View the Table of Contents.
Read the Preface.
aThe author has a good command of the facts in all these cases
and tell the story well.a
--"The Historian"
"Bazyler has written an indispensable history of Holocaust
restitution as litigated in US courts. . . . Essential."
--"CHOICE"
aAny activist or scholar interested in any restitution movement
should read this book.a
--"Journal of Genocide Research"
"Bazyler rightly attacks the commission as an unmitigated
disaster and . . . correctly describes the situation as a
disgrace."
--"Financial Times Magazine"
""Holocaust Justice" tells the complete story of the legal
campaign to win restitution for Hitler's victims and thus deserves
a large reading audience. . . . The Book should remain the standard
work on the subject for some time to come."
--"New Jersey Jewish News"
"Bazyler . . . gives details of nationwide litigation in which
courts rejected the legal basis for such claims. His book is
enlightening and provocative."
--"Los Angeles Times"
"Michael Bazyler has written an incisive and compelling history
of the effort to use law to gain a measure of justice for victims
of the Holocaust. Not only is the book an indispensable chronicle
of the Holocaust litigation; it is a probing inquiry into the
wisdom and morality of the effort."
--Burt Neuborne, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, NYU Law
School, Lead Settlement Counsel, in "Holocaust Victim Assets
Litigation"
aBy patiently walking us through the vast and complex labyrinth
of litigation and legislation that focused on securing reparations
and restitution, Bazyler shows us that the loss of property caused
by the bureaucratic workings ofbanks, corporations, and insurance
companies was even more difficult to prove in court than the loss
of life caused by no less bureaucratic workings of the
concentration camps.a
--"Washington Post"
"In this lucid and compelling book, Bazyler documents the fight
for restitution, its successes, and its failures."
--"Booklist"
.,."A definitive analytical study of how the American courts and
system of justice were used to address the mass-scale theft
initiated by the Holocaust."
--" Wisconsin Bookwatch"
"Bazyler has produced a masterful study of the tragedy and
triumphs of the Holocaust, and a look at the American legal system
as its most effective and redemptive. The book is a "must
read."
--"International Journal of Legal Information"
aA masterly study of the search for justice against long odds.
Its analysis is compelling, its importance immense. It is also a
fascinating read.a
--Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author of "Hitleras Willing Executioners"
and "A Moral Reckoning"
aAn indispensable guide to the complex and controversial
struggle for justice in the aftermath of the Holocaust, traversing
the history of the battle for restitution in Americaas courts.
Bazyleras understanding is authoritative and his learning deep. I
thought I knew all the intricacies of the litigation, all the ins
and outs of the controversy until I read this book and learned that
there was so much more to know. He has done a masterful job of
clarifying and elucidating. This work must be studied by anyone
interested in the issue. It is a model of fairness.a
--Michael Berenbaum, Sigi Ziering Institute, The University of
Judaism
aThis book should be read by everyone interested in howsome
measure of justice was obtained for victims of the Holocaust and
about how issues of historical injustice should be addressed by the
international community.a
--Paul Hoffman, Chair, Amnesty International
aAn incisive work of legal history and an invaluable guide to
the litigation involving Holocaust-era assets. Bazyler offers an
elegant and up-to-date study that will prove indispensable for
those interested in restitution law, the Holocaust, and the issue
of historical injustice."
--Jonathan Petropoulos former Research Director, Presidential
Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States.
aMichael Bazyler brings the passion of a child of Holocaust
survivors and the tenacious investigative skills of a lawyer in
addressing the complexities of Holocaust restitution. The result is
courageous, provocative, and sobering.a
--Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Simon Wiesenthal Center
." . . is valuable as a play-by-play of litigation on the Swiss
banks cases, slave labor, Nazi-looted art and Holocaust-era
insurance policies."
--"Jewish Journal"
"The restitution cases he cites in support of his thesis are
thoroughly researched and Professor Bazyler's argument is
provocative."
--"The Art Newspaper"
"Bazyler writes intelligently and often bends over backward to
give the other side fair representation. But there is no doubt
where he stands."
-- "Hadassah Magazine"
"A book born of passion."--Simon Reich, University of
Pittsburgh
The Holocaust was not only the greatest murder in history; it
was also the greatest theft. Historians estimate that the Nazis
stole roughly $230 billion to $320 billion in assets (figured in
todayas dollars), from the Jews ofEurope. Since the revelations
concerning the wartime activities of the Swiss banks first broke in
the late 1990s, an ever-widening circle of complicity and
wrongdoing against Jews and other victims has emerged in the course
of lawsuits waged by American lawyers. These suits involved German
corporations, French and Austrian banks, European insurance
companies, and double thefts of art--first by the Nazis, and then
by museums and private collectors refusing to give them up. All of
these injustices have come to light thanks to the American legal
system.
Holocaust Justice is the first book to tell the complete story
of the legal campaign, conducted mainly on American soil, to
address these injustices. Michael Bazyler, a legal scholar
specializing in human rights and international law, takes an
in-depth look at the series of lawsuits that gave rise to a
coherent campaign to right historical wrongs. Diplomacy, individual
pleas for justice by Holocaust survivors and various Jewish
organizations for the last fifty years, and even suits in foreign
courts, had not worked. It was only with the intervention of the
American courts that elderly Holocaust survivors and millions of
other wartime victims throughout the world were awarded
compensation, and equally important, acknowledgment of the crimes
committed against them.
The unique features of the American system of justice--which
allowed it to handle claims that originated over fifty years ago
and in another part of the world--made it the only forum in the
world where Holocaust claims could be heard. Without the lawsuits
brought by American lawyers, Bazyler asserts, the claims of the
elderly survivors and their heirs would continue to be ignored.
For the first time in history, European and even American
corporations are now being forced to pay restitution for war crimes
totaling billions of dollars to Holocaust survivors and other
victims. Bazyler deftly tells the unfolding stories: the Swiss
banksa attempt to hide dormant bank accounts belonging to Holocaust
survivors or heirs of those who perished in the war; German private
companies that used slave laborers during World War II--including
American subsidiaries in Germany; Italian, Swiss and German
insurance companies that refused to pay on prewar policies; and the
legal wrangle going on today in American courts over art looted by
the Nazis in wartime Europe. He describes both the human and legal
dramas involved in the struggle for restitution, bringing the
often-forgotten voices of Holocaust survivors to the forefront. He
also addresses the controversial legal and moral issues over
Holocaust restitution and the ethical debates over the distribution
of funds.
With an eye to the future, Bazyler discusses the enduring legacy
of Holocaust restitution litigation, which is already being used as
a model for obtaining justice for historical wrongs on both the
domestic and international stage.
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