Swiss Nazi Gold
Neutral banking for a genocidal regime
Swiss banks bought looted gold from Nazi Germany and later withheld the assets of Holocaust victims from their heirs. Neutrality functioned as a business model that helped finance and outlast the Third Reich.
Damage
Swiss banks monetized Nazi gold and delayed restitution to Holocaust victims’ heirs.
Value lost
Looted gold and dormant Jewish assets held under neutrality banking
Record Points
- The Swiss National Bank accepted large volumes of gold from the Reichsbank, including metal looted from occupied states and victims.
- This gold trade gave Germany hard currency to buy war materials from neutral suppliers.
- After the war Swiss banks demanded death certificates that camp victims could never have produced to release dormant accounts.
- The Bergier Commission, convened only in the 1990s, confirmed the scale of the dealings.
- A 1998 settlement of 1.25 billion dollars came decades late and after sustained external pressure.
Perpetrator(s)
Victims
Holocaust victims