OPINION

The Swiss Banks Have Paid.
Who Should Get The Money?

JEFF JACOBY

Special to The Jewish News

I

c was a headline ro gladden the
heart of any anti-Semite. Sun-
day's New York Times, Page 1:
"Jewish Groups Fight for Spoils
of Swiss Case.'
Never mind that the 51.45 billion
paid by Swiss banks ro settle Holo-
caust-related claims is nor "spoils" but
restitution for stolen assets. And never
mind that if Jewish groups had not
brought the lawsuits and raised the
stink that shamed Switzerland into
admitting its financial semi-collabora-
tion with the Nazis, nobody else
would have. What do the bigots care
about that? All they will see — and it
is a sight they will relish —is a lot of
Jews quarreling over money.
This litigation began as something
fine: an effort to win justice for Jews
who had been victimized, with Swiss
cooperation, during the Nazi years.
Switzerland vas neutral during
World War II, but in several ways it
colluded in the Third Reich's thievery
and persecution. Gold, art and real
estate looted by the Nazis were safe-
guarded in Swiss bank accounts. Tens
of thousands of Jewish refugees were
sent back to Germany. Ar Switzer-
land's request. the passports of Ger-
man Jews were stamped with a "J"
to keep them from fleeing to safety in

Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for the

Boston Globe. His e-mail address is jaco-
by@globe. corn.

Switzerland. After the war ended.
Swiss bankers slammed the door oh
Jewish survivors trying to reclaim
deposits left by their murdered rela-
tives.
For 50 years, the Swiss stonewalled,
refusing to acknowledge the stolen
Jewish property. Only now, under a
barrage of lawsuits, bad publicity and
the threat of sanctions, has Switzer-
land finally backed down and agreed
to make restitution.
Last summer, returning from eight
days of discussions in Switzerland, 1
wrote, "Switzerland's moral failings
during the Hitler years require com-
pensation, but it would be dreadful if
the whole issue came down to a ques-
tion of dollars and cents ... money
should not be the goal." But
now a pot of money is on
the table, and the fight over
how ro divide it has turned
vulgar.
The World Jewish Con-
gress, which first focused
attention on the Swiss banks'
behavior, insists on a central role in
parceling out the settlement. Two war-
ring camps of lawyers representing
Jewish heirs and survivors — one led
by Edward Fagan, the other by
Michael Hausfeld — claim that they
deserve the lead role. Then there are
the Conference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany and the
World Jewish Restitution Organiza-
tion. Both have previously been
involved in allocating money to Holo-
caust victims; now both would_like to

be involved in disbursing the big Swiss
settlement fund.
Many of these parries are bad-
mouthing the others. Fagan calls the
World Jewish Congress "pigs" and
accuses the Hausfeld lawyers of
scheming rip steal his clients. One of
Hausfeld's consultants berates Fagan
for profiteering off survivors and treat-
ing them like "chattel." The Claims
Conference is denounced as so incom-
petent that applicants have died while
waiting to receive financial aid. The
World Jewish Congress snorts that the
lawyers had nothing to do with win-
ning the case and rejects using any of

than obscuring it with romantic corn-
edy and happy endings.
Dan Greenberg

energy as well as gratitude to us when
we visited her every Wednesday.
It is people like Betty Creger who
teach so many of us to live life in
appreciation for what we have and
whom we meet. It is indeed a choice
to have a positive attitude. I am hon-
ored to have crossed paths with this
woman of valor.
Jo Rosen

.

the funds for legal fees.
If this is how the parties speak for
the record, imagine what they say in
private.
Now, lawyers and organizations
everywhere squabble over money. But
when they are Jewish lawyers and Jew-
ish organizations, they feed an ugly
anti-Semitic stereotype. The demand

for restitution from the Swiss was
intended to reclaim a measure of dig-
nity for survivors of the most horrific
crime of the 20th century. But there is
no dignity in a "fight for spoils" on
the front page of the New York Times.
If it is going to end like this — in a
raucous clamor over who should be in
charge and whose claim takes prece-
dence — it would have been better to
ler the Swiss keep the money.
Numerous ideas are being floated
for the more than Si billion that
will be left after those with provable
claims against the Swiss banks are
reimbursed. Some want it distrib-
uted to Holocaust survivors. Others
suggest a fund for only the neediest
survivors. Still others propose using
the money for education or Holo-
caust research.
I propose an entirely different
idea, one that emerged in a conver-
sation with Dennis Prager, the Los
Angeles broadcaster renowned for
his writings on ethics and Judaism:
Once the cheated depositors have
been paid, let the Jewish people
relinquish any claim to the balance
of the money. Ler it be used,
instead, to help human beings whose<
lives have been shattered by geno-
cide and ethnic slaughter.
Rather than earmarking the money
for Jewish causes, spend it to heal the
still-suffering survivors of the Rwan-
dan massacre. Or help the deeply
scarred victims of the Cambodian
holocaust. Or the Bosnian women
SWISS BANKS on page 25

LETTERS

ize the horror. In addition, since Life Is
Beautiful is so well done, it engages
our sentiments and attracts our sym-
pathies while obscuring the ultimate
abomination.
But no amount of slapstick comedy
can make slave labor and murder
attractive.
The film is so effective in its mis-
sion to disguise the tragedy and make
6 million deaths palatable that, after
two hours, audiences are ready to
accept the ridiculous. As the Allied
forces approach, the Germans hurried-
ly destroy evidence before they flee.
But if Life Is Beautiful is to be
believed, they had time to take our
comedic hero, Guido, around the cor-
ner and execute him out of sight, no
doubt to avoid offending audience
sensibilities.
We need to confront reality rather

12/18
1998

22 Detroit Jewish News

Farmington Hills

We Learn
From Others

I was delighted to read the Dec. 11
letter from Berry Creger describing her
new home at Elan Village.
My friend, Jill, and I were privi-
leged to deliver kosher Meals on
Wheels to Mrs. Creger for almost two
years ar her home at the Woodbridge
Apartments in Southfield. For a
woman who was basically confined to
her apartment, she chose life and sur-
rounded herself with photographs of
loved ones, art and stuffed animals.
She exuded inner beauty, ∎varmth and

West Bloomfield

A Question
Of Reparation

No one dares to question the principle
of those requesting Holocaust dam-
ages, yet when people of color seek
redress for damages arising from the
domestic holocaust on these shores,
the denial and objections they con-

front are not only unprincipled but
quite vicious. Why?
Greg Thrasher

Wrest Bloomfield

Need To Trace
A Relative

I am writing to you to see if it is pos-
sible to trace a relative of mine whose
address I have from the late 1920s.
I have just been going through my
late mother's diary from 1930 and
have come across a list of addresses.
All but one I can identify as relatives
who lived in Canada and the USA,
but no one in the family seems to rec-
ognize one name: Mr. J. Ginsberg,
who lived at 2701 Blaine Ave., Apt.
3045, Detroit.
MN' grandmother's maiden name