By the Abu Dhabi Times – Special Report from our International Desk
An Israeli mediator says he was handed the keys to Nazi-era numbered accounts. His quest has reopened painful questions about Swiss secrecy, Holocaust-era assets, and what justice still requires — a matter still resonating in the financial corridors of Europe and beyond.
The unlikely emissary
Rabbi Ephraim Meir hardly looks like a man preparing to claim billions. A soft-spoken great-grandfather and scholar, he apologizes for being hard to reach — “kollel in the afternoons, a great-grandson’s upsherin last night,” he explains with a smile.
From a worn briefcase, Meir produces a packet of photocopied bank materials and affidavits. According to his account — first reported by Riva Pomerantz, an investigative journalist with Ami Magazine — the documents trace six numbered Swiss accounts allegedly opened by Nazi affiliates in the late 1930s, later swollen with wartime deposits.
He says the heirs of one account holder legally assigned their rights to him. His plan, he explains, is to channel any recovered funds to Jewish causes —
“to turn treif money into something kosher.”
It is an audacious claim, cutting to the most sensitive corners of European banking secrecy and Holocaust restitution. It also revives longstanding questions about how Swiss institutions handled dormant accounts after World War II, and whether any measure of redress remains possible today.
From mediation to mystery
According to Ami Magazine, Meir, 72, is a German-Israeli citizen and former IDF rabbi who spent decades in education, public affairs, and mediation. In the early 2000s, as Germany transitioned from the Deutschmark to the euro, he established a niche practice resolving contract disputes.
That, he says, was how East German lawyers approached him in 2007 with an improbable proposal: their unnamed clients believed they had ties to Nazi-era funds parked in Swiss banks, and they wanted an Israeli intermediary to help pierce what they described as a “wall of secrecy.”
Meir told Ami Magazine he initially dismissed the notion. Then came faxes — account numbers, passcodes, and a chart showing where records might have migrated as smaller banks were absorbed during postwar consolidations.
A planned collaboration with the late Yaakov Neeman, Israel’s former finance and justice minister, collapsed over conflicts of interest. Intelligence agencies, Meir claims, declined official involvement but did not discourage him.
A meeting at UBS — and a turning point
In March 2009, Meir and German banking lawyer Harald Reichart, who specialized in dormant accounts, managed to secure a meeting at UBS.
They presented archival passbooks and identifiers from East German files. Their question was not “Where is my money?” but rather, “Where are these accounts now?”
As reported by Ami Magazine, a senior UBS lawyer allegedly responded that the accounts had been transferred to the Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT) — the body created after late-1990s U.S. class-action litigation against Swiss banks to process Holocaust-era claims.
To Meir, this was a shocking revelation. The CRT, he argued, existed to handle assets of Nazi victims — not deposits belonging to Nazi functionaries.
UBS, in prior public statements, maintains it has complied with all legal and court-approved restitution processes.
Switzerland’s wartime entanglements — and the CRT
Switzerland’s financial role during the war years remains a source of historical contention. The nation’s neutrality did not prevent its banks and refineries from handling Reich-linked gold, foreign currency, and transactions that indirectly benefited the Nazi regime.
Following revelations in the 1990s — including whistleblower Christoph Meili’s account of document shredding at UBS — Jewish organizations, heirs, and governments demanded transparency. The ensuing 1998 settlement of $1.25 billion funded a court-supervised process to compensate claimants and evaluate dormant accounts through the CRT.
According to Ami Magazine, Meir distinguishes between the original CRT, which he regards as legitimate, and what he calls “CRT-II,” which he alleges was riddled with misconduct: rejected claims without clear justification, mishandled archives, and data manipulation to lower asset valuations.
Much of the documentation remains sealed. U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman ordered certain records closed until 2070, though he noted that credible new evidence could warrant reopening.
The heir, the assignment — and a buried map
To unlock a numbered account today, claimants must identify an owner or beneficiary. Ami Magazine reports that Meir and Reichart spent years tracing this link, ultimately finding Detlev Köhler, the son of a deceased Nazi-era intelligence officer.
In 2023, Köhler and his sister signed documents in Zug, Switzerland, formally assigning all rights to Meir — not merely a power of attorney, but full ownership.
At that same meeting, according to Ami Magazine, a hand-drawn map emerged from a hidden desk compartment — allegedly marking a tunnel near Buchenwald where valuables were buried. German authorities, Meir says, have granted limited permission to conduct safety surveys ahead of possible excavation.
What recovery might look like
UBS has, according to Ami Magazine, rebuffed all contact since 2009. Meir now outlines a multi-track strategy if negotiations fail.
One path is the creation of a new, transparent tribunal — a “third CRT” — run pro bono, under judicial oversight, to adjudicate dormant Jewish accounts with full discovery rights.
Another involves potential litigation in the United States, seeking discovery orders and possible asset freezes tied to alleged concealment of dormant accounts. In parallel, Meir says he is exploring diplomatic avenues to encourage Swiss authorities to revisit the issue.
Separately, Meir’s attorney, Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik, told Ami Magazine that UBS’s 2023 acquisition of Credit Suisse consolidates stewardship of decades of merged institutions — and, with it, moral and legal responsibility to clarify the origins of all inherited assets.
“They will need to open the books,” Podovsovnik said.
A plan for the money — and unresolved questions
If successful, Meir says he intends to dedicate the recovered funds entirely to charitable and religious causes. Among his pledges: to donate 18 Torah scrolls in memory of victims of the 2008 Merkaz HaRav attack, which coincided with his first meeting at UBS.
He insists his own life will remain modest.
But legal hurdles are immense. Even with a valid heir’s assignment, courts would need to verify ownership chains, trace the accounts through decades of mergers, and determine whether past settlements preclude reopening.
For many families seeking restitution, the stakes are moral as much as financial — demanding transparency about the fates of assets that vanished amid Europe’s darkest years.
The broader reckoning
As Ami Magazine observes, Meir’s case reopens unresolved questions about Swiss neutrality, banking secrecy, and the postwar handling of dormant assets.
It revives moral tensions between secrecy and accountability, legal closure and ethical restitution — between what the archives might still reveal, and what time and shredders have erased.
“Justice has a long memory,” Meir said. “If the doors won’t open, we’ll knock through the courts.”
Whether those doors lead to dormant accounts — or merely another cycle of litigation — remains to be seen.
Contact for Holocaust-era account claims
(as published in Ami Magazine, October 1, 2025)
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik, LL.M., M.A.S.
Vice President, AEA Justinian Lawyers
📧 office@drlaw.eu | 📞 +43 664 110 3403
Legal notice & source attribution
This article draws upon and quotes Ami Magazine’s “Nazis, Swiss Banks, & the Jewish Money that Vanished,”
published October 1, 2025, by journalist Riva Pomerantz.
All factual claims concerning Rabbi Ephraim Meir, UBS, Credit Suisse, the Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT), or related events originate from that publication and are attributed accordingly.
The Abu Dhabi Times has not independently verified sealed or disputed records.
Historical information regarding the Swiss Banks Holocaust Settlement is publicly available via the Claims Conference and U.S. District Court filings related to the 1998 settlement.
This report is presented for international journalistic analysis under UAE and EU press freedom standards. The Abu Dhabi Times makes no independent allegations of criminal or civil wrongdoing.
Editor’s Note
This investigation draws upon documents and accounts provided by sources named herein, as well as prior published reporting from Ami Magazine (October 1, 2025). Several claims remain disputed or could not be independently verified. Where necessary, we attribute allegations to the individuals making them or to Ami Magazine’s reporting.
