NEW YORK— On International Holocaust Remembrance Day the United States addressed the world at the United Nations’ Headquarters in New York. U.S. Ambassador Michael Waltz stated: “Today the United
States of America joins the international community in honoring the memory of
those six million Jews murdered in cold blood in the Holocaust, including one
and a half million innocent children.” the
United States addressed the world at the United Nations. Speaking to the
General Assembly, U.S. Ambassador Michael Waltz stated: “Today the United
States of America joins the international community in honoring the memory of
those six million Jews murdered in cold blood in the Holocaust, including one
and a half million innocent children.”
Ambassador Waltz made clear that the Holocaust is not
distant history and underscored a stark truth highlighted by reporting in the Financial
Times in March 2020: that a major Swiss bank continued to harbor
Nazi-linked accounts decades after World War II. As Ambassador Waltz stated, “The
Holocaust was history’s largest organized theft, an attempt to erase Jewish
life, but at the same time enriching the Nazis.” This recognition reinforces
the ongoing efforts of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee – led by Senators Chuck
Grassley and Sheldon Whitehouse – to compel UBS to investigate Nazi-era
accounts, including the forthcoming February 3, 2026, U.S. Senate hearing, “The
Truth Revealed: Hidden Facts Regarding Nazis and Swiss Banks.”
With respect to the victims of the Holocaust, Ambassador
Waltz declared: “We recommit ourselves with fierce determination to pursue
justice for the victims, for the survivors and their families.” The leaders of
Switzerland and the leadership of UBS – including Iqbal Khan and Colm Kelleher –
should heed this message. As a bank that benefits from trillions of dollars in
U.S. client assets and derives nearly half of its profits from the United
States, UBS must recognize that assets obtained through expropriation,
persecution, and genocide do not shed their criminal origin, and that Swiss
banks cannot become lawful owners of assets taken from victims of genocide. The
continued possession or concealment of such assets creates material legal and
financial exposure under U. S. law.
Fiduciary duty requires institutional shareholders and
equity analysts to account for Holocaust-era expropriation exposure and to credit
the position of the United States government: “We reaffirm our commitment to
justice through restitution.”
Switzerland and UBS should take concrete action:
-
Open
all relevant archives fully and without restriction relating to
Holocaust-era assets; -
Facilitate
independent forensic review of accounts linked to victims of Nazi
persecution; -
Commit
to justice and restitution, consistent with the Washington Principles.
As Ambassador Waltz urged: “Please let us honor the
victims through decisive action… Open the archives. Full restitution and an
unbreakable stand against antisemitism everywhere and always. May the memory of
the victims be a blessing but a call to responsibility for us all.”
UBS’s responsibility to act is clear. The time to act
is now.
La source de cet article se trouve sur ce site
