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.