wfn.org | Deadline Set for Holocaust Claims Against Swiss Banks

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

5-October-1999 
99325 
 
    Deadline Set for Holocaust Claims Against Swiss Banks 
 
    Victims, Heirs Have Until Oct. 22 to Notify Court 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-A United States federal court judge has set Nov. 29, 1999, 
for a dramatic hearing on the proposed $1.25 billion settlement of 
Holocaust-era claims by Nazi persecution victims and a number of Swiss 
banks and other financial institutions. 
 
    The hearing is the last step before court approval of the settlement. 
 
    The court directed that all known Holocaust survivors and heirs be 
informed of their rights under the proposed settlement.  Those who wish to 
participate in the settlement, those who wish to object to the settlement 
and those who wish to be excluded from the settlement have until Oct. 22 to 
file a written notice. 
 
    The proposed settlement states that persons who are eligible to 
participate in it include any individual, business or group persecuted or 
targeted for persecution by the Nazi regime or its agents because they were 
or were believed to be Jewish, Romani, Jehovah's Witness, homosexual or 
physically or mentally disabled or handicapped AND: 
 
    * who had assets on deposit in any Swiss bank prior to May 9, 1945 
 
    * who have claims against Swiss entities connected to assets looted or 
confiscated by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945, including "cloaked assets" 
- assets disguised by a Swiss entity for the benefit of a Nazi company or 
individual 
 
    * who performed slave labor for Nazi entities that may have deposited 
the revenue from that labor with a Swiss financial institution 
 
    * who unsuccessfully sought entry into Switzerland to avoid Nazi 
persecution or who, after gaining entry into Switzerland, were mistreated 
to placate Nazi interests in Switzerland. 
 
    The proposed settlement also applies to any individual who performed 
slave labor in a work site owned or controlled by a Swiss entity during the 
war years. 
 
    Copies of the complete legal notice and an Initial Claim Questionnaire 
are available in  English, French, German, Yiddish or Russian from the 
Jewish Community Federation, 3630 Dutchmans Lane, Louisville, KY 40205, or 
by calling Federation Communications Director Shiela Steinman Wallace at 
(502) 451-8840, or e-mail to <jfed@iglou.com>. 

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