The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead: How Swiss Bankers Helped Finance the Nazi War Machine - Softcover

Ziegler, Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140278583 ISBN 13: 9780140278583

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1999

Synopsis

Responsible for an international firestorm of controversy, this European bestseller examines revelations of how Switzerland bankrolled Nazi Germany's war effort, and then refused to address Holocaust survivors' claims for reparations. Based on records of the German Armaments Ministry and other official documents, The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead shows how Switzerland laundered gold looted from the banks of occupied Europe and from the bodies of concentration camp victims, and supplied Germany's war economy with sizable loans, weapons, ammunition, and precision instruments. In return, Switzerland was spared the depredations that befell the rest of Europe, and actually profited from its relationship with the Nazis. Jean Ziegler's uncompromising account of Swiss complicity--and his scathing indictment of his own country--make this the definitive book on this highly controversial and emotional subject.

About this title

Review:

At what price neutrality? For the 50 years following World War II, Switzerland has maintained that whatever collaboration it may have engaged in with Nazi Germany was undertaken in hopes of avoiding invasion. Recently, however, foreign governments and the families of Holocaust victims have begun to take an interest in the fate of the many millions of dollars' worth of Jewish gold, works of art, and money that disappeared into numbered Swiss bank accounts during the war, never to be seen again. In The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead, Swiss professor and parliamentarian Jean Ziegler provides a provocative, damning portrait of the Swiss banking community and his fellow countrymen. According to Ziegler, the global financial power that Switzerland now wields is the direct result of the Nazi plunder laundered in Swiss banks, a result that the Swiss people have accepted without guilt or question. It's not surprising that Ziegler's book is controversial in his own country; the Swiss people are understandably reluctant to accept the complicity of their government in funding Hitler's war effort. What is disturbing is the Swiss government's continued attempts to obstruct open discussion of the past. The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead will certainly make official denials a little bit harder to swallow.

About the Author:

Jean Zeigler is a contributor for the following Houghton Mifflin Company Title: The Swiss, The Gold And The Dead

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0140278583
• ISBN 13: 9780140278583
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 324