[Culturechat] Eizenstadt book on CH banks

[Vance Roy]

The new book "Imperfect Justice" by Stuart Eizenstat has caused the fit 
to hit the shan here in CH. I hope Mr. Eizenstadt has no Swiss travel 
plans in this life. Why? The book's cover depicts a Swiss flag with the 
white cross overlayed with gold bars in the shape of a swastika. 
Actually, since the swastika is just another form of a cross, this 
shouldn't be too bad. I once saw an entire floor tiled with these in a 
home built by Jews.

The problem arises from the connotation that the Swiss were active in 
helping the Nazis handle their gold. This has been shown to be true by 
the Bergier Commission's findings here in CH. Most folks here say that 
the cover is shameful and a gross misrepresentation. Eizenstat has 
already said that another cover can be used without his objection on 
the German and French editions. It was he who did a lot of work to set 
up a settlement of 1.25 billion US$ between banks here and Holocaust 
survivors and their families.

There is a division of opinion here about if the people of a country 
are to be responsible for the actions of their national bank. I wonder 
if we would always be willing to be held accountable for the US Federal 
Reserve's activities? Others say that in any democracy, the people are 
responsible for the government's actions. Swiss Jews are not happy with 
the cover either, and the head of the Swiss federation of Jewish 
Communities has labeled the cover, "shocking, in bad taste, and 
completely wrong".

A lot of this is moot anyway, since there is slim to none likelihood of 
stopping the publication of the book.

This could come home to haunt Mr. Eizenstat, since he works for a law 
firm that has a large Swiss bank as a client.

All this does little to enhance the image of the USA, which in Europe 
at least, is looked now as a bully.

I tend to agree more with those who say that one should look into the 
book and not at it's cover.


Vance Roy
gigli.saw@dplanet.ch
http://homepage.mac.com/fredch