Word: swiss
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...next afternoon, Bronfman met President Clinton in the White House. After the Jewish leader had described the Swiss bank issue, Clinton looked pensive. Then he said, "Edgar, if it is necessary, I will work with Senator D'Amato on legislation on this matter." Moving fast, the President ordered Secretary Eizenstat to investigate the U.S. archives. With the ammunition Singer and D'Amato had dug out of the Safehaven trove, emotional Senate hearings in April and again last October matched testimony from Holocaust survivors with hard evidence of Swiss service to the Reich...
...Swiss banks mounted a weak defense. In May they agreed to set up a commission to examine Jewish accounts, headed by American banker Volcker, then said the investigation would take five years. "Holocaust survivors can't wait five years," snapped D'Amato. By early February, New York lawmakers proposed kicking Swiss banks out of the state if they failed to open their banks to local auditors searching for Jewish accounts. New York's Governor warned that Swiss banks could lose their operating licenses, and the state comptroller halted overnight deposits in Swiss banks. New York's city council threatened...
When the Big Three Swiss banks finally announced the Holocaust Memorial Fund on Feb. 5, reaction in the U.S. was tepid. "It's an important step," said D'Amato, "but nowhere near enough." Singer cautiously praised the decision as "a new sign of entente cordiale," but the World Jewish Congress considers the amount far too low. D'Amato was outraged that the Swiss wanted to manage the assets. "Why do you think the Swiss came forward," he said, "because of the generosity of their heart and spirit, or because they realize there could be damaging consequences if they continue their...
...will not end easily. D'Amato, riding a highly popular issue that has helped boost his standing in the polls, is already agitating to reopen the terms of the 1946 tripartite gold treaty, arguing that the Swiss lied about the much vaster sums they actually held. And the U.S. Administration doesn't rule...
...Amato much moved by critics like Rolf Bloch, the main spokesman for Switzerland's 18,000 Jews. "We are Jews in a Swiss way," says Bloch. "We don't want to blame all the Swiss or put them under assault." A Jewish lawyer in Zurich representing 20 people seeking information on wartime accounts considers D'Amato's and Bronfman's tactics counterproductive. "So aggressive, so hostile," he says. "This banging on the head is wrong, and it has provoked reaction. Now we are seeing signs of anti-Semitism in Switzerland...