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See also the following sections of this website:

• Lawsuits & regulatory action against companies

Websites:

Austrian bank claims website

Corporations and Cooperation with the Nazis (Holocaust History Project)

Financial Compensation for Nazi Slave Laborers website (ReligiousTolerance.org)

German Economy Foundation Initiative website {···deutsch}

GIRCA - Gypsy International Recognition and Compensation Action

Holocaust Claims Processing Office of the New York State Banking Department website

Holocaust Litigation (including German Slave/Forced Labor) (Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll law firm)

Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation (Swiss Banks) website {···other languages}

A Search For Justice [website about the progress of European banks and companies in returning World War II-era funds deposited by Holocaust victims and their families, and restitution for slave and forced labour during World War II] (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Treasury Department)

Vatican Bank Claims: Restitution & justice for atrocity and concentration camp survivors of Serb, Jewish and Ukrainian background and their relatives (Law Offices of California Attorneys, Thomas Dewey Easton & Jonathan H Levy)

Other materials:

2003:

Insurance firms open way for Holocaust claims - The names of 363,000 victims of the Holocaust will be published on the Internet today by German life insurance companies, enabling relatives to lodge claims worth millions of pounds on policies buried in archives for more than half a century. (Roger Boyes, Times [UK], 30 Apr. 2003)

• The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims

• {···español} Comisión Internacional para reclamaciones de seguro la era del Holocausto

• {···français} Commission internationale pour les demandes d'indemnisation de l’époque de l’Holocauste

• German insurers show 363,232 victims' names - After years of delay, German insurance companies are making public the names of 363,232 victims of the Holocaust who were covered by life insurance policies but whose records were previously sealed...American experts on the Holocaust, insurance experts and lawyers representing Holocaust victims hailed the publication of the names, but said the names of hundreds of thousands of other Holocaust-era policy holders across Europe remained concealed in company files. (Joseph B. Treaster, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2003)

• Holocaust Insurance: Names of 363,232 Holocaust-era life insurance policyholders being made public (AP, 29 Apr. 2003)

Wells Fargo waffles on Holocaust fund - Wells Fargo & Co. reversed itself Tuesday and said it will contribute $267,000 to a war-reparations fund being created under a settlement last year between Belgium's Jewish community and its banking industry..."We sincerely apologize to the Jewish community and deeply regret any misunderstanding that our original decision may have caused," Kovacevich said. "We abhor the crimes of the Holocaust because it represents the worst form of discrimination and violation of basic human rights."...Of the 22 banks named in the $59 million settlement, Wells had been the only one to refuse to pay its assessment, arguing that it shouldn't be held responsible for the wartime actions of a Belgian bank to which it had only a tenuous connection. (Press Democrat, 12 Mar. 2003)

• Wells Fargo does an about face; will pay Belgian Holocaust survivors (AP, 12 Mar. 2003)

Japanese court tosses forced labor suit - A court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit by a group of Chinese who sought compensation from the Japanese government and 10 companies for allegedly using them as slave laborers during World War II...All but one of the 10 companies being sued - Hazama Corp., Furukawa Co., Tekken Corp., Nishimatsu Construction, Ube Industries, Dowa Mining, Nittetsu Mining, Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Tobishima and Japan Energy Corp. - are publicly listed. (Kenji Hall, Associated Press, 11 Mar. 2003)

• Court throws out Chinese wartime slave labor claim - A claim for compensation from the Japanese government and 10 companies filed by 42 Chinese people who said they were submitted to forced labor during World War II was Tuesday rejected by the Tokyo District Court. (Mainichi Shimbun, 11 Mar. 2003)

Court rejects forced labor suits by Chinese [Japan] - The Kyoto District Court on Wednesday rejected a suit filed by former Chinese laborers and bereaved family members seeking compensation from a major stainless steel producer and the central government for forcibly bringing them to Japan and making them work in nickel mines in Kyoto Prefecture during World War II. (Kyodo News, 15 Jan. 2003)

2002:

Court rejects S Koreans' claim over forced labor [Japan] - The Osaka High Court on Tuesday upheld a district court ruling rejecting a compensation claim filed by two South Korean men [against Nippon Steel] over their forced labor in Osaka during World War II. (Kyodo News, 20 Nov. 2002)

Bertelsmann offers regret for its Nazi-era conduct - The German media conglomerate Bertelsmann expressed regret today for its conduct under the Nazis, and for later efforts to cover it up, as a group of scholars issued an extensive report documenting the company's collaboration. (Mark Landler, New York Times, in Financial Times, 9 Oct. 2002)

• Channel 5 owner [Bertelsmann] admits profiting from Nazi era -...an investigation by the company has found that it worked hand-in-glove with the Third Reich, made profits from publishing anti-Semitic works and used Jewish slave labourers. (John Hooper, Guardian [UK], 9 Oct. 2002)

• Bertelsmann admits Nazi past (BBC News, 8 Oct. 2002)

Davis Signs WWII Guest Workers' Bill [USA] - Gov. Gray Davis [of California] signed legislation Sunday to give Mexican workers more time to recover wages they say were denied them when they came to the United States to work during World War II...The law is intended to help "braceros," the more than 300,000 Mexican farm workers who were contracted by the U.S. government to relieve the labor shortage during World War II...The guest workers and their heirs in 2001 sued the U.S. and Mexican governments and Wells Fargo Bank to recover the money. A U.S. District Court judge dismissed much of the suit in August, but workers' attorneys say they will continue to try to pursue the case. (Louise Chu, AP, 29 Sep. 2002)

Bayer and the UN Global Compact - How and Why a Major Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company "Bluewashes" its Image -...Bayer's use of the Global Compact is a classic case of "bluewash" -- using the good reputation of the United Nations to present a corporate humanitarian image without a commitment to changing real-world behavior [includes reference to conduct during World Wars I and II, pesticide & environmental issues] (Philipp Mimkes, Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, Corpwatch website, 19 July 2002)

• Why Bayer's Corporate Image May Need a Face Lift [sections entitled "Biotech Controversy"; "Didn't Pull HIV Infected Products From the Market"; "Tried to Suppress Cheaper Generics"] (Phillipp Mimkes, Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, Corpwatch website, 19 July 2002)

• company website: Bayer AG 

Belgium agrees Jewish compensation package - Representatives of the Jewish community in Belgium have signed a compensation deal worth $45m for property seized or lost during the Nazi occupation...The money is being paid by the Belgian Government, insurance companies and the central bank. Negotiations are still continuing over a separate agreement with private banks. (BBC News, 27 June 2002)

• Belgium to Pay $55 Million to Jews (Associated Press, 27 June 2002)

Former Chinese war slaves appeal lower court ruling [Japan] - Fifteen Chinese men who were forced to work in coal mines here during World War II appealed a lower court ruling Thursday at the Fukuoka High Court that ordered Mitsui Mining Co. -- but not the government -- to pay them compensation (Japan Times, 10 May 2002)

Forced laborers win suit: Mitsui Mining ordered to pay 165 million yen [Japan] - The Fukuoka District Court on Friday ordered Mitsui Mining Co. to pay 165 million yen in damages to 15 Chinese men who were forcibly brought to Japan as slave laborers during World War II. (Japan Times, 27 Apr. 2002)

• Mitsui case breaks new ground for wartime redress [Japan] (Hiroshi Matsubara, Japan Times, 27 Apr. 2002)

• company website: IBM (IBM)

Roma groups take IBM to court: A Geneva-based Gypsy organisation has officially launched legal action against the American multinational, IBM, for its alleged role in the Holocaust (Roy Probert, swissinfo/Radio Swiss International, 31 Jan. 2002)

• The legal action against IBM has been lodged by GIRCA in front of the Geneva First Instance Court on January 31st, 2002. Its goal is to make Swiss Courts recognize the complicity of IBM with the crimes against humanity committed between 1933 and 1945. (GIRCA - Gypsy International Recognition and Compensation Action, 31 Jan. 2002)

• Gypsies ask IBM for Holocaust reparation: A Geneva-based Gypsy - or Roma - organisation is planning to sue the technology giant IBM over its alleged role in aiding the Nazi Holocaust (BBC News, 10 June 2001)

• company website: IBM (IBM)

Dutch process Holocaust claims: Dutch authorities have begun processing the final claims for compensation for people whose belongings were stolen by the Nazis. The government and financial institutions are paying $6,000 each to Holocaust survivors and their descendents in order to make reparations...In 1997, the Dutch government, the Amsterdam stock exchange, and banks and insurance companies funded this scheme to the tune of more than $200m. (Geraldine Coughlan, BBC News, 3 Jan. 2002)

Corporate Complicity From Nuremberg to Rangoon: An Examination of Forced Labor Cases and Their Impact on the Liability of Multinational Corporations - Abstract: The article looks at nature and degree of complicity that gives rise to liability on the part of multinational corporations (MNCs) that operate in countries with repressive regimes. Specifically, it examines lawsuits in United States against these MNCs for violations of public international law under the federal Alien Torts Claim Act (ATCA). It also views the historical origins of corporate complicity, and examines the outcomes of British and American war crimes tribunal set up after the Second World War. Further, the article compares and contrasts these historical cases with the recent case brought in the federal district court against Unocal Corporation for alleged use of force labor in its pipeline project in Burma. (Professor Anita Ramasastry, University of Washington School of Law, in Berkeley Journal of International Law, vol. 20 no. 1, 2002)

Fifty Years in the Making: World War II Reparation and Restitution Claims [includes articles about claims against companies] - The Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium 2001 (Berkeley Journal of International Law, vol. 20, no. 1, 2002)

2001:

Ford Releases Nazi Labor Report Ford: Study of German Subsidiary in World War II Shows Company Didn't Profit From Slave Labor - The 144-page report commissioned by Ford said the company lost communication with and operational control over Ford-Werke AG after the Nazi government seized the subsidiary's assets in 1941. (David Runk, Associated Press, 6 Dec. 2001)

• Ford Denies Nazi-Era Profit Claims: Ford Motor Co., whose founder was admired by Adolf Hitler and notorious for his anti-Semitic views, sought on Thursday to lay to rest long-standing claims that it profited from the Nazi war machine and the use of forced labor in Germany during World War Two. (Tom Brown, Reuters, 6 Dec. 2001)

• company press release: Ford issues report on Ford-Werke under the Nazi regime (Ford Motor Company, 6 Dec. 2001)

• full report by company: Research Findings About Ford-Werke Under the Nazi Regime (Ford Motor Company, 6 Dec. 2001)

Holocaust Restitution in the United States and Other Claims For Historical Wrongs - An Update [includes updates on human rights-related lawsuits against Credit Suisse, Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation, German & Austrian banks, French banks, Barclays Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan, European insurance companies, Ford Motor Co., German corporations including Degussa and Siemens; Japanese corporations including Nippon Sharyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Nippon Steel; New York Life Insurance Co.] (Michael J. Bazyler, Professor of Law at Whittier Law School, in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

IBM must apologize and open its archives: My book, IBM and the Holocaust, documents IBM's strategic business and consultative alliance with Nazi Germany beginning at the first moment of the Hitler regime in 1933 and continuing right into the war. It was this joint planning and custom production of billions of punch cards per year that endowed the Third Reich with the technology it needed to dramatically accelerate and automate all phases of its Jewish persecution. (Edwin Black, in Star-Telegram [Fort Worth, Texas], 22 Oct. 2001)

Enforcing international humanitarian law: Catching the accomplices - Literally within days of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the end of the Rome Conference in July 1998 the Financial Times...published an article warning "commercial lawyers" that the treaty's accomplice liability provision "could create international criminal liability for employees, officers and directors of corporations"...The Financial Times was therefore quite right to warn business executives that a new world was dawning with the adoption of the Rome Statute. (William A. Schabas, Professor of Human Rights Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, in International Review of the Red Cross No.42, 29 June 2001)

Nazis' forced labourers to get payments (John Hooper, Guardian [UK], 31 May 2001) 

IBM and the Holocaust (book review by Christopher Simpson, International Herald Tribune, 31 Mar. 2001)

Anti-IBM Suit [alleging the company aided Nazi Germany] Will Be Dropped (International Herald Tribune, 30 Mar. 2001)

Punch Cards and Persecution: A New Look at IBM and the Holocaust (Michael Dobbs, Washington Post Service, International Herald Tribune, 12 Feb. 2001)

IBM's guilty past (Edwin Black, The Sunday Times, 11 Feb. 2001)

IBM link to Final Solution revealed (Tom Rhodes, The Sunday Times, 11 Feb. 2001)

2000:

Senate urges government to negotiate for World War II prisoners [regarding lawsuits against Japanese companies] (Associated Press, CNN.com, 1 Nov. 2000)

U.S. Litigation Concerning Japanese Forced Labor in World War II (David Caron and Adam Schneider, ASIL Insight, American Society of International Law, Oct. 2000)

Swiss firms seek protection against Nazi slave labor lawsuits (Alexander Higgins, Associated Press, 17 Sep. 2000)

Spotlight turns to U.S. behavior in Nazi era (Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press, 28 Aug. 2000)

German Slave and Forced Labor Settlement (Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll law firm, July 2000)

Germany Signs Historic Slave Fund Deal (Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll law firm, July 2000)

Slave Wages: Those forced to labor for Japan in World War II are now suing in California courts (Bernice Yeung, SFWeekly.com, 5 July 2000)

U.S. firms plan fund for victims of Hitler: Move partly aimed at heading off lawsuits (Joseph Kahn, New York Times News Service, Chicago Tribune, 30 April 2000)

Chamber of Commerce [U.S.] sets up fund for Nazi forced labor (Associated Press, The Holland Sentinel, 30 April 2000)

Lawsuits to seek billions in compensation from Japanese corporations that used slave laborers during WWII (PR Newswire, 22 Feb. 2000)

Ford and the Führer: New Documents Reveal the Close Ties Between Dearborn and the Nazis (Ken Silverstein, The Nation, 24 Jan. 2000)

1999:

Breakthrough: $5.2 Billion Settlement Reached in Nazi Slave Labor Case (Burt Herman, Associated Press, 15 Dec. 1999)

The Ford Motor Company and The Third Reich (Simon Reich, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, Dec. 1999, Anti-Defamation League)

Frederick Flick's Opportunism and Expediency (L.M. Stallbaumer, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, Dec. 1999, Anti-Defamation League)

German Industry and the Third Reich: Fifty Years of Forgetting and Remembering (S. Jonathan Wiesen, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, Dec. 1999, Anti-Defamation League)

Big Business and the Holocaust (Karen Friedman, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, Dec. 1999, Anti-Defamation League)

Economic Report on Slave/Forced Labor by Nathan Associates (Nathan Associates, 1999)

Headaches for Bayer: Auschwitz Survivor Says Pharmaceutical Giant Aided Nazis (ABCNEWS.com, 11 June 1999)

Who will reap the Nazi-era reparations? Distributing the funds: Justice for victims merely starts with corporate payments (Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, 10 Feb. 1999)

1998:

Chase, J.P. Morgan Named in Holocaust Lawsuit (Associated Press, 23 Dec. 1998)

Corporations and Conscience (editorial, New York Times, 6 Dec. 1998)

GM, Ford deny collaboration with Nazis during WWII (CNN, 30 Nov. 1998)

Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration (Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, 30 Nov. 1998)

• Response to Washington Post article by General Motors (General Motors, 14 Dec. 1998)