Metadata: Estate of Marc Richter
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Reference number:
- NL Marc Richter
- Title:
- Estate of Marc Richter
- Title (official language):
- Einzelbestand Marc Richter
- Creator/accumulator:
- Richter, Marc
- Date(s):
- 1942/2001
- Language:
- German
- French
- English
- Extent:
- 1 shelf metre
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection primarily concerns the Sonabend siblings' legal case as well as legal and political disputes regarding assets of Holocaust victims at Swiss banks. Similar to the parallel court proceedings in the Spring case, the Sonabend siblings' lawsuits were about the Swiss government and administration's joint responsibility for their parents' death as a result of their rejection at the Swiss border.
Marc Richter's working papers on the subject of "Dormant Assets" document his exchanges with the attorneys Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld, Toll and Gallagher in connection with class action lawsuits against Swiss banks, his participation in the task force on "Dormant Assets" in connection with the "historical and legal investigation of the fate of assets brought to Switzerland as a result of National Socialist rule" and his legal work for Jewish clients with dormant assets at Swiss banks.
- Archival history:
- The collection was handed over to the AfZ in 2012 by Marc Richter.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Sonabend family fled Brussels in 1942 in order to escape an order to be transported to a Russian labour camp, and reached Switzerland via France. After being turned back by the Swiss authorities, the family fell into the hands of a German patrol near Saint-Dizier in the Nazi-occupied part of France. The parents were deported to Auschwitz and murdered there. Charles Sonabend (born 1931 in Brussels) filed a lawsuit against the Swiss Confederation in 1997, then Sabine Sonabend (born 1927 in Brussels) filed in 1999. A joint out-of-court settlement with the Federal Council ended both lawsuits in 2000.
Marc Richter, an attorney-at-law, was born in Bern on 22 November 1961 and died on 1 May 2015. He was the son of Jacques and Marion, née Gottlieb. He earned his baccalaureate in Paris in 1980 and in 1986 his law degree (lic.iur.) at the University of Zurich. In 1988, he was visiting researcher at Harvard Law School and in 1989 he obtained his doctorate at the University of Zurich. In 1994, Richter founded his law firm at Rämistrasse 3, handling Swiss and international clients. In 1996, he became a member of the task force "Dormant Assets"/"Unclaimed Assets" and the Commission for Legal Issues of the Swiss National Council. From 1997 to 2000, he represented Charles Sonabend in the case of Charles Sonabend v Swiss Confederation and from 1999 to 2000 Sabine Sonabend in the case of Sabine Sonabend v Swiss Confederation.
- Access points: locations:
- Switzerland
- Subject terms:
- Holocaust
- Legal records
- Restitution and compensation
- Access, restrictions:
- Partially restricted. Subject to application.
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://onlinearchives.ethz.ch/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2020