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Switzerland and the German Ransom Demands in Occupied Holland
Bettina Zeugin, Thomas Sandkühler
Between 1940 and 1945, German officials in
the Reich Commissariat Netherlands («Reichskommissariat Nederlande»)
demanded foreign currency and other valuables from Jews seeking exit permits.
This often took place with the involvement of Swiss individuals and banks.
For reasons explained in the following, the Independent Commission decided
to research this issue using the example of Holland.
With the exception of the General Government
in Poland, financial compensation for exit documents was demanded and
received more often in the Netherlands than in any other occupied territory.
Nearly 400 individual cases of ransom demands in the Netherlands, amounting
to at least 35 million Swiss francs, have been documented. In contrast
to Poland, about half of these cases involve Switzerland in some way,
be it through intermediaries, official Swiss agencies, or Swiss banks.
The demands for money, in effect ransom, brought these deals to the attention
of the Allies who felt obliged to take action against Swiss intermediaries,
including banks.
This report describes the positions of the
three primary figures in the German ransom demands: the German Reich
and its occupation administration in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and
the Allied powers Great Britain and the United States.
The significance of this topic within the
framework of the ICE mandate can be seen through the following circumstances:
blackmailing persecuted Jews who wanted to leave German occupied areas,
or their relatives and acquaintances abroad, offered Nazi Germany the
opportunity to acquire Jewish money both within and outside the German
areas of power. The Germans were extremely interested in free currency,
which is why ransom negotiations were almost always on the basis of Swiss
francs. For both the persecuted and the perpetrators, it made sense to
use the services offered by intermediaries in neutral Switzerland. And
yet, only a few of those whose freedom was purchased actually ever reached
Switzerland. In most cases, Switzerland, the financial center, was only
a transfer site for the money involved.
Swiss foreign and refugee policy touched
only indirectly on German ransom demands. As a protecting power for Germany,
Great Britain, and the United States, Switzerland mediated between the
warring powers and organized the exchange of civilian prisoners. Citizens
of Allied powers who were inside the German Reich and inhabitants
of Palestine, under British mandate, were exchanged for German citizens
who had been imprisoned by the Allies. In many cases the individuals exchanged
had been in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and were Jews who had
earlier been forced to make payment to the Germans in foreign currency.
There was a close relationship between the ransom demands and the involvement
of Dutch Jews in the German-Allied exchange of civilian prisoners that
had its roots in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Thus, the ransom issue is the place where
refugee policy and currency transfers intersect. It is also an explosive
topic because of the tense relationship between humanitarian goals and
war-related goals in the nations involved, both in the Allied countries
and in Switzerland. This could not fail to have an influence on the fate
of the individuals in question.
The study first examines the background
of the ransom demands, that is, the economic conditions under which Jewish
forced-emigration from the German Reich took place and the foreign
policy conditions of Switzerlands function as a protecting power.
This is followed by an outline of the situation in the Netherlands, with
the various phases of ransom demands, against the background of the persecution
and murder of Jews. A further chapter describes what the Allies knew as
well as how this policy of «black lists» functioned and what avenues stood
open to them regarding possible attempts to save Jews. Finally, the activities
of Swiss intermediaries private individuals, lawyers, and banks
are examined and the position taken by Switzerland is analyzed
with regard to implications for the Swiss policy of neutrality and also
for the perception of these activities in the Netherlands. The conclusion
provides a short overview of the postwar period.
In summary, the following results can be
stated: the large number of documented cases of blackmail indicate the
importance of purchased exit visas for Nazi German policy. In about half
of the cases, a connection to Switzerland can be traced. However, few
of those whose freedom was purchased actually reached freedom. This is
primarily because the Nazi regime placed a higher priority on exterminating
Jews than on «selling» them. An additional factor was the harsh wartime
economic measures imposed by the Allies. Finally, the Allies often had
reservations about German offers of exchange, even civilian exchanges,
which led to decreased German interest in carrying out the exchanges.
Swiss officials concerned themselves only
tangentially with ransom demands. As a protecting power, Switzerland in
some cases made use of its freedom to act by helping individual Jews flee
to third countries. As a financial center, Switzerland was used as a transfer
point for ransom payments until Allied countermeasures were put into place.
The motivation behind the Swiss intermediaries acting at various levels
of the transactions can be determined only in individual cases. They ranged
from collaboration with Nazi Germany for personal gain on the one side,
to commitment to humanitarian ideals on the other.
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