Bank deposits untouched since World War II

Huge Response to Holocaust Accounts Adverts

The list of nearly 2,000 non-Swiss account holders was published in newspapers around the world, and also registered on a Web site which has received 1.8 million hits, according to the Association.

1.8 million hits

The Bankers' Association says there have also been thousands of telephone calls to the help lines it has set up.

The banks are trying to trace the heirs to accounts worth more than $40 million. Most of them are thought to have been deposited by Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust.

But if all those seeking information are hoping to find a long-lost bank account, then most will be disappointed. The list published by the banks contains just 1,750 accounts, together worth about $42 million.

Not all the accounts belong to concentration camp victims

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Vienna, which hunts Nazi war criminals, has said it has already identified at least nine account holders as people thought to have been Nazis or collaborators.

The banks have said that built-in safety checks in the restitution process will prevent war criminals from claiming the contents of an account.

Jewish groups have welcomed the publication of the list, although many have pointed out that had the Swiss banks been more active in trying to trace their clients after the Second World War, then many people might have got their money many years ago.

Swiss Bankers' Association web site

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