First Published in 2001. Sharp criticism was recently focused on Switzerland for its doings during World War II and the Swiss banks' policies with respect to dormant assets belonging to victims of the Holocaust, in a process that lasted more than two years, from spring 1996 to fall 1998. Through the determined action of interested parties, the whole process evolved into a violent crisis with an international dimension. This crisis finally came to an end when an overall settlement was reached under which the foremost Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion to the Jewish organisations and Holocaust victims who had taken up legal action before the American courts. The aim of this book is to lay bare the mechanics of this crisis that so violently shook Switzerland and harmed its international image. It endeavours to show how and why organisations and governments heaped attack on Switzerland. The declared and perfectly legitimate cause of the crisis was that of seeing justice for the victims of the Holocaust. Behind that lay a hidden agenda only a closer look can bring to light. The proposals made here open up an important area of discussion as international policymakers seek peace and stability in the post-Cold War world.

"Amid the severe devastation wrought by the Second World War, the economic implications of the Nazi regime is a subject that has come to light only in recent years. Holocaust Gold by Raul Teitelbaum and Moshe Sanbar is an important and revealing contribution to this growing body of historical research. Tracing the path of Nazi looting and plunder, Sanbar and Teitelbaum identify and elaborate the complexities of this sensitive issue, and the difficulties in seeking justice half a century later. The lack of German documentation of the gold looted from individuals combined with a host of contributing factors that include politics and the role of the media ensures that the issue of Nazi gold be so difficult and painful to reconcile. The authors explore the role of 'neutral' Switzerland and the systematic effort by Swiss leaders to blur the tracks of the gold that reached the vaults of the Nazi Reichsbank. A detailed chapter features an expose of the little-known Vreneli affair: the minting of Vreneli gold coins on an unprecedented scale, and the sale of these coins to the general public in order to shrink the enormous gold stocks Switzerland amassed during the war. Holocaust Gold also uncovers several fascinating and telling pieces of information, including the story of Himmler's mistress who was assured a luxurious lifestyle after the war, and how SS officials used gold extracted from the mouths of their victims for their own dental work. This book is comprehensive and impressive, providing a historical and economic framework in which to contemplate the magnitude of the Nazi looting and the subsequent cover-ups. The authors condemn the Swiss authorities, convincingly contending that the $1.25 billion that the major Swiss commercial banks pledged to the victims of the Holocaust totally disregards the active role the Swiss Central Bank and Swiss government played in this devastating affair. Holocaust Gold is both courageous and insightful, exploring a shameful economic history and policy to which the world has only recently awoken."--Amazon.com

Treasury Department - Sam Klaus, Orvis Schmidt, James Mann, and Seymour Rubin, to name a few - who struggled tirelessly for many years following World War II, with little support from the British and French, to get the Swiss to release the deposits to the rightful owners or their heirs.

This scathing indictment shatters the myth of Swiss neutrality during World War II, showing that Switzerland's leading financial institutions provided Hitler with the foreign exchange essential to his war effort, laundering gold looted from the banks of occupied Europe and from the bodies of concentration camp victims.

Anne Herrmann, a dual citizen born in New York to Swiss parents, offers in Coming Out Swiss a witty, profound, and ultimately universal exploration of identity and community. “Swissness”—even on its native soil a loose confederacy, divided by multiple languages, nationalities, religion, and alpen geography—becomes in the diaspora both nowhere (except in the minds of immigrants and their children) and everywhere, reflected in pervasive clichés. In a work that is part memoir, part history and travelogue, Herrmann explores all our Swiss clichés (chocolate, secret bank accounts, Heidi, Nazi gold, neutrality, mountains, Swiss Family Robinson) and also scrutinizes topics that may surprise (the “invention” of the Alps, the English Colony in Davos, Switzerland’s role during World War II, women students at the University of Zurich in the 1870s). She ponders, as well, marks of Swissness that have lost their identity in the diaspora (Sutter Home, Helvetica, Dadaism) and the enduring Swiss American community of New Glarus, Wisconsin. Coming Out Swiss will appeal not just to the Swiss diaspora but also to those drawn to multi-genre writing that blurs boundaries between the personal and the historical.

Despite its position at the heart of Europe and its quintessentially European nature, Switzerland's history is often overlooked within the English-speaking world. This comprehensive and engaging history of Switzerland traces the historical and cultural development of this fascinating but neglected European country from the end of the Dark Ages up to the present. The authors focus on the initial Confederacy of the Middle Ages; the religious divisions which threatened it after 1500 and its surprising survival amongst Europe's monarchies; the turmoil following the French Revolution and conquest, which continued until the Federal Constitution of 1848; the testing of the Swiss nation through the late nineteenth century and then two World Wars and the Depression of the 1930s; and the unparalleled economic and social growth and political success of the post-war era. The book concludes with a discussion of the contemporary challenges, often shared with neighbours, that shape the country today.

Switzerland's exceptional scenic beauty of valleys, lakes, and mountains, its central location on international trade routes, and its world famous banking system are just a few elements that have contributed to its rise in the global market. It consists of twenty-six member states, called cantons and it’s actively engaged in the maintenance of peace among nations. The history of the Swiss Confederation is as rich and varied as its culture and people. This updated second edition of Historical Dictionary of Switzerland features the nation's multicultural and democratic traditions and institutions, its complex history, and its people's involvement in past and present world affairs. This is done through a list of abbreviations and acronyms, a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, maps, a bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions, as well as significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone who wants to know more about Switzerland.

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First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.