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Bergier Commission
The Bergier commission in Bern was formed by the Swiss government on 12 December 1996 in the wake of the then ongoing World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks accused of withholding valuables belonging to Holocaust victims. It is also known as the ICE (Independent Commission of Experts) or UEK (abbreviated from its German name, Unabhängige Expertenkommission). Founded in a decade when Switzerland had come under recurring criticism for its behaviour during World War II, particularly with respect to its relations with the Nazi government in Germany, the commission was established by the Swiss Parliament and headed by Jean-François Bergier, an economic historian. Made up of Polish, American, Israeli and Swiss historians, the commission's mandate was to investigate the volume and fate of assets moved to Switzerland before, during, and immediately after the Second World War. The investigation was to be made from a historical and legal point of view, with a particular empha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has governmental institutions such as the Federal Assembly (Switzerland), Federal Assembly and Federal Council (Switzerland), Federal Council. However, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, Federal Supreme Court is in Lausanne, the Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland, Federal Criminal Court is in Bellinzona and the Federal Administrative Court (Switzerland), Federal Administrative Court and the Federal Patent Court (Switzerland), Federal Patent Court are in St. Gallen, exemplifying the federal nature of the Confederation. With a population of about 146,000 (), Bern is the List of cities in Switzerland, fifth-most populous city in Switzerland, behind Zürich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private International Law
Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction."Conflict of Laws", ''Black's Law Dictionary'' (11th ed. 2019). This body of law deals with three broad topics: ''jurisdiction'', rules regarding when it is appropriate for a court to hear such a case; ''foreign judgments'', dealing with the rules by which a court in one jurisdiction mandates compliance with a ruling of a court in another jurisdiction; and '' choice of law'', which addresses the question of which substantive laws will be applied in such a case.Restatement of the Law—Conflict of Laws, ''§2: Subject Matter of Conflict of Laws'' (American Law Institute 1971). These issues can arise in any private law context, but they are especially prevalent in contract law and tort law. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as a United States senator from 1985 to 1993 and as a member of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1985, in which he represented Tennessee. Gore was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets, nominee for president of the United States in the 2000 United States presidential election, 2000 presidential election, which he lost to George W. Bush despite winning the Direct election, popular vote. The son of politician Albert Gore Sr., Gore was an elected official for 24 years. He was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Tennessee (1977–1985) and, from 1985 to 1993, served as a United States Senate, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truth And Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid. Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu, the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation was established in 2000 as the successor organisation of the TRC. Creation and mandate The TRC was set up in terms of the ''Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act'', No. 34 of 1995, and was based in Cape Town. The hearings started in 1996. The mandate of the commission was to bear witness to, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, as well as offering reparat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Assembly (Switzerland)
The Federal Assembly, also known as the Swiss Parliament, is the federal bicameral parliament of Switzerland. It comprises the 200-seat National Council and the 46-seat Council of States. It meets in Bern in the Federal Palace. The houses have identical powers. Members of both houses represent the cantons, but, whereas seats in the National Council are distributed in proportion to population, each canton has two seats in the Council of States, except the six ' half-cantons', which have one seat each. Both are elected in full once every four years, with the last election being held in 2023. The Federal Assembly possesses the federal government's legislative power, along with the separate constitutional right of citizen's initiative. For a law to pass, it must be passed by both houses. The two houses may come together as a United Federal Assembly in certain circumstances, such as to elect the Federal Council (the head of government and state), the Federal Chancellor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 62 members of the National Council and 6 of the Council of States. The SVP originated in 1971 as a merger of the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB) and the Democratic Party, while the BGB, in turn, had been founded in the context of the emerging local farmers' parties in the late 1910s. The SVP initially did not enjoy any increased support beyond that of the BGB, retaining around 11% of the vote through the 1970s and 1980s. This changed however during the 1990s, when the party underwent deep structural and ideological changes under the influence of Christoph Blocher; the SVP then became the strongest party in Switzerland by the 2000s. In line with the changes fostered by Blocher, the party s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Tannenbaum
Operation Tannenbaum ("Fir Tree"), known earlier as Operation Grün ("Green"), was a planned invasion of Switzerland and Liechtenstein by the Axis Powers during World War II. Background Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler made repeated assurances that Germany would respect Swiss neutrality in the event of a conflict in Europe. In February 1937, he assured the Swiss Federal Councillor Edmund Schulthess that "at all times, whatever happens, we will respect the inviolability and neutrality of Switzerland", reiterating this promise shortly before the German invasion of Poland. These were, however, purely political maneuvers intended to guarantee Switzerland's passivity. Nazi Germany planned to end Switzerland's independence after it had defeated its enemies on the continent. Nazi attitudes towards Switzerland In a meeting held with Fascist Italy's leader, Benito Mussolini, and foreign minister, Galeazzo Ciano, in June 1941, Hitler stated his opinion on Swit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Neuchâtel
The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) is a French-speaking public research university in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The university has four faculties (schools) and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, law and economics. The Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, with 2,000 students, is the largest school of those that comprise the University of Neuchâtel. The university has an annual budget of CHF 144 million and an annual research fund of CHF 40 million. Approximately 4,000 students, including 600 PhD students attend the university, and more than 600 diplomas, licences, doctorates and certificates are awarded each year. The university has more than 1,100 employees. History The University of Neuchâtel superseded the Academy, which was created in 1838 by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, Prince of Neuchâtel. It awarded licentiate academic degrees in arts and sciences. In 1848, the Grand Council decreed the closing of the academy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities in the world to be in continuous operation. As of fall 2017, about 15,000 students and 3,300 employees studied and worked at the university. Approximately 1,500 international students attend the university (120 nationalities), which has a wide curriculum including exchange programs with other universities. Together with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) the university forms a vast campus at the shores of Lake Geneva. History The university was founded in 1537 as the ''Schola Lausannensis'', one year after Bern annexed the territory of Barony of Vaud from the Duchy of Savoy, as a school of theology with the purpose of training pastors for the church. It enjoyed great renown in its early years for being the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Werner Best
Karl Rudolf Werner Best (10 July 1903 – 23 June 1989) was a German jurist, police chief, SS-''Obergruppenführer'', Nazi Party leader, and theoretician from Darmstadt. He was the first chief of Department 1 of the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's secret police, and initiated a registry of all Jews in Germany. As a deputy of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Reinhard Heydrich, he organized the SS-''Einsatzgruppen'' paramilitary death squads that carried out mass-murder in Nazi-occupied territories. Best served in the German military occupation administration of France (1940–1942) and then became the civilian administrator of occupied Denmark (1942–1945). Convicted of war crimes in Denmark, he was released from prison in 1951. Following his release, Best campaigned for amnesty for Nazi war criminals and against the abolition of the statute of limitations. He escaped further prosecution in West Germany in 1972 due to ill health and died in 1989, aged 85. Early life Werner Best was born on 10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serge Klarsfeld
Serge Klarsfeld (born 17 September 1935) is a Romanian-born French activist and Nazi hunter known for documenting the Holocaust in order to establish the record and to enable the prosecution of war criminals. Since the 1960s, he has made notable efforts to commemorate the Jewish victims of German-occupied France and has been a supporter of Israel. Early years and later life Klarsfeld was born in Bucharest into a family of Romanian Jews that migrated to France before the Second World War began. In 1943, his father was arrested by the ''Schutzstaffel'' in Nice during a roundup ordered by Alois Brunner. Deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, Klarsfeld's father died there. The young Klarsfeld was cared for in a home for Jewish children operated by the Œuvre de secours aux enfants, a French Jewish humanitarian organisation. His mother and sister also survived the war in Vichy France and were helped by the underground French Resistance beginning in late 1943. Klarsfeld marri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volcker Commission
The Volcker Commission, also known as the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons (ICEP), was established in 1996 to investigate the accounts lying dormant since the Second World War in various banks in Switzerland. The committee was headed by former United States Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker and was composed of three representatives from the Swiss Bankers Association and three appointed by Jewish organizations. Background Due to Switzerland's status as a neutral country bordering on Germany and Austria, many Jews fleeing the Holocaust deposited large amounts of money and valuables in Swiss banks. However, when survivors' or victims' heirs tried to recover their money following the war, many faced bureaucratic stonewalling by the banks which often seemed not to recognize the special conditions which had been experienced by Holocaust victims. A number of times after the end of World War II, Swiss banks came under criticism for their behaviour, particularly over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
