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Where's The Money?

Gizella Weisshaus refuses to forget the past. She guards her faded photographs and memories, hoping they will help her find justice.

Weisshaus was 14 when Germans invaded her small town in Rumania in 1944. Nazi soldiers arrested Weisshaus' father, who had been a wealthy merchant. She'll never forget his parting words: The family's money, he whispered, was safely hidden in a bank in Switzerland.

Weisshaus never saw her father again. She, her mother and six brothers and sisters were sent to concentration camps. She was the only one to survive. For Weisshaus, the terrible loss has been made more painful by frustration: she has not been able to get hold of the money her father carefully hid away.

Finding Justice
Weisshaus is not alone in her plight. She has joined 12,000 fellow Jewish survivors of World War II in a lawsuit against Switzerland's banks. They are suing the banks for $20 billion in hope of recovering money and valuables their families deposited in the banks.

Last week Weisshaus and two others, Hinde Fekete and Naomi Weisz Nagel, traveled to Switzerland. They attended a meeting of historians who are examining the role of the Swiss in the war. Said Weisshaus of her fellow survivors: "It's not history for them. They are suffering now."

During the war, the Nazis rounded up and killed 6 million European Jews. Jews were forced to live in concentration camps and work as slave laborers. All their possessions were taken away.

Many Jews placed their money in what they thought was a safe spot: Switzerland's banks. Switzerland is famous for its secretive banking system and for staying neutral, or not taking sides, during wars. Swiss banks accepted money from everyone, including Nazis and Jews. It is believed that from 1938 to 1945, the Nazis transferred $6 billion worth of gold and belongings into Swiss banks. Some of that belonged to their victims and may still be in the banks.

So far, the banks have refused to make public their secret records.They say most of the money in question cannot be traced. They have made it nearly impossible for victims to reclaim it. "Despite our identification of a specific account number at a specific bank, the bank refused to return my family's money," said Nagel. She was told that there was no record of the account.

Recently, Jewish and American groups have intensified their efforts. A month ago, the Swiss gave in a little. Even though the banks admit to holding just a few million dollars' worth of Jewish belongings, they agreed to create a fund of more than $70 million to aid Nazi victims and their families.

Last week the Swiss formally opened the fund. Georg Krayer, head of the Swiss Bankers' Association, stressed that the money the banks contributed to the fund "had nothing to do with the righting of wrongs."

Weisshaus and other Nazi victims still believe those wrongs should be righted. They are hoping that U.S. courts will help them reclaim the full amount of their lost family treasures.

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