Nearly 900 Nazi accounts found in Swiss Credit Suisse: how the bank hid Hitler's traces for decades

When nearly 900 accounts linked to the Nazi regime suddenly surface in the archives of one of the world's most famous banks, it's not just a story about the past. It's a question of who, and for how many years, built a comfortable silence around money earned during the Holocaust and war.

A new investigation in the US has uncovered 890 previously undisclosed accounts at Swiss bank Credit Suisse that may be linked to the Nazi regime of Hitler's time.^{1 3 4} This was stated on the eve of hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who for years has been tracking cases of banks' participation in financing the Nazis and hiding funds from Holocaust victims.^{1 4} . It's not just about individual members of the NSDAP: the accounts include war deposits from the Nazi German Foreign Ministry, a German arms manufacturer, and the German Red Cross, as well as SS structures that had not previously appeared in official bank disclosures.^{3 4} .

What exactly was found: 890 accounts and clients of the Nazi apparatus

According to information presented by Senator Grassley, an independent investigator in the archives of Credit Suisse and its successors has identified 890 accounts that have a "potential connection" to the Nazi regime or its associates.^{1 3 4} Some of these accounts were active during World War II, while others could have been used after 1945 to transfer funds to Latin America, primarily to Argentina.^{3 10} Official documents indicate that the list includes the following accounts:

• the German Foreign Ministry during the Third Reich;
• a large German arms company;
• the German Red Cross, which in a number of cases acted as an umbrella for the regime's operations;
• structures of the SS economic division, through which funds from confiscated property of victims of occupation policy and the Holocaust were transferred^{3 9} .

Many of these accounts were not disclosed during the massive audits of the 1990s, which culminated in a historic $1,25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and representatives of victims of Nazi persecution.^{6 7} This is what outraged senators and representatives of Jewish organizations: it turns out that even after the “full stop” in the form of high-profile investigations and payments, some information remained in the shadows.^{3 6} .

Why Credit Suisse is at the center of a scandal again

Credit Suisse is no stranger to such stories. Back in the 1990s, the bank, like a number of other Swiss institutions, acknowledged the existence of thousands of dormant accounts belonging to Holocaust victims and became a party to an international settlement for the payment of compensation worth more than $1 billion.^{6 7} . At that time, it seemed that the darkest part of the history of Swiss banks was coming to an end: an independent “Volker Commission” was created, which reviewed millions of accounts and made some of the data public.^{6 7} .

However, a new investigation, initiated at the request of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and supported by US senators, has revealed that the Credit Suisse archives held much more than had been publicly acknowledged.^{3 8} Earlier in 2020, the Wiesenthal Center had already published a list of 12,000 Nazis who ended up in Argentina after the war, and claimed that many of them used accounts at the predecessor of Credit Suisse.^{5 8} The bank then agreed to an internal audit, but the current results suggest that the scale of the connections was underestimated.

From Argentina to Geneva: "rat trails" and Swiss accounts

One of the lines of investigation concerns the so-called "rat trails" - the escape routes of Nazi criminals from Europe to Latin America after 1945.^{8 10} Testimony presented to the Senate committee indicates that Credit Suisse and its predecessors served accounts of key figures in these networks, through which bribes were paid to officials in France and Switzerland, as well as financing for relocation to Argentina and other countries.⁸ One of the experts directly stated: "It is almost certain that these accounts were used to pay for tickets to a new life for people who were to appear before the Nuremberg Tribunal."⁸ .

This overlaps with already known data: historians estimate that up to 12,000 Nazis and collaborators fled to Argentina, and a significant part of their financial transactions went through Swiss banks.^{5 8} New finds in the Credit Suisse archives add concrete details to this picture — not just abstract “Nazi money,” but specific accounts, dates, and transactions.

Why the story has come out now: the role of UBS and the US Senate

In 2023, amid the financial crisis, Credit Suisse was snapped up by banking giant UBS — a deal that effectively buried the Credit Suisse brand as a separate institution.^{1 3} . However, along with the assets, UBS also received archives where independent investigators had already been working at the request of the Wiesenthal Center and US senators. It was at this stage that 890 accounts were discovered, which, according to Grassley, “should have been in sight during previous investigations.”^{1 4} .

UBS officially stated that it is “ready to engage constructively with the committee” and “to clarify historical issues related to Credit Suisse.”^{1 3} Meanwhile, bank lawyers are trying to block attempts by Jewish organizations and Holocaust victims' advocates to reopen a multibillion-dollar settlement from the late 1990s, citing that previous investigations were "as complete as possible."^{3 6} New data casts doubt on this claim.

How Jewish organizations and descendants of victims are reacting

Representatives of the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in interviews with Western media, stated that they were shocked by the scale of the discovered accounts and the fact that they had not been disclosed earlier.^{5 8} Some of the participants in the negotiations in the 1990s say frankly: "We didn't have the full picture then, we negotiated without knowing everything."³ This means that some of the funds that could have belonged to the victims or their families never made it into the restitution process.

Jewish organizations and a number of senators are now demanding not only the full disclosure of the Nazi account list, but also a reassessment of the previous peace agreement.^{3 6} In their opinion, if the bank really hid some of the data from investigators in the 1990s, the issue of the fairness of compensation cannot be considered closed. UBS is actively opposing this, fearing a new avalanche of lawsuits and a reputational blow to the Swiss financial system.

Swiss banks and Nazi money: a short history of a long shadow

The Credit Suisse scandal is another twist in a story that dates back to World War II. Switzerland, while maintaining formal neutrality, became one of the key financial “safe havens” for the Nazi regime: gold, currency, and other assets confiscated from conquered countries and Holocaust victims passed through its banks.^{6 7} In the 1990s, investigations and pressure from the US and Jewish organizations forced banks to acknowledge the existence of thousands of frozen accounts belonging to victims of persecution and to agree to multi-billion dollar compensation payments.^{6 7} .

The then-"Volker Commission" reviewed 4,1 million accounts from 1933 to 1945 and identified about 54,000 accounts that could belong to victims of Nazi persecution.⁶ But it also recorded serious shortcomings: destruction of documents, banks' unwillingness to cooperate, attempts to hide information from heirs and the public.⁶ New finds in the Credit Suisse archives once again show that even after a “full audit,” there are areas that the world has never looked into.

Why this story is important today — and for Ukraine too

At first glance, the Swiss bank scandal is a matter of historical justice for Holocaust victims and their heirs. But it has a broader dimension. First, it shows how long financial institutions are able to store and hide traces of money linked to the most serious crimes.^{3 6} Secondly, this story directly relates to contemporary discussions about the responsibility of banks for servicing regimes that commit war crimes today, in particular Russia.

For Ukraine, which is seeking the seizure and confiscation of Russian assets around the world, the Credit Suisse case is an argument why one cannot unconditionally believe in the “self-regulation” of financial giants and promises to “understand the inside”^{4 6} If Nazi accounts were hidden for decades, then there is an even greater need for strict international control over the assets of modern aggressors, transparent investigations, and the participation of independent institutions, not just internal bank audits.

Legal consequences: will they reopen an old case?

The key practical question now is whether the new data will provide grounds for revising the 1998 settlement agreement between Swiss banks and representatives of Holocaust victims.^{3 6} Some lawyers believe that yes, because if the bank deliberately concealed information, it means that the agreements were concluded without the full picture. Others emphasize the legal complexity: decades have passed, the owners have changed, and it is difficult to collect evidence of deliberate concealment in full.³ .

Beyond the legal nuances, political pressure is growing. The Senate committee has already received preliminary reports from investigators, and new hearings are being prepared with the participation of representatives of UBS, the Wiesenthal Center, and the World Jewish Congress.^{3 8} Even if the formal settlement agreement is not revised, banks could face a de facto “second round” of reputational and financial liability.

Moral dimension: money, time and memory

The Nazi accounts scandal at Credit Suisse is a story not just about where specific amounts were stashed, but also about how long the world is willing to tolerate parts of the past remaining uncomfortable and untold. Thousands of families of Holocaust victims have tried for decades to prove that their loved ones had accounts in neutral Switzerland, but have run up against a wall of banking secrecy and bureaucracy.^{6 7} Now, as new documents confirm the scale of what is hidden, the question arises: is it too late for justice?

At the same time, this story reminds us: over time, the secrets of financial empires still come out - through archives, testimonies, political pressure. For current and future aggressors, this is a signal: money "earned" in war can lie in reliable banks for decades, but sooner or later its traces will become the subject of investigations, hearings and lawsuits. That is why today's discussions about frozen Russian assets and reparations to Ukraine are not an abstraction, but a continuation of a long history of the struggle to ensure that money is not the last refuge for impunity^{4 6} .

Sources

1. Reuters, NBC News, The Times of Israel: reports of the discovery of 890 accounts with potential Nazi ties in Credit Suisse archives, statements by Senator Chuck Grassley.
2. Wall Street Journal, The Straits Times: materials on the investigation into the Credit Suisse archives and the role of UBS after the bank's takeover.
3. Fox News, other American media: details of Senate hearings, list of Nazi German structures that had accounts in Credit Suisse.
4. NV, international analytical publications: the context of the role of Swiss banks in holding the assets of authoritarian regimes and contemporary discussions about the control of such assets.
5. Simon Wiesenthal Center publications: data on the list of 12,000 Nazis in Argentina and their connections to Swiss banks.
6. Volker Commission Report and Historical Reviews: Information on the investigation into dormant accounts of Holocaust victims in Swiss banks in the 1990s.