Newyorki Figyelő, 1997 (22. évfolyam, 1-8. szám)
1997-01-30 / 1. szám
6 NEWYORKI FIGYELŐ 1997. január 30. BILLJ. SEREGI: A KÁRTÉRÍTÉSI ÜGY HÍREI IT HAPPENED IN THE HOLOCAUST (Conclusion) A svájci kártérítési ügy jelenlegi helyzete A legújabban felszínre került megállapítások, amelyek szerint a svájci bankok dollármilliárdokat tartanak olyan számlákon, amelyek a náci korszak alatti zsidó letevőktől származnak, akik vagyonukat ezen a módon próbálták megmenteni, hatalmas ellentéteket váltottak ki a nemzetközi életben. Ehhez járult az a felfedezés is, hogy ugyancsak Svájcba kerültek hatalmas értékek, amelyeket a náci bűnösök utaltak át svájci bankszámlákra és amelyek zsidóktól elrabolt vagyonokból származtak. Greville Janner angol parlamenti képviselő, az antiszemitizmus ellen küzdő, parlamentek közötti nemzetközi tanács elnöke, volt vendége a Zsidó Világkongresszus amerikai tagozatának. A svájci kártérítés problémáiról tartott előadásában hangsúlyozta, hogy a svájci kormányt és népet nem lehet egyszerűen antiszemitának minősíteni és az ilyenfajta vádak csak gátolnák a tények felderítését célzó eljárást. Igaz, hogy a svájci igazságügyminiszter azon kívánságot, amely a vészkorszak áldozatai részére alap felállítását igényli, "zsarolásának minősítette, s emiatt Alfonse D'Amato szenátor, az Egyesült Államok szenátusa bankbizottságának elnöke energikusan tiltakozott a svájci államelnöknél, - ez Janner szerint nem indokolná egyes amerikai zsidó körök által kilátásba helyezett bojkottot. f A svájciak ugyan hozzájárultak vizsgálóbizottság felállításához, amelynek feladata lesz a titkos bankbetétek sorsát felderíteni, de az eljárásnak jelentős akadályát képezi a bankokat terhelő titoktartási kötelesség. A jövőbeli egyéni igénylőknek tudomásul kell venniök a tényt, hogy még igen hosszú idő fog eltelni, amíg az illetékes hatóságok az igényekkel érdemben fognak tudni foglalkozni. Ezért az egyes sajtóközleményekben meghirdetett ajánlatok, amelyek jogi képviseletet és igény benyújtását hirdetik, nem vehetők komolyan. NEWS IN RESTITUTION MATTERS The present status of the Swiss restitution matter. The findings that recently came up about Swiss banks' holdings of milliards of dollars on accounts that originated from Jewish depositors who had tried to save their assets that way, have triggered off immense controversies in the international life. Another disclosure has contributed to this that enormous valuables reached Switzerland that Nazi criminals had transferred to Swiss bank accounts originated also from assets robbed from Jews. Greville Janner, member of the British Parliament, president of the International Council against anti-Semitism, gave a lecture in the American Division of the World Jewish Congress on the problems of Swiss restitution. He emphasized that the Swiss government and people may not be qualified simply as anti-Semitic, Such accusations would make more difficult the procedure intended to throw light on the facts. It is true that that the Swiss Minister of Justice declared the desire of establish a fund for the victims of the Holocaust as "blackmail", and SenatorAlfonse D'Amato, president of the United States Senate'8 Banking Committee protested against it to the President of Swirzerland, nevertheless - according to Janner - this would not justify the boycott promised by some American Jewish circles. Though the Swiss have agreed to establish a committee that will aim to find out the lot of the secret accounts, however, a significant obstacle is the secrecy to which the banks are obligated. Individual claimants have to recognize the fact that a long time will pass until the competent authorities will be able to deal with such claims. Advertisements in some papers promising legal representation and filing such claims, cannot be taken seriously. A 350 pound German soldier ordered us to throw our knives, scissors and shavers on a blanket placed on the floor. I jumped in front of him and reported that we will be working, want to keep ourselves clean, and we need our shavers. After a short silence, he gave us permission to take back our shavers. Now, thinking about this from the distance of a half-century I ponder how lucky I was. In the camp, first our group of two-thousand five-hundred had to stand in groups of two-hundreds. After that, I stolled around searching for faces that I knew. I found a dear friend of mine and his handsome 18 years old son. We sadly noted how stupid it was of us not to emigrate before this had to happen. Out of the our group one-fifth survived. The rest starved to death; among them my dear friend and his son. In December our group had to dig trenches; each three yard deep, three yard long, and one yard wide. The soil was frozed, our daily ration was 800 calories, but that was the task we each had to finish every day even if it took sixteen hours. On day when returning to our barracks my camerads told me that a comitee came and picked 24 names. My comerades who were selected gave my name to them as well, saying that I was the chief engineer in the Hungarian auto repair unit. Next day soldiers came and picked us up. We walked about ten miles in snowfall. Halfway we were stopped at a SS station. One SS carrying a machinegun on the shoulders advised us that if anyone feels that he will not be able to work as a skilled mechanic he is better to say it now. They will escort him back to the camp. However, if they find it out later then he will be shot in the spot. Nobody volun tered to be returned. If they did, they would have been shot before returning. We continued our march to arrive late night at "Wolfstal" (the valley of the wolfes), where a 350 pound giant took us over from our escort. The man was wearing on his overcoat a huge medal with large inscription "Camping with Adolf Hitler, 1933." The reception was bitter cold and we were lead through a long corridor to the court, where we had to climb a small mountain covered with a foot deep, fresh snow. For us, exhaulted men, it was awefully difficult. Finally we reached our sleeping quarter, a silo. It was open all around under the roof. We had no light, no facet of water and no facility. The giant solved all the problems: one glass of oil with a wick to give light. "You can wash yourself with the snow and dig a trench for latrina. Here are the tools I brought for you", he said and left the room. It was very cold but I discovered large bushels of straw hanging from the ceiling. I suggested to take them down and use them as sleeping bags. Three under-officers knocked and entered. I jumped, ordered attention and gave a report as we learned when we were regular soldiers in Hungary. They liked our discipline and asked for three people to fetch three cans with warm soup, bread and black coffee. It gave us nourishment and some hope for the future. In the morning we were ordered to go to our respective factory: one for trucks and another for cars. I worked in the truck section. It was well heated and for us it was like heaven. A young, nice corporal with an intelligent, friendly smile watched over us. I asked him to arrange for me an audience with his chief commanding officer as soon as possible. He looked me as if I was crazy; even he avoided facing the Feldkornet. But I had to speak to him because we couldn't spend another night like the one we had. About two hours later a threestared soldier picked me up as the audience was granted. We walked to a nearby house where I was ordered to wait in a corridor. While I was waiting I overheard the Germans speaking loudly: "Those twenty-four Jews are no mechanics, they don't deserve the food we give them. I suggest we just shot them." Then the door flung open and someone from inside ordered: "The Judenkommandant step in!" I jumped in, stood at attention as usual, and identified myself in fluent German and disciplined as I was trained in the Hungarian army. The commander designated as Feldkornet, good looking, elegant, very intelligent young officer ordered the master seargent for a report on us. He reitirated what I previously overheard, but without suggesting the "final solution." Then he pointed at me to talk. I reported that in the Hungarian forced labor camps we slept in barracks, we repaired military vehicles. The seven of us I knew from our group were skilled, experienced, good automechanics. The other sixteen men were picked from different groups and I am not familiar with their skills, I have never met them before. I also said that the reason I asked for an audience was that we slept in an open silo. The weather outside was minus 30° and our hands and feet will certainly freeze if we have to sleep in that place again. Then we will not be able to work at all. The sergeant acknowledged what I said and I had to return to my working place. Two hours later two German soldiers came and asked for two men from our group. They worked hard to build us a suitable sleeping quarter, which included a pot bellyoven. It saved our lives in Wolfstal, in January 1945. Retrospectively I admit it is so unbelievable that anybody could have the courage to act as I did in a dead camp. 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