High life
Gone walkabout
Taki
We walked along a small river, climbing gently towards Lauenen and the lake beyond: 130 paces per minute, fast enough to break into a heavy sweat. After three hours we stopped for lunch and headed back. Tomorrow we repeat the exercise but change the course. At the end of the week we start to climb serious stuff.
There is not much to say about good old Helvetia that I haven't already written ad nauseam throughout these last 20 years. It is the best-run country in the world except for Singapore, every male possesses an automatic weapon yet there is very little crime, all decisions are taken at local level — and I mean hamlet level — and it was the country that was the last to give women the vote: i.e., the Swiss are wise, old-fash- ioned and not at all trendy. Their country- side is the most beautiful in Europe with the exception of Austria, and they do not suffer from the Austrian disease, socialism.
Ah, yes! Their war record was not exactly up to par, and their post-war record abso- lutely disgraceful. Let's begin with the for- mer. The sainted one has passed on to me a letter written to him by a loyal Speccie reader which says the following: 'Taki's gal- lant efforts at defending Swiss wartime banking activities are wrong-headed. He would do better to call up the memory of General Henri Guisan.'
I know all about the General. He forti- fied the valleys, mined the bridges and rail- Way junctions, armed and trained every able-bodied male and stood up to Hitler. Yes, despite today's orthodoxy that the Swiss played footsie with Hitler, it simply ain't true where the military threat is con- cerned. Hitler knew that Guisan meant what he said. The Swiss would withdraw to their mountain redoubt and 1 million men under arms would fight to the end. For once, Hitler took the right decision and stayed away. Now for the banks. They are the same the world over. The Swiss ones were no dif- ferent from the rest during the war. After it was over, they turned a blind eye to those who had claims. There are no ifs or buts about that and very few Swiss among those whom I know deny this. And they admit what a disgrace it was. Having said this, they now face demands to 'disgorge' billions of dollars to repay what is claimed to be both a moral as well as an actual debt to Holocaust victims. In America it is called a class-action suit, and it's based on allegations that the Swiss han- dled gold they knew had been stolen from countries overrun by the Nazis. Here I have to draw the line. Until the United States entered the war, the Ameri- can government handled far more Nazi gold than the Swiss did — and a little bird tells me that the American government will be the next to get sued. Worse is the accusation that the Swiss have held on to Jewish wealth, that which the victims' heirs claim belongs to them. What have the Swiss to say about all this? They have offered to set up a fund to help Holocaust victims to the tune of 4.7 billion greenbacks. On 23 July, they will start pub- lishing on the Internet the names of Holo- caust-era accounts with an independent, international panel judging any claims. None of it, however, has placated the Jew- ish side. A court in Brooklyn which will decide the class action does not inspire confidence — to say the least — among the Swiss I have spoken to. 'It will be as unfair and one-sided as we were,' said one of them.
What I fear is that the total amount demanded by the wronged side will tear apart the political fabric of my favourite country, and will justify extremists who say that, no matter how much moolah Switzer- land returns, the other side will never be satisfied.
In the meantime, Paul, Carla and I walk and walk and walk. Who knows? Perhaps next year walking will be too expensive to
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