Switzerland Backs Plan for Holocaust Fund
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BERLIN — The Swiss government Thursday endorsed a proposal to set up a Holocaust memorial fund as quickly as possible to compensate survivors of Nazi death camps and heirs of those who died there.
The decision represented a dramatic reversal by the government less than a month after the country’s outgoing president, Jean-Pascal Delamuraz--in a remark he has since apologized for--said that creating such a fund before all historical evidence is examined would be tantamount to “extortion” and “blackmail.”
The government’s shift in policy followed an appeal by Rainer Gut, chairman of Credit Suisse, for urgent action to resolve the controversy that has seriously damaged Switzerland’s reputation.
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