ABSTRACT
The lawsuit was an in-depth and historically detailed account of the role Swiss banks played in helping the Nazis by acting as their bankers and by accepting funds from companies using slave labor in the concentration camps. The banks’ lawyers sought a dismissal of the suit on a variety of grounds, chief among them, jurisdiction. They picked away at the composition of the plaintiffs’ citizenship as well as the venue of the case. A number of associate lawyers at the firm, nevertheless remained angry over the decision, but fearing for their futures at the firm, remained quiet. D’Amato wrote that only through a hearing in a United States Court would address the issue of “whether Swiss banks violated the laws of the United States and fundamental international human rights laws with regard to their banking activities between 1939 and 1945.”.
