Switzerland was considered a beacon of neutrality during World War II, for better or worse. This book digs a little deeper into Swiss activities during World War II, and some of the things that were uncovered in the post war years certainly damaged that reputation of neutrality. Swiss banks had plenty to do with the Nazi regime. Stolen money and property from targeted demographics were placed in Swiss bank accounts. Artwork that was stolen were also hidden away in bank vaults in Switzerland. Many Nazi's themselves had personal bank accounts in Switzerland, as well as money that belonged to the Nazi Party as a whole. Royalties from Hitler's book Mein Kampf were deposited into Swiss bank accounts. (Additionally, they happily accepted money transfers from Jewish people, but did not want Jewish people moving there to live. They even marked their papers with a J so everyone would know when they saw their documents....doesn't that sound familiar.)

I watched something not long ago about stolen art work that was kept in Swiss vaults that they swear is not there and never was...and I really had a hard time buying that. On top of their strange statements, they were very reluctant to even speak about it and certainly did not want any filming to be done. There are dormant bank accounts filled with items and money stolen from victims of the Holocaust, and the banks will not release it to next of kin without a death certificate...as though the people thrown into gas chambers and crematoriums, entire families at a time, had death certificates made up. (Some did, especially in the earlier years of war, but absolutely not all.) Some of those bank accounts were taken by the Swiss and given to Swiss nationals who had their assets taken by the Communists.

I think this book takes a good look at Swiss activities and shines a light on some shady doings both during and after the war years. I imagine it would be quite difficult to be a European country in the middle of a global conflict, especially with a bunch of your neighbors. People are always out to get ahead and make money, and they do not care nearly as much as they should about what is right. Every country is likely guilty of that, and there is always something shady going on in the government that the common person doesn't know about. I think it is a shame that this isn't discussed nearly enough, because these next of kins deserve what is rightfully theirs, stolen things should be returned. If there are no survivors, then it should be released to help care for Holocaust survivors or to upkeep memorials, etc. Anyone that is interested in World War II should really check this book out and do some research into this subject. It is wild to think that people are still behaving like this to cover their behinds 80 years after the fact.