ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
Stung by congressional criticism, lawsuits and press accounts alleging collaboration between Swiss banks and Nazi Germany, the Swiss fought back Wednesday with a pledge to disclose the full truth as quickly as possible and an attack on ``misrepresentations`` in the U.S. media.
Ambassador Carlo Jagmetti acknowledged Swiss banks made mistakes but proclaimed ``the total commitment of Swiss authorities to establish the truth and nothing but the truth, in so far as witnesses, records and documents will permit.''
He noted that Switzerland is about to lift for five years the ironclad secrecy of Swiss bank records to help investigators determine what assets rightfully belong to heirs of Holocaust victims and what accounts were opened by Germans - or Swiss acting for Germans - with assets stolen from Jews and other victims of the Nazis.
Switzerland, like Austria, France and Portugal, is going through a painful period of introspection and self-analysis as it struggles to learn the truth about its dealings with the Nazis and the extent to which it profited from the suffering of innocents during World War II.
Jagmetti said Wednesday, ``Soul searching is very much going on in Switzerland. There is a very fundamental discussion. Opinions are polarized.''
He conceded Swiss banks have made ``psychological errors'' in rebuffing claims by the heirs of Holocaust victims, saying it was ``just unacceptable'' for the banks to demand death certificates for people who died in concentration camps.
``On the other hand,'' he said, ``if you are a customer of a bank, you would like your bank to handle its business seriously, and you don't expect your bank to pay money to anybody just coming and claiming without any proof.''
He denied that Switzerland is stonewalling the claimants, as alleged in recent lawsuits in U.S. courts. The commission recently established to evaluate claims ``will produce early results,'' he said, and allegations by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., and other Americans that it will take five years to sort them out are a ``travesty.''
D'Amato has held hearings in which aged survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants have told harrowing tales of their inability to win the cooperation of Swiss banks as they sought to track family assets.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB