized.

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