Switzerland, the Eizenstat Report and Defamation: Astonishing Parallels With Poland Today

Quoted Extracts of a Speech Given at a Function Organized by the Young SVP of Switzerland, by National Councilor Dr. Christoph Blocher, in Bern, on June 21, 1997.

The speech of the prominent Swiss politician Christoph Blocher referred to the so called Eizenstat report, a report which portrayed Switzerland as “Nazi Germany’s banker” and claimed that Switzerland and other neutral nations benefitted from their trade and financial dealings with the Germans and helped prolong the war effort.

[The ALL-CAPS titles, and “PARALLELS WITH POLAND”, are Added.]

 

U.S. GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF ANOTHER NATION

“According to his report, Stuart Eizenstat, the American Special Envoy of the Department of State, received his mandate from President Clinton. In other words, he is officially pronouncing judgment on our country in the name of the American state. Let me repeat: A foreign state has chosen to render judgment on our country. That is why this verdict must be subjected to especially close scrutiny. Let me ask you: how can a foreign state even conceive of the idea of sitting in judgment on the more than fifty year old history of another sovereign state?” (p. 2)

PARALLELS WITH POLAND

And now, nearly 75 years after the events, the U. S. Government and Congress are once again sitting in judgment of the history of another sovereign state—Poland—this time by formulating, and contemplating the passage of, H. R. Act 1226 and Act S. 447, by interfering with the Polish legislation and insisting on unlawful transfer of the so called “heirless property” (although it is not heirless at all) to self-appointed US organizations.

INNUENDO, AND IGNORANCE OF HISTORICAL FACTS

“Eizenstat’s summarizing commentary nevertheless, unburdened by historical fact, presents itself in a manner towards a foreign state which is schoolmasterish, smug, and highly presumptuous. Numerous of his so-called ‘insights’ are devoid of any proof and even lack substantiation from the report itself.” (p. 2).

“The icy breeze which is blowing from America results in good part from the lack of knowledge of Swiss history and political characteristics.” (p. 4).

PARALLELS WITH POLAND

The ignorance about Poland is likewise astonishing. We hear such media gems, definitely unburdened by historical fact, about “Polish death camps” and Polish “consent” for the Nazi Germans to build their death camps and—failing that—of some mystical and undefined “Polish complicity in the Holocaust”. We even hear fantastic, made up numbers—all those “200,000 fugitive Jews killed or denounced by Poles”.

CONFUSING NEUTRALITY WITH COLLABORATION

“Mr. Eizenstat describes neutrality as ‘immoral’…It is noteworthy because in this country - contrary to the corroborative facts - some claim the Swiss basically cooperated with the Nazis. What can be deduced from the outrageous accusation of immoral neutrality?…Today Switzerland is being accused of the mistake of not having participated in the war.” (p. 3).

“It must be emphasized that armed neutrality is not an arbitrary Swiss eccentricity but it is perpetual and recognized under international law.” (p. 5).

PARALLELS WITH POLAND

The “neutrality was immoral” meme is also being used against Poland—in its own way. The term “bystander” is a regular, decades-old feature of Holocaustspeak. The complaint that “most Poles were bystanders”—that most Poles did not help fugitive Jews-is oblivious to the realities of the brutal German occupation of Poland. Moreover, it falsely conflates “neutrality” with agreement with Nazi German goals. We sometimes hear the totally baseless insinuation that, “Most Poles were glad that Hitler did the dirty work for them.” Neither the US Departments of Education (with exception of California) nor the US Department of State has ever undertook any efforts to defend Poland’s good name and to deny the horrendous and slanderous allegations.

A GHOULISH SWISS ACQUISITIVENESS OF JEWISH “VICTIM GOLD”? PLAYING ON EMOTIONS

“In the last point of his foreword, Stuart Eizenstat addresses the problem of so-called ‘victim gold’. The idea that dental gold of murdered concentration camp victims could be found in gold bars and gold coins in Swiss deposits, and even in our living room closets, seems to be one of the favorite images for critics of today’s banks and the financial center of Switzerland. What is the historical truth with regard to ‘victim gold’? A few German middlemen, who had received stolen goods, offered jewelry and precious stones of Jewish people and murdered government opponents to neutral foreign countries, including Switzerland.” (p. 12).

“Following the bombardment of the Berlin headquarters of the Reichsbank on February 3, 1945, the greater part of concentration camp gold, together with other gold reserves, was hidden in the tunnels of a salt mine in Merkers (Thüringen). American troops discovered the gold in one of the subterranean rooms on April 4, 1945. Several dozen tons of concentration camp gold were still in their original state…Even German leaders did not dare to obviously entrust such perfidious original objects to the personnel of a mint and never tried to integrate the large part of concentration camp gold into international transactions.” (p. 12).

“One thing is clear, victim gold can be found today in all of the gold pools of the world, including those of the United States. Any specialist can confirm that it is technically impossible to prove the existence of potential victim gold in gold bars or coins which were replenished with non-monetary gold.” (p. 13).

PARALLELS WITH POLAND

“Victim gold” has also been raised in reference to Poland. And why not? It is a winner. There have been media accounts of postwar Poles searching the cremains of Jews for gold—an obvious attempt to play on emotions and instill prejudices against Poles. Fact is, the looting of the dead, especially in times of war or poverty, moreover that of non-Jews as well as Jews, is unpleasant but hardly remarkable. It is as old as human history itself!

SWITZERLAND ACCUSED OF BEING ANIMATED BY “GREED”

“Eizenstat claims Switzerland also remained neutral out of an ‘obsession with profit’. Whoever reproaches us for not participating in the war out of greed should calculate the enormous costs to Switzerland for non-belligerency, for defense, for the greatest possible self-sufficiency, and for the admission of almost 300,000 refugees and internees. He should calculate the major losses on credits for Germany after its collapse….After the war, Switzerland neither requested nor received American money as part of Marshall Plan aid.” (p. 14).

“Switzerland was not a rich country during the war, and did not become one as a result of it. On the contrary, economic recession, poverty and rationing of food was also prevalent in Switzerland. To speak of profit-seeking bears witness to an ignorance of history.” (p. 18).

PARALLELS WITH POLAND

And now it is Poland’s turn to be accused of “greed” and “profit seeking”—this time, for acquiring the properties of Nazi-German-murdered Jews. Here are some elementary facts: It is completely normal for the property of the dead to become the property of the living-of murdered Jews no less then murdered non-Jews—especially as an outcome of war. The notion that Poland “profited” from the death of the Jews is made all the more ridiculous by the staggering scale of Polish property losses (not to mention Polish lives) during WWII.

Enter the Marshall Plan. Poland did not get a penny of it. Poland had been prevented, by the western-acquiesced Soviet-imposed Communist puppet government, from participating. In addition, Poland as a satellite nation of the Soviet Union had to contribute to the development of the Soviet economy after the war.

Image: Federal Palace of Switzerland, Bern. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Source: Wikipedia.