There were no death certificates issued at Auschwitz. Nevertheless, Swiss banks still demand them before handing over the assets of account holders killed in the Holocaust to their surviving relatives.

When the Jews of Europe entrusted their families' wealth to what they hoped would be a safe haven – the banks of Switzerland – they were wrong. Millions of dollars, deposited decades ago in good faith by Jews who were to die in the Nazi genocide, still lie in their vaults, earning interest and providing working capital for Swiss banks. However the involvement of neutral Switzerland in the finances of the Third Reich goes far beyond the dispute over dormant accounts. Swiss banks were the key foreign currency providers of the Nazi war machine; they knowingly accepted looted gold, stolen from the national banks of occupied Europe; and they operated an international banking centre for the Third Reich.

Reissued with a new afterword, Adam LeBor reveals the true extent to which Swiss banks collaborated with the Nazi regime and profited from the deaths of millions of Jews.

Extensively researched... LeBor's highly charged work will appeal to readers interested in World War II and will be embraced by Holocaust survivors and their families trying to seek restitution from Switzerland's banks' * Publishers Weekly *

Adam LeBor lives in Budapest and writes for The Economist, Newsweek, New York Times, The Times and other publications. He is the author of a number of works of non-fiction and his book Hitler's Secret Bankers was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. adamlebor.com @adamlebor