US judge rejects Swiss bank UBS attempt to limit Holocaust settlement liability

U.S. District Judge Edward Korman, who presides in Brooklyn, New York, has rejected an effort by UBS Switzerland (UBS), the country’s largest universal bank, to limit its liability for crimes connected to the Nazis during the Holocaust and World War II.

The bank had sought to expand a $1.25 billion settlement from 1999, which originally resolved Holocaust-related claims, to include newly discovered Nazi-linked accounts. UBS’ bid was reportedly intended to protect itself from “hypothetical” lawsuits that have not yet been formally filed.

“Until a genuine case or controversy arises that requires judicial interpretation of its terms, the agreement will continue to speak for itself,” Korman stated on Tuesday.

The Swiss bank has so far refrained from responding to requests for comment on the legal issue.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization named after the late prominent Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter, has criticized UBS’ bid, arguing that the bank is inappropriately attempting to include additional discoveries about its dealings with Nazi Germany.

Switzerland officially remained neutral during World War II. However, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and other Swiss banks purchased gold from the Reichsbank, Germany’s central bank, in deals now valued at between USD $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion. These transactions reportedly helped Nazi Germany finance its war efforts.

At the same time, gold worth around USD $3.17 billion was either sold or lent to the Allied powers, according to the Swiss news outlet Le Temps. The central controversy is that much of the gold Nazi Germany sold had been stolen from Jewish individuals who were later murdered in Holocaust concentration camps. Reports also indicate that the Nazis sold gold illegally taken from bank reserves in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Switzerland was also opposed to accepting Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. In 1938, Switzerland asked Nazi Germany to stamp the letter “J” in passports of Jewish citizens to identify and reject Jewish refugees attempting entry into Switzerland.

Sweden, which was also officially neutral during the war, pursued policies that were often hostile to Jews, at times condemning Jewish refugees to near-certain death. Today, Switzerland is home to roughly 18,000 Jews, primarily residing in Zurich, Basel, and Geneva. Notably, in 1897, the first Zionist Congress was held in Basel under the leadership of its then-chairman, Theodor Herzl.