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The Humanitarian Fund for the Victims of the Holocaust was created by the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) as a result of the "Meili Affair". The fund enabled the Swiss financial industry to participate in the process of paying reparations to the victims of Nazi looting during World War II that was abetted by Swiss banks and the failure of Swiss life insurance companies to honor the policies of Holocaust victims. The fund is administered by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims. ==The Meili Affair== Christoph Meili was a Swiss whistleblower, later granted political asylym in the United States, who was a guard at the Swiss bank Union Bank of Switzerland in Zürich, Switzerland in 1997. He discovered that officials at UBS were destroying documents about orphaned assets, believed to be credit balances of deceased Jewish clients, victims of the Holocaust, whose heirs' whereabouts were unknown, as well as books from the German Reichsbank.〔, p. 94〕 They listed stock accounts for companies in business during the Holocaust, including BASF, Degussa, and Degesch.〔Eizenstat, pp. 94-95〕 They listed real-estate records for Berlin property that had been seized by the Nazis, placed in Swiss accounts, and then claimed to be owned by UBS.〔Eizenstat. p. 95〕 Destruction of such documents is against Swiss laws.〔(Parliamentary Initiative 96.434: Bundesbeschluss betreffend die historische und rechtliche Untersuchung des Schicksals der infolge der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft in die Schweiz gelangten Vermögenswerte (in German) ). Entry in force since 14 December 1996. This edict was the legal basis and foundation of the Bergier commission, constituted on 19 December 1996. Articles 4, 5, and 7 made the destruction or withholding of documents relating to orphaned assets illegal.〕〔(Chronology: Switzerland in World War II – Detailed Overview of the years 1994-1996. )〕 The "saved" documents reportedly predate the Nazi period, dating from 1897 to 1927.〔Kantonsparlament Zürich: ''(Protokoll der Sitzung von Montag, 20 April 1998 ) (DOC-Datei; 416 kB)'' (Word-Dokument).〕 On 8 January 1997,〔Diermeier, P.: (Meili - Mission zwischen Moral und Milliarden (in German) ). Orell Füssli Verlag, Zürich: 2003; ISBN 3-280-06009-5.〕 he took some bank files home. After a telephone conversation, he handed them over to a local Jewish organization, which brought the documents to the police, and eventually to the press, which published the document destruction on 14 January 1997. The Zürich authorities opened a judicial investigation against Meili〔Parliament of Zürich: (Protocol of the session ), 20 April 1998. Accessed 30 October 2006.〕 for suspected violations of the Swiss laws on banking secrecy,〔(Bundesgesetz über die Banken und Sparkassen (Bankengesetz, BankG), Swiss Law:, Article 47 (in German) ). Accessed 3 November 2006.〕 which is a prosecutable offense ''ex officio'' in Switzerland.〔Schwarb, T.M. ("Ich verpfeife meine Firma" – Einführung in das Phänomen Whistle-Blowing (in German) ), ''Fachhochschule Solothurn'', July 1998; accessed 3 November 2006.〕 After Meili and his family reported receiving death threats they fled to the United States and were granted political asylum via private bill.〔U.S. Congress: (Bill S. 768: A bill for the relief of Michel Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili ), private bill sponsored by New York Senator Alphonse D'Amato (R-NY), signed into Private Law 105-1 by President Bill Clinton on 29 July 1997; accessed 30 October 2006.〕〔Swiss parliament, Summer session 1997〕〔(Question Schlüer )〕〔(Response ) of Federal Councillor Flavio Cotti, who claimed the United States was not granting the Meili family "asylum", but rather a facilitated fast-track immigration. Accessed 30 October 2006.〕 On 13 January 1998, Ed Fagan filed suit against UBS on behalf of the Jewish victims, in the amount of US$2.56 million. On 13 August 1998, a settlement was reached between the Swiss banks and the Jewish plaintiffs totalizing US $1.25 billion.〔http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/ich-komme-heim-in-die-schweiz-fuer-immer-id18002.html〕〔(''New York Times'' coverage )〕〔(Coverage archived at articles.philly.com )〕 Meili's revelations turned the Swiss banks into international pariahs, both by exposing their morally dubious behavior in hiding Jewish assets purloined by the Nazis and those desposited by Jew fleeing Nazi genocide, and then their attempt to cover up their culpability y destroying documents.〔Eizenstat, ''Imperfect Justice'', p 94〕 Credit Suisse Chairman Rainer gut suggested the formation of the Fund to the SBA.〔Eizenstat. ''Imperfect Justice'', p. 98.〕 The Meili affair also influenced the holding of the London Conference on Nazi Gold (1997).〔Eizenstat. ''Imperfect Justice'', pp. 112-115〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Humanitarian Fund for the Victims of the Holocaust」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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