ABSTRACT
Avraham Burg, head of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem was declaring to Israeli television that there was much more money in the Swiss banks than anyone ever thought. In Israel, Itamar Levin, Deputy Editor of the Israeli business paper Globes began to scour the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem. Although he was using them for his reporting on the issue in Israel, he gladly supplied copies to the Committee. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s during the long and fruitless negotiations with the Swiss, American diplomats and negotiators dealt with the Swiss bankers and diplomats on legal terms. The Swiss government was faced with a proposal by two Swiss parliamentarians, Verena Grendelmeir, a member of the Nationalrat or Lower House, and Otto Piller, a member of the Standerat or Upper House, both friendly to Jewish causes, who became interested in the problem.
