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INDEPENDENT COMMISSION OF EXPERTS
SWITZERLAND - SECOND WORLD WAR
Berne, January 29, 1997
Press
release
Prohibition
to Destroy Files
On 13 December 1996, the Federal Assembly
passed the Federal Decree on the Historical and Legal Investigation into
the Fate of Assets Which Reached Switzerland as a Result of the National
Socialist Regime. This Decree, which has been in force since 14 December
1996, stipulates an obligation to conserve any and all files which may
be useful to the inquiry conducted by the Commission of Experts. The destruction
of relevant documents is thus a violation of this obligation and is punishable.
On 19 December 1996, the Federal Council
appointed an Independent Commission of Experts Switzerland - Second World
War, chaired by Prof. Jean-François Bergier. The Commission of
Experts insists on this obligation which is crucial for the conduct of
the inquiry. The Commission expects that the prohibition to destroy files
will be strictly observed by banks, insurance companies, fiduciaries,
law firms and notaries public, as well as trading companies and industrial
corporations, which were engaged in business with foreign countries before,
during, and immediately after the Second World War. This prohibition also
applies to all Swiss public service bureaus.
All documents concerning asset transactions
as well as financial and trade dealings with foreign countries that took
place in the years from 1920 to 1950, and/or documents of a later date
which refer to transactions of the aforementioned years, are subject to
this file destruction prohibition. It is advisable, for the rest, to interpret
this obligation to its full extent, so as to include the careful safeguarding
of all documents that simply bear even an indirect relation to this issue.
The prohibition to destroy files shall remain
in vigor until such a time as the Commission of Experts has concluded
its work, or until it has inventoried the contents of the files in question
and given written authorization that they may be destroyed. In case of
doubt, companies, private individuals, as well as public service bureaus
must request advice from the Secretariat of the Commission of Experts.
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