ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997 TAG: 9702270068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BONN, GERMANY
SOURCE: Associated Press
After 18 months of tortuous and sometimes secret negotiations, the Swiss government agreed Wednesday to share control with leading Jewish groups of a Holocaust memorial fund set up after criticism of Switzerland's financial dealings with Nazi Germany.
The decision was announced in Bern, the Swiss capital, by Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti. It represents a further shift away from events late last year when a high Swiss official rejected all talk of a Holocaust compensation fund as ``extortion and blackmail'' by American Jewish groups.
The shift illuminated Switzerland's worries that adverse publicity concerning both its gold trading with Nazi Germany during World War II and its obstructive postwar attitude toward claims on dormant Jewish-owned bank accounts would seriously damage its banking industry.
- The New York Times
LENGTH: Short : 28 linesby CNB