No Proof Swiss Took Victims’ Gold

A draft U.S. report on Nazi gold is likely to disappoint Jewish groups looking for direct evidence that melted down jewelry and dental fillings of Holocaust victims went to Swiss banks.

Officials said an examination of American files turned up gruesome documentation that Adolf Hitler’s troops seized money, gold and possessions from concentration camp prisoners. There’s also proof the booty went to Nazi Germany’s Reichsbank, which dealt with Swiss banks throughout World War II.

Despite strong suspicions by the United States and the Allies, however, the records do not establish that so-called nonmonetary gold from personal effects was accepted by Switzerland when its banks took gold bars the Germans looted from central banks across Europe, officials close to the investigation said.

“You would almost have to have people on site testing it (the gold) as it came in,” said one official familiar with the report.

Evidence that Swiss banks accepted gold extracted from Holocaust victims would increase the moral imperative for making fresh reparations.