Swiss firms meet slave labour deadline

Holocaust survivors have long fought for compensation

By Imogen Foulkes in Bern

Swiss firms have been complying with a deadline to declare whether or not they benefited from slave labour during World War II.

The deadline of Friday was set by a judge in the United States, who is presiding over the class action suit brought by Holocaust survivors against Swiss banks.

The two biggest Swiss banks have already agreed to a $1.25bn settlement in return for immunity from prosecution.

If Swiss companies agree to provide information about their wartime history, they too will be protected from future legal action.

It is two years since the big Swiss banks agreed to the settlement, but so far not a penny has been paid out to Holocaust survivors.

The banks were first in line for legal action because they were believed to be holding thousands of dormant accounts belonging to people who had died in the Nazi concentration camps and refusing to hand over the money to surviving relatives.

But as more details of Switzerland's wartime history came to light, it became clear that insurance companies, private banks and many Swiss companies also profited from the war.

Prominent companies

It is now believed at least 11,000 slave labourers were employed by Swiss companies with affiliates in Nazi Germany.

Some of the companies using slave labour remain among the most famous in Switzerland - for example engineering firm Brown Boveri, or food giant Nestle, whose German affiliate Maggi replaced the swastika flying over its factory with the Swiss flag just hours before the arrival of allied forces in 1944.

Claiming Swiss nationality brought these companies protection from war reparations, but over half a century later, New York Judge Edward Korman has told them they must provide details of their wartime dealings and be ready to join the global settlement with the banks, or face punitive class actions of their own.

Some Swiss companies have already agreed to join the $4.8bn slave labour fund set up by Germany and many more are expected to comply with Mr Korman's deadline.

Once they do, a plan to distribute the fund to Holocaust survivors can finally be drawn up and first payments are expected by the end of the year.