GENEVA, May 12: Never in its recent history has Switzerland's wartime comportment been the subject of such debate and controversy culminating in a damaging 200-page report released this week by the US government. The US study on the amount and fate of Nazi German gold stolen from occupied countries and Holocaust victims is critical of Switzerland's ``business as usual'' post-War attitude in resisting the return of looted Nazi gold as ``inexplicable''.

The report compiled by 11 agencies led by Under Secretary of Commerce Stuart Eizenstat follows a six-month review of several million pages of documents in US archives does not, however, find any evidence that the Swiss knowingly accepted gold from ``victims'' of the Holocaust. The much-awaited tome also deplores the behaviour of the Allies saying they, along with Switzerland, boosted the Nazi war machine. The fact that Switzerland and other neutral states ``pursued vigorous trade with the Third Reich had the clear effect of supporting and prolonging Nazi Germany's capacity to wage war'', Eizenstat writes.

The Swiss government has reacted warily, welcoming the report and bracing itself for demands from world Jewish groups for more compensation.

In the months preceding the report, western newspapers have carried numerous reports about Swiss gold deals with Nazi Germany, each claiming ``fresh'' and ``new'' details, many of which have not stood the glare of facts. There is a lively internal debate in the country high on morals and low on new facts and the country's much-touted neutrality and rosy historical picture has taken a severe, though healthy beating.

But, questions about the Swiss have inevitably led to questions about the Allies themselves. If the Nazis bankrolled Swiss neutrality during the war, did not the Allies bankroll Swiss silence after the war? There are clear suggestions that a full enquiry of that period would have revealed embarrassing details about the Allies especially France which till date has yet to come clear on relations between its infamous Vichy regime andNazis. In addition, by 1943, the Bank of England had enough information to conclude that the Nazis had sold more gold than they possessed - indication that they had been looting from fallen countries and victims. Based on what they knew, they asked Switzerland to cough up the $60 million at the 1946 post-War reparation conference in Washington. The Allies now claim they weren't entirely satisfied with this arrangement.

As a young Swiss official in 1946, Paul Jolles sat in on negotiations taking careful and detailed notes as Switzerland and the Allies met in Washington to talk tough about what this country and its banks owed to Europe after the Second World War. The negotiations were difficult but all sides finally agreed that Switzerland was to pay $60 million as compensation for having traded with Nazi Germany and stayed out of the War while most other countries were destroyed. ``We felt we owed this money to those who had paid with their blood to defend Europe of which we were a part -- this was our contribution to European reconstruction, our part in the Marshall Plan,'' Paul Jolles told The Indian Express. ``There is no question of renegotiating that agreement now which was conducted in good faith,'' he added.

to be concluded

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.