Holocaust Restitution

* Re “Reducing the Holocaust to Mere Dollars and Cents,” Commentary, Dec. 4: I strongly object to Charles Krauthammer’s malicious characterization of lawyers representing Holocaust victims as “shysters” out to commit a “shakedown of Swiss banks, Austrian industry [and] German auto makers.” As the organizer of the first comprehensive conference in the U.S. dealing with Holocaust assets and the son of Holocaust survivors, I am intimately familiar with the course of the litigation against the Swiss banks, resulting in a settlement of $1.25 billion last August, the largest settlement of a human rights case in U.S. history.

Without the filing of the various lawsuits against the Swiss banks in the U.S., the banks never would have paid this amount. Only looming litigation--plus threat of sanctions by state and local officials--brought the banks to the bargaining table. Until the lawyers became involved, the Swiss banks were happy to ignore the problem.

Krauthammer does a disservice to the many lawyers who devoted countless hours of their time, many pro bono, to achieve this victory for Holocaust survivors throughout the world. As for the lawyers seeking a fee, their fee applications must be approved by the court, which can make sure that almost all of the funds go to the survivors and not for legal expenses.

MICHAEL BAZYLER

Professor of Law

Whittier Law School

Costa Mesa

*

Krauthammer is right when he argues for dignity and not a mad scramble for money to honor the victims or survivors. The Holocaust, as Krauthammer observes, “commands the preservation of memory.” Lest we forget: The blood-crazed Nazis set out to murder some 6 million Jews--and around a million upright German opponents to the regime. Also butchered were gypsies, homosexuals, POW slave workers and other “subhumans.”

W.P. JASPERT

Los Angeles