A new wave of legal and moral scrutiny is sweeping toward Switzerland following explosive claims by Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik, Vice President of AEA Justinian Lawyers, who has accused the Swiss state of being a “historical perpetrator” in connection with Nazi-era assets. The allegations were first published in an exclusive interview with the Abu Dhabi Times, where Dr. Podovsovnik called for full transparency and accountability from the Swiss government and its financial institutions.
According to the interview, Dr. Podovsovnik argues that Switzerland has for decades concealed the true scale of its involvement in Nazi economic operations. Citing the Bergier Report — a government-commissioned investigation into Switzerland’s wartime activities — he claims that the Swiss National Bank and private banks acted as “willing accomplices,” trading in stolen gold and property while turning away Jewish refugees “even when it knew they were being sent straight into the gas chambers.”
“The truth is what’s drastic,” Podovsovnik told the Abu Dhabi Times. “Switzerland has buried it for eighty years.”
At the center of the dispute are dormant bank accounts allegedly belonging to Holocaust victims and their heirs. Podovsovnik insists that thousands of these accounts remain undisclosed, and that the much-publicized Global Settlement of 1998–2000, which was meant to resolve restitution claims, was “built on fraud on the court.” He has formally demanded that the Swiss Federal Council pass legislation mandating every bank to cooperate in a full disclosure of pre-1948 accounts.
In the same Abu Dhabi Times interview, Podovsovnik represents Rabbi Ephraim Meir, described as the rightful heir to multiple Nazi-era accounts allegedly still held within UBS structures. His case, Podovsovnik said, “stands for thousands of Jewish families who were robbed of everything – property, life, and finally the truth.”
The lawyer’s remarks extend beyond restitution to accusations of continuing moral failure. “Antisemitism does not always shout; sometimes it hides behind polished neutrality and legal excuses,” he said, urging the Swiss government to adopt modern transparency laws and support an AI-assisted forensic audit of all wartime financial records.
Should Switzerland and UBS refuse cooperation, Podovsovnik warned that U.S. federal courts may intervene to reopen the Global Settlement proceedings on the grounds of fraud. “Switzerland can no longer hide behind the myth of neutrality,” he said. “It has one last chance to demonstrate moral courage — or it will be dragged, once again, into the courtroom of history, this time not as a witness but as a defendant.”
The Abu Dhabi Times investigation, which includes the full interview, has drawn global attention and reignited debate about Swiss wartime neutrality and accountability. You can read the original piece here.
