Customer Reviews

The Swiss, The Gold And The Dead: How Swiss Bankers Helped Finance the Nazi War Machine

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

According Jean Ziegler, Professor of Sociology at Geneva University, Swiss bankers fenced and laundered the gold stocks stolen from central banks in Nazi-occupied countries. It was they who financed Hitler's wars of conquest. Had the Swiss ruling class evinced any remorse at the close of the war - had its members apologized for their transgressions and quietly left the stage - he should never have written this book. I was interested in how he would handle the wartime activities of the BIS located in Basel. He recognized "the thoroughly dubious role of the BIS, in which Nazi and Allied bankers worked together throughout the war. Deputy Managing Director Paul Hechler's letters from Basel to Emil Puhl,vice president of the Reichsbank, always concluded with the words, 'Heil Hitler.' " An American, Thomas H. McKittrick, served as President of the BIS from 1940-1946. Morgenthau tried to have him removed without success. Resolution 5 of the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944 called for the elimination of the BIS because of their financing of the Nazis' wars of aggression. When I attended the 50th anniversary of the agreement I asked Edward Bernstein why resolution 5 was never carried out. It seems that the BIS came to the aid of Britain after the war and the British representative to the IMF approached Bernstein and asked whether they might forget resolution 5, to which Bernstein agreed.

This is a good book on this subject it covers many areas of the Swiss partnership with the Nazis. I would highly recomend this book to anybody that is realativly new to the subject matter.

Now for my small rant.

It seams that every book on this subject has some reviewers that are in complete denial of what has been proven time and time again as fact. Why some people cannot accept that the Swiss sold their souls to the Nazis to avoid being invaded is beyond me. This book even thow it goes into many areas of the Nazi / Swiss connection, the sad unfourtunate truth is that there is even more ties that this book does not cover. A example being the fact that Swizerland was producing arms for Germany during WWII. The factorys were untouchable to the Allied bombers due to the so called neuteral status of the Swiss. If allied aircraft ventured into Swiss territory the Swiss would shoot them down, in the meantime Germany enjoyed free crossing across Switzerland by any mode of transportaion throughout WWII.

I did not write this to bash the swiss. I have no anomositys towards them. My only agenda for these statements is to maybe shake people out of the denial they so blindly post in book reviews on the subject of Switzerlands connection and profiterring off the Nazis rise to power. Every country in the world has somthing dark in its past. Denial of mistakes your culture has made really just contributes right back into the evil that was done so long ago. I have to accept my ancetors wrong doing every bit as much as anybody, I am german, and proud to be German. Quit contributing to the lies told for so many years, accept that your ancestors were not perfect. only when you accept your herritage for better or worse can you truley move on and hold your head high again.

The book is somewhat informative in documenting the differnce forms of war-time gold and cash "management" by the Swiss government and banks. But the narrative is quite dry and often repetitive. Read it if you don't know much about the subject or can't find a more highly recommended book.

The bitter response of the Swiss to this book, as represented by a couple of the reviewers, reminds me of the delusional angry responses of Jews everywhere when it has been proven that the USS Liberty, flying the American flag, was deliberately attacked by Israeli air and sea forces with the intent of sinking it and killing every American on board and then blaming it on the Arabs. [It did occur to me that this book might be financed by the World Jewish Congress, for it does an incredibly good job of softening up the Swiss banks for larger faster settlements and the reduction of the obstacles they have been placing in the way of the holocaust heirs.]

This is a good book, with good notes and a good index, and there is no denying the power of its retrospective examination of Swiss misbehavior.

Three aspects of this book stood out for me:

1) The glorification of secrecy as an end in itself, justifying almost any position--in substituting secrecy for morality the Swiss have aided and abetted war crimes, not just by the Nazis, but by many other evil people and organizations.

2) The lesser known aspect of Swiss misbehavior in rejecting hundreds of thousands of refugees, condemning them to certain death, while also bank-rolling and arming Hitler, essentially rescuing Germany from certain defeat in the early days, while prolonging the war toward the end.

3) The fact that today Switzerland continues to be the financial haven of choice for dictators and genocidal war-mongers of all sorts.

I happen to like Switzerland and admire the Swiss, but this book is a good spanking and it will be a test of their character as well as their "situational awareness" to see if in the aftermath of 9-11 they recognize the possibility that some forms of money should not be laundered, some forms of client should not be served--as one famous plastic surgeon once said, "you make your money on the ones you do, you make your reputation on the ones you do not."

I've had the shame of living 10 years in Switzerland and what do swiss people think of the period 1939-1945? Hitler didn't attack them because he was afraid of their powerfull army ready to sacrifice itself(don't laugh too hard), they saved a lot of jews at the border and they aren't hypocrits nor dishonest (as Americans are) to the point of stealing the Jews money! This is apealing!!And these poor people really think this is the truth!!
I really apreciate this book. It tells the hole truth, chapter by chapter, about how the Swiss helped Hitler. They got the idea of the yellow star on Jews' passports, they surrenderd the Jews who tried to pass the border to the Germans and they did know about the camps!!!!
As other countries resisted with courage and the few neutral countries refused nazi gold from Jews, the Swiss took it promptly. If they hadn't, the war would have stopped in 1943 at least, because how could Hitler have won the war without money? Add to this fact that nearly all swiss industries were working to give more weapons and material to the Germans.
The few courageous Swisses who resisted were killed or put into prison!
When Jews tried to take their money back, the Swiss refused simply!! This money is still in swiss banks. When they were put on trial by Americans, the swiss reacted as usual: everybody became anti-american and they still are!
I really want to thank Jean Ziegler, the courageous Swiss who wrote this book.
IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SUBJECT, BUY THIS BOOK!!!

this a very complete book about the Swiss's" neutrality", they were Hitler's allied. if the were not, the war would finish in 1943!!!
but the Swiss are slack and Hitler gave them money...
I've lived 2 years in Switzerland, and there the people often criticise the Americans, they would have to read this book.

read Ziegler's others book.

This is another Swiss-bashing book (not the first one from Ziegler) to be edited. Like Hitler said "if you keep on lying about a subject, in the end people will believe you". The proof is to be found in other posts here that say the Swiss stole money from Holocaust vicitims. Well after four years of an independent investigation, it was found that less than 200 accounts worth no more than $12 million belonged to Holocaust victims. The Times of London correctly called previous claims that Swiss Banks had stolen billions from Jews, a "MYTH".

Although factually terribly muddled when looked at seriously, Jean Ziegler's written critical analysis of Switzerland during the Second World War is achieving high sales figures throughout Europe. Now Felix Auer, a former member of the National Council, untangles the disparaging claims and reveals the untrustworthy working method of the Geneva sociologist. Without putting a gloss on the errors committed by Switzerland and the Swiss, Auer restores the proper balance and exposes Ziegler as a profit-oriented falsifier of historical facts.

END

Ah, yes, when a country refuses to take the right side, they are no longer considered "neutral" by that side, now they are conspirators with the enemy! Please. The Swiss should not now try to conceal the fact the fleeing Jews hid their money in numbered bank accounts. But the very type of people who love and appreciate the very closed and quiet nature of Swiss banking and now furious that the Swiss followed these same banking rules during the holocaust. Familes should trace and get their funds back, absolutely. The Swiss should reveal all they know about it. Absolutely. And that's the end of it. Let's not fabricate entire conspiracy theories simply to earn a buck. It's greedy and disgusting!