Inside a Class Action: The Holocaust and the Swiss Banks

On October 21, 1996, attorney Michael Hausfeld, with a team of lawyers, filed a class-action complaint against Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation and Credit Suisse on behalf of Holocaust victims. The suit accused the banks of amongst other things, acting as the chief financiers for Nazi Germany. Hausfeld wanted to use the suit to prove that the banks not only concealed and refused to return millions of dollars in dormant accounts, but that they acted as a conduit for looted assets and slave labour profits. Such behaviour, he charged, violated the code of ethics known as customary international law. On August 12, 1998, the plaintiffs and banks reached a $1.25 billion settlement. Through interviews with a wide range of people involved in the case and detailed research of documents and court transactions, Jane Schapiro shows the ways that egos, personalities and values clash in such a complex and emotionally charged case. This work provides an insider’s view of a major lawsuit from its inception to its conclusion, which should appeal to anyone interested in human rights, reparations and international law.