{"product_id":"holocaust-justice-the-battle-for-restitution-in-americas-courts-9780814799048","title":"Holocaust Justice: The Battle for Restitution in America's Courts","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first book to tell the complete story of the American attempt at restitution for victims of the Holocaust  The Holocaust was not only the greatest murder in history; it was also the greatest theft. Historians estimate that the Nazis stole roughly $230 billion to $320 billion in assets (figured in todays dollars)  from the Jews of Europe. Since the revelations concerning the wartime activities of the Swiss banks first broke in the late 1990s  an ever-widening circle of complicity and wrongdoing against Jews and other victims has emerged in the course of lawsuits waged by American lawyers. These suits involved German corporations  French and Austrian banks  European insurance companies  and double thefts of artfirst by the Nazis  and then by museums and private collectors refusing to give them up. All of these injustices have come to light thanks to the American legal system.  Holocaust Justice is the first book to tell the complete story of the legal campaign  conducted mainly on American soil  to address these injustices. Michael Bazyler  a legal scholar specializing in human rights and international law  takes an in-depth look at the series of lawsuits that gave rise to a coherent campaign to right historical wrongs. Diplomacy  individual pleas for justice by Holocaust survivors and various Jewish organizations for the last fifty years  and even suits in foreign courts  had not worked. It was only with the intervention of the American courts that elderly Holocaust survivors and millions of other wartime victims throughout the world were awarded compensation  and equally important  acknowledgment of the crimes committed against them.  The unique features of the American system of justicewhich allowed it to handle claims that originated over fifty years ago and in another part of the worldmade it the only forum in the world where Holocaust claims could be heard. Without the lawsuits brought by American lawyers  Bazyler asserts  the claims of the elderly survivors and their heirs would continue to be ignored.  For the first time in history  European and even American corporations are now being forced to pay restitution for war crimes totaling billions of dollars to Holocaust survivors and other victims. Bazyler deftly tells the unfolding stories: the Swiss banks attempt to hide dormant bank accounts belonging to Holocaust survivors or heirs of those who perished in the war; German private companies that used slave laborers during World War IIincluding American subsidiaries in Germany; Italian  Swiss and German insurance companies that refused to pay on prewar policies; and the legal wrangle going on today in American courts over art looted by the Nazis in wartime Europe. He describes both the human and legal dramas involved in the struggle for restitution  bringing the often-forgotten voices of Holocaust survivors to the forefront. He also addresses the controversial legal and moral issues over Holocaust restitution and the ethical debates over the distribution of funds.  With an eye to the future  Bazyler discusses the enduring legacy of Holocaust restitution litigation  which is already being used as a model for obtaining justice for historical wrongs on both the domestic and international stage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45789700718645,"sku":"ByrdShop_0814799043","price":31.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780814799048.jpg?v=1784694991","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/holocaust-justice-the-battle-for-restitution-in-americas-courts-9780814799048","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}