[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 49 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO CHRISTOPH MEILI

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES H. MALONEY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 12, 1999

  Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, one of the great privileges 
afforded Members of Congress is the opportunity to come to the floor of 
the House of Representatives to relay to not just our colleagues, but 
to the entire country, significant contributions made to our society by 
our fellow Americans, I have that privileges and want to pay tribute to 
Mr. Christoph Meili, currently of West Orange, New Jersey.
  In 1997, Mr. Meili, then 29 years of age, was employed as a bank 
guard in the Union Bank of Switzerland. While performing his appointed 
duties, he discovered one day several boxes of bank documents that not 
only dated back to the Holocaust era, but directly related to financial 
holdings of individuals at that time. These documents were about to be 
shredded and lost forever. Mr. Meili had recently viewed the epic tale, 
Schindler's List. Drawing inspiration from that film, he removed as 
many of the documents from the bank as possible, and delivered them to 
a Jewish organization in Zurich that then gave them to local police.
  Mr. Meili's discovery and subsequent removal of the documents created 
wide controversy--as well as significant embarrassment of Switzerland's 
largest bank, which had first denied even the relevance of the 
documents. Upon intense investigation and international scrutiny, the 
bank not only confirmed that the documents were, indeed, Holocaust 
related, but that other similar documents had been previously shredded. 
This investigation further indicated that many of the documents were 
central to the research of an international panel of historians 
investigating Switzerland's dealing with the Nazis.
  As a result of the brave actions of Christoph Meili, a $1.25 billion 
settlement was made to Holocaust survivors, their families and Jewish 
organizations.
  Regretfully, Mr. Meili paid a high price for doing the right thing. 
He and his wife lost their jobs in Switzerland and received multiple 
death threats, forcing them and their children to flee to the United 
States where they were granted political asylum by President Clinton. 
Since coming to America, Mr. Meili has testified before the Senate 
Banking Committee detailing his important actions of conscience.
  Mr. Speaker, today, April 12, 1999, Mr. Meili will be honored by the 
Jewish Federation of Greater Waterbury and Northwest Connecticut, Inc. 
during a community-wide Yom HaShoah Commemoration (Commemoration of the 
Holocaust). As a Member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on 
Holocaust Assets, I commend Mr. Christoph Meili for his corageous 
actions, and recognize and thank him for the sacrifices both he and his 
family have made in the name justice. He is a hero to people of 
conscience everywhere.

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