By Rachel Maddow | The Miami Mirror
Adapted from an interview originally published by the Abu Dhabi Times
A massive international lawsuit against UBS Group AG is bringing fresh attention to Holocaust-era assets long believed lost within Switzerland’s banking system. In a detailed interview with the Abu Dhabi Times, Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik, Vice President of AEA Justinian Lawyers, revealed new evidence suggesting the Swiss bank and other institutions systematically concealed millions of Jewish accounts that were never reviewed or restituted.
Representing Rabbi Ephraim Meir, the lead plaintiff in the case, Dr. Podovsovnik described how families from Europe and the United States continue to contact his firm, claiming their relatives’ wartime deposits were ignored or erased.
“We’re hearing from new claimants every single day,” Dr. Podovsovnik told the Abu Dhabi Times. “They were all dismissed by the Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT) with the same response — ‘No matching.’”
A Flawed Restitution Process
The lawsuit centers on the CRT, a body established in the late 1990s to handle claims related to unreturned Jewish assets in Swiss banks. Dr. Podovsovnik alleges the tribunal’s process was deeply flawed from the beginning.
“The CRT only examined accounts tied to clearly identifiable names,” he said. “But the historical accounts from 1933 to 1945 were often anonymous, password-protected, or secured with codewords — designed specifically to hide Jewish assets from Nazi seizure.”
Official CRT records listed 471 banks, but only 277 were reviewed, leaving 254 untouched — many of them major institutions with vast client holdings. Within those reviewed banks, investigators found 6.2 million accounts, yet Dr. Podovsovnik believes another six million existed elsewhere.
“Out of those 6.2 million, only about 300,000 were examined in any depth, and just 52,000 were shortlisted,” he said. “Eyewitnesses have since confirmed that data manipulation occurred — legitimate Jewish accounts were intentionally miscoded so they couldn’t be traced.”
UBS and Poland Named as Defendants
Dr. Podovsovnik asserts that UBS played a central role in the alleged concealment, managing the very accounts that were omitted from the CRT’s investigation.
“UBS was embedded in the system — operationally, technically, and financially,” he said. “It controlled the anonymous accounts that never saw scrutiny.”
The case also targets Poland, a country that still lacks a restitution law for Holocaust-era property. “Poland retained enormous amounts of confiscated Jewish wealth,” he explained. “We’re including it among the defendants — not to punish history, but to restore justice today.”
Families’ Stories Reveal Bureaucratic Injustice
One Polish family, according to Dr. Podovsovnik, lost its bank during Nazi occupation. Their assets vanished into Swiss institutions. After the war, they filed a claim and received a single reply: “No matching.”
Another family knew the exact password and codeword to an anonymous account, yet their claim was rejected because no personal name appeared.
“This shows how absurd the entire system was,” Dr. Podovsovnik said. “Instead of investigating the origin of funds, the CRT simply ignored them. This wasn’t just neglect — it was administration used as a weapon.”
A Call for Reform and Restitution
Dr. Podovsovnik and Rabbi Meir’s legal team are demanding a full re-examination of all excluded accounts, the creation of a new independent restitution body under international oversight, and restitution of all remaining assets held by UBS, Credit Suisse, and others.
“These funds were placed in trust to protect them from Nazi confiscation,” Rabbi Meir said in his remarks to the Abu Dhabi Times. “They were never meant to enrich banks. They must be returned to rightful heirs — or distributed fairly to Jewish families in need.”
Switzerland’s Image on the Line
Dr. Podovsovnik emphasized that Switzerland’s role in this matter extends far beyond UBS.
“Switzerland can no longer hide behind neutrality,” he said. “It built and benefited from a restitution framework that excluded millions of claims. We will hold both UBS and the Swiss state accountable. The era of silence is over. The era of accountability has begun.”
He concluded with a warning and a reflection:
“This is not only about financial loss. It’s about families erased by history and denied by bureaucracy. Behind every anonymous account lies a human life. This time, the world will not accept the excuse — ‘No matching.’”
