GENEVA — Thirty-seven Swiss companies, including Nestle, Roche and Novartis, sought protection from a U.S. court against lawsuits over the possible use of slave labor by German subsidiaries during the Nazi era, documents disclosed Saturday.
A deadline set by the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn prompted the Swiss firms, most of which had been silent on their possible involvement, to come forward, a court-appointed expert said.
According to documents posted on the Internet, Nestle, Roche and Novartis told a U.S. District Court in Brooklyn that subsidiaries they owned in Germany or Nazi-occupied areas during World War II used slave labor.
Other companies said they could rule out any use of slave labor but were signing up anyway — thus gaining protection against separate U.S. lawsuits.
Switzerland was not only a World War II banking center but also a manufacturing base that used its neutrality to deal with both the Nazis and the Allies.
The documents were among the latest additions to an Internet site that advises Holocaust survivors about progress in their $1.25 billion settlement with Swiss banks.
Earlier in the week, special master Judah Gribetz recommended on the site that the bulk of the money should go to Holocaust victims and their heirs who had claims to deposits in Swiss banks. A "special master" is a person appointed by a court to help research a particular question.
Gribetz said former slave laborers — whether or not they worked for Swiss subsidiaries — should receive $500 and $1,000 from the Swiss fund in addition to whatever they obtain from a German fund.
Gribetz said that would save "millions" in administrative costs and spare the former slave laborers from having to determine whether the company they had worked for was Swiss- or German-owned.
He said it was impossible to say how many people had been forced to work for the Swiss subsidiaries. Initial numbers are low, but an estimate of 11,000 "does not appear unreasonable," he added.
In a ruling last July, Judge Edward Korman told Swiss companies seeking release from slave labor claims they should identify themselves to the court within 30 days.
"Chief Judge Korman's order appears to have prompted a great many Swiss corporations to examine the slave labor use of their wartime subsidiaries," Gribetz's report said.
The food giant Nestle identified seven German plants where it understood slave labor was used, Gribetz said. Pharmaceutical group Novartis said it had found two sites owned by its predecessor that had used slave labor.
Engineering and manufacturing conglomerate ABB Ltd., formerly known as Brown Boveri and Cie., identified six subsidiaries that used or possibly used slave labor. The aluminum-manufacturing Alusuisse Group named five German subsidiaries which "employed force laborers assigned to them."
Nestle has taken the lead on the issue, saying last month it was giving about $14 million toward the settlement fund.
"It is either certain or it may be assumed that some corporations of the Nestle Group that were active in countries controlled by the National Socialist (Nazi) regime employed forced laborers," it said.
Novartis and Roche, another drug manufacturer, said this week they, too, would each pay about $14 million into the fund in the expectation it would cover any possible claims against them.
On the Net: www.swissbankclaims.com/index.asp