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58 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 615 (2001-2003)
Holocaust Reparations Litigation: Lessons for the Slavery Reparations Movement

handle is hein.journals/annam58 and id is 635 raw text is: HOLOCAUST REPARATIONS LITIGATION:
LESSONS FOR THE SLAVERY
REPARATIONS MOVEMENT
BURT NEUBORNE*
Over the past six years, a wave of litigation in American courts
has played an important role in generating almost $8 billion for
distribution to Holocaust victims.1
Current Holocaust-related efforts to seek relief in American
courts began in 1996 with the filing of three actions in the Eastern
District of New York seeking recovery of Holocaust-era deposits
* John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, New York University School of
Law. Legal Director, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of
Law.
1. For helpful descriptions of recent Holocaust-related litigation, see Michael
J. Bayzler, Nuremberg in America: Litigating the Holocaust in United States Courts, 34
RICH. L. Riv. 1 (2000); MichaelJ. Bayzler, www.swissbankclaims.com: The Legality and
Morality of the Holocaust-Era Settlement with the Swiss Banks, 25 FORDHAM INT'L LJ. S-
64 (2001); Michael J. Bayzler, The Holocaust Restitution Movement in Comparative Per-
spective, 20 BERKELEYJ. INT'L L. 11 (2002).
Several recent books describe aspects of the Holocaust-related litigation. See
JOHN AUTHERS & RICHARD WOLFFE, THE VICTIM'S FORTUNE: INSIDE THE Epic BATTLE
OVER THE DEBTS OF THE HOLOCAUST (2002) (providing a narrative of the legal pro-
ceeding written by two reporters for the Financial Times); STUART EIZENSTAT, IMPER-
FECT JUSTICE: LOOTED ASSETS, SLAvE LABOR, AND THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF
WORLD WAR II (forthcoming 2003) (providing a description of the American dip-
lomatic initiatives on behalf of Holocaust victims written by the leader of the Amer-
ican delegation); MICHAEL J. BAZYLER, HOLOCAUST JUSTICE: THE BATTLE FOR
RESTITUTION IN AMERICA'S COURTS (forthcoming 2003) (providing a legal and
moral assessment of the litigation written by a leading academic commentator).
I have attempted a preliminary overview of the litigation in connection with a
symposium on class action litigation. See Burt Neuborne, Preliminary Observations on
Aspects of Holocaust-Era Litigation in American Courts, 80 WASH. U. L.Q. 795 (2002).
Since I was deeply involved in the Holocaust cases, I make no pretense of academic
neutrality. I serve as court-appointed lead settlement counsel in the Swiss bank
litigation, and argued the German slave labor cases. In addition, I argued the
mandamus petition in the German bank cases, and serve as a United States repre-
sentative on the German Foundation Board of Trustees. For the perspective of
counsel representing the German industry, see Detlev Vagts & Peter Murray, Liti-
gating the Nazi Labor Claims: The Path Not Taken, 43 HARV. INT'L L.J. 503 (2002). For
a particularly unedifying exchange with Norman Finkelstein, a vigorous critic of
my role in the Holocaust litigation, see Burt Neuborne, Letters, About That Ad...,
THE NATION, Feb. 18, 2002 at 2, 23, Burt Neuborne, Letters, Not 'Blackmail,' THE
NATION, Dec. 25, 2000 at 2, and Burt Neuborne, Letters, The Holocaust Industry,
THE NATION, Oct. 23, 2000, at 2.
615

Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Annual Survey of American Law

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