A 72-year-old Israeli rabbi claims he has uncovered access to secret Nazi-era Swiss bank accounts — a revelation that could reopen one of the most sensitive chapters in Europe’s financial and moral history. His investigation challenges decades of Swiss secrecy and the unfinished business of Holocaust restitution.
The Rabbi Who Would Uncover the Past
Rabbi Ephraim Meir appears more scholar than sleuth. A German-Israeli rabbi, soft-spoken and precise, he carries himself with the quiet dignity of a teacher, not a man claiming control of billions. Yet inside his weathered leather briefcase, he says, are documents tracing six numbered Swiss bank accounts dating back to the 1930s.
According to Riva Pomerantz, an investigative journalist with Ami Magazine, those accounts were opened by Nazi affiliates and expanded through wartime transactions. The heirs of one of the account holders, Meir claims, have formally transferred their ownership rights to him.
His stated mission: to direct any recovered funds to religious and humanitarian causes — “to turn treif money into something kosher.”
The claim, if substantiated, would pierce the wall of Swiss financial secrecy and reignite international debate about what became of the wealth that vanished in Europe’s darkest decade.
From East German Archives to the Alps
As Ami Magazine reports, Meir’s story begins in 2007, when East German lawyers contacted him about clients who believed their families had ties to Nazi-era funds hidden in Switzerland. They sought an Israeli mediator to navigate what they described as a “system built to forget.”
Initially skeptical, Meir declined. But then came the faxes — bank identifiers, account codes, and archival notes hinting at accounts absorbed during postwar consolidations.
A proposed collaboration with Israel’s former finance minister Yaakov Neeman fell apart due to conflicts of interest. Still, Meir pressed forward. Israeli intelligence agencies, he says, declined formal involvement but did not discourage him.
The 2009 UBS Encounter
In March 2009, Meir and German banking attorney Harald Reichart — a specialist in dormant accounts — secured a meeting at UBS in Zurich. They presented historical identifiers from East German files and requested to know what had become of the accounts.
According to Ami Magazine, a senior UBS official responded that the assets had been transferred to the Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT) — the body established after U.S. class-action lawsuits in the late 1990s to process Holocaust-related accounts.
To Meir, that statement raised alarm bells. The CRT, he argues, was designed to compensate Holocaust victims — not to store funds belonging to Nazi affiliates.
UBS maintains that it has fully complied with all court-ordered and international restitution agreements. The Union Mirror has not independently verified the alleged meeting or the existence of the accounts described.
Switzerland’s Wartime Balancing Act
Though neutral during World War II, Switzerland’s financial system served as a quiet conduit for Reich-linked gold and foreign currency. Its vaults became both a refuge and a repository for assets moving through occupied Europe.
The moral reckoning began decades later, when UBS whistleblower Christoph Meili exposed the destruction of wartime documents. The scandal led to the 1998 $1.25 billion settlement and the creation of the Claims Resolution Tribunal, which investigated dormant Holocaust-era accounts.
Meir, however, distinguishes between the tribunal’s original work and what he calls “CRT-II” — a later iteration he claims mishandled archives, rejected legitimate claims, and obscured data to minimize payouts.
Much of the CRT’s documentation remains sealed until 2070 under an order by U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman, who has indicated cases could be reopened if new, credible evidence surfaces.
The Heir, the Rights, and the Map
According to Ami Magazine, Meir and Reichart spent years tracing human connections to the accounts, eventually locating Detlev Köhler, son of a Nazi-era intelligence officer.
In 2023, Köhler and his sister allegedly met Meir in Zug, Switzerland, and signed a transfer granting him full ownership rights. It was, Meir says, a symbolic handover as much as a legal one — turning an inheritance of secrecy into a pursuit of restitution.
During that meeting, the siblings also revealed a hidden discovery: a hand-drawn map found in an old desk, allegedly showing a tunnel near Buchenwald, believed to conceal buried valuables. German authorities have authorized preliminary surveys of the area.
The Union Mirror could not independently verify these details.
A New Push for Transparency
After UBS declined further engagement, Meir proposed creating a “third CRT” — an independent, pro bono tribunal to adjudicate unresolved accounts with full public oversight.
His attorney, Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik of AEA Justinian Lawyers, argues that UBS’s 2023 acquisition of Credit Suisse combines decades of financial history — and therefore, accountability.
“They will need to open the books,” Podovsovnik said in Ami Magazine.
Meir is also exploring U.S. legal channels for discovery orders and asset tracing, alongside diplomatic outreach to Swiss regulators for cooperation.
If Justice Is Found
If successful, Meir says any recovered funds will fund religious education and humanitarian causes. Among his commitments is the donation of 18 Torah scrolls in memory of victims of the 2008 Merkaz HaRav attack — a date that coincided with his first UBS meeting.
He insists that his personal lifestyle will remain unchanged. But even with an heir’s transfer of rights, his case faces daunting obstacles: verifying account ownership, navigating decades of mergers, and challenging settled international agreements.
For many descendants of Holocaust victims, the issue is no longer financial — it’s about truth, accountability, and acknowledgment.
“Justice Has a Long Memory”
As Ami Magazine observes, Meir’s story reopens a moral fault line — between secrecy and justice, neutrality and complicity, closure and truth.
“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 more unanswered questions remains to be seen.
Contact for Holocaust-Era Account Claims
Dr. Gerhard Podovsovnik, LL.M., M.A.S.
Vice President, AEA Justinian Lawyers
📧 office@drlaw.eu | 📞 +43 664 110 3403
Editor’s Note
This article summarizes and quotes from Ami Magazine’s investigative feature “Nazis, Swiss Banks & the Jewish Money That Vanished” (October 1, 2025) by Riva Pomerantz.
All factual claims regarding Rabbi Ephraim Meir, UBS, Credit Suisse, and the Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT) are attributed to that publication.
The Union Mirror has not independently verified sealed or disputed records.
Historical background on the Swiss Banks Holocaust Settlement is publicly available through the Claims Conference and U.S. District Court filings related to the 1998 settlement.
This article is published for journalistic analysis and commentary under international fair use and press freedom standards. The Union Mirror makes no independent allegations of wrongdoing.
