“At Last, the Truth Is Coming to Light”
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik on the Full Senate Hearing of February 3, 2026
Abu Dhabi Times:
Dr. Podovsovnik, on February 3, 2026, a full hearing of the U.S. Senate on Nazis and Swiss banks will take place. Why is this hearing historic from your perspective?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
Because, for the first time, what has been known for decades but systematically suppressed is being openly stated at the highest parliamentary level of the United States: Swiss banks collaborated extensively with the Nazi regime.
This hearing marks the point at which decades of denial, trivialization, and stonewalling can no longer be sustained. At last, the truth is coming to light.
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Abu Dhabi Times:
You speak of systematic collaboration. Can you be more specific?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
Yes. While Jews in the Third Reich effectively faced the death penalty for attempting capital flight, tens of thousands of accounts were opened at what was then Credit Suisse alone—and, based on what we know today, not with symbolic amounts, but with assets plausibly amounting to several hundred thousand euros per account.
Anyone who dismisses these sums as “peanuts” is repeating precisely the same defensive narratives publicly voiced by leading representatives of Swiss banks in the 1970s and 1980s—narratives that have since been shown to be objectively false.
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Abu Dhabi Times:
Do you see parallels to later undeclared or “black money” accounts?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
Absolutely. The mechanism is comparable: decades of secrecy, systematic shielding from authorities, and disclosure only once political pressure became overwhelming—for example, in the context of tax amnesties.
The only difference is this: we are not talking about tax evasion here, but about assets originating from persecution, expropriation, and murder.
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Abu Dhabi Times:
What role does Basel play in this context?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
A central one. Especially in the border regions adjacent to Germany, and particularly in Basel, the historical burden is especially severe.
My client, Rabbi Ephraim Meir, has been seeking for years the opening of the archives of the Basel banks—above all those of the Basler Handelsbank. To this day, these archives remain closed.
Instead of transparency, we encounter the same recurring pattern: claims that the accounts “cannot be found.”
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Abu Dhabi Times:
Is this behavior new?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
No. It is documented. The Bergier Report, published around the year 2000, already clearly demonstrated that Swiss banks engaged in coordinated stonewalling.
It explicitly records that agreements existed to jointly fend off legitimate claims, with the Swiss Bankers Association identified as playing a leading role.
This conduct has not changed to this day.
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Abu Dhabi Times:
What are your concrete demands following the U.S. Senate’s disclosures?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
Our demands are clear, legally sound, and non-negotiable:
First: The complete opening of all archives of all Swiss banks.
Second: Authorization of independent investigations, in particular into the holdings of the Basler Handelsbank.
Third: Full cost coverage by UBS Group AG, including all legal, expert, and forensic expenses.
Fourth: Restitution of withheld assets and properly reconciled accounts.
We and our international teams stand ready at any time to conduct these investigations.
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Abu Dhabi Times:
Why is the current investigation of Credit Suisse insufficient?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
Because it is incomplete. Credit Suisse represents only one part of the system.
All Jewish organizations support these efforts, because it is clear: without the fullopening of the archives of all institutions, any investigation remains fragmented and politically inadequate.
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Abu Dhabi Times:
What is the concrete significance of the February 3, 2026 hearing?
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik:
It is a turning point—not symbolic, but factual.
The fact that senior executives of UBS, together with international Holocaust organizations and an independent ombudsperson, must testify before the U.S. Senate demonstrates one thing clearly: the era of evasion is over.
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Hearing Facts (for publication)
FULL COMMITTEE HEARING
The Truth Revealed: Hidden Facts Regarding Nazis and Swiss Banks
• Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2026
• Time: 10:15 a.m.
• Location: Hart Senate Office Building, Room 216
Witnesses (selection):
• Neil Barofsky – Independent Ombudsperson
• Rabbi Abraham Cooper – Simon Wiesenthal Center
• Barbara Levi – Group General Counsel, UBS Group AG
• Robert Karofsky – Co-President, Global Wealth Management, UBS Americas
Letters of support from numerous Jewish, interfaith, and civil society organizations have been submitted to the Committee.
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Closing Statement by Dr. Podovsovnik:
“It is time for Swiss banks to assume responsibility—not with words, but with open archives, transparency, and restitution. Anything else is history, in the worst sense of the word.”
