Bergier Commission sweeps 100 Swiss firms for Nazi labour past

In order to avoid future law suits, Swiss companies that used Nazi slave labour have to own up within 30 days Keystone

The panel investigating Switzerland's wartime past, the Bergier Commission, has begun checking whether more than 100 Swiss companies used slave labour during the Nazi era.

The head of the Commission, Jean-François Bergier, said the research into archives of the firms would be completed shortly. He added that the firms have been cooperating, but said he has no knowledge of the findings.

Bergier’s announcement comes after the World Jewish Congress (WJC) threatened legal action against Swiss companies that used slave labour, unless they agree to take part in a global settlement between Swiss banks and Jewish organisations.

Under the settlement, which was approved by a New York judge earlier this week, Switzerland’s main banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, will pay $1.25 billion in compensation to Holocaust survivors.

The judge also ruled that Swiss companies, which used slave labour, could be exempted from future lawsuits, provided they take part in the settlement. The companies are required to come forward within 30 days with the names of slave labourers that worked for them.

The companies involved have not been named, but are believed to include those in the metals, armaments and food industries. On Thursday, Switzerland’s main employers’ association urged Swiss firms which used slave labour to come forward.

The food multinational, Nestlé, which in 1947 acquired a company that is implicated, said on Thursday it was prepared to contribute to the settlement providing it received assurances of protection as the takeover company.

Two other Swiss companies, the aluminium concern, Algroup, and the engineering company, Georg Fischer, also said on Thursday they were prepared to cooperate on the issue of slave labour, and would open their records to the Bergier commission.

swissinfo with agencies