Swiss Were Part of Nazi Economic Lifeline, Historians Find

Switzerland actively aided Nazi economic interests during World War II and afterward, according to new studies issued by a group of independent historians that the government commissioned to examine the country's role during that era.

Switzerland, a neutral nation that long had an image as a plucky country that resisted the Nazis, formed part of Germany's economic lifeline, said the group, the Independent Commission of Experts on Switzerland and World War II. The commission said that Switzerland helped German companies with transactions, including trading in stolen securities, and that it amassed at least $1.25 billion in German assets by the end of the war.

The commission, led by Jean-François Bergier, a Swiss historian, was set up in 1996 as debate raged over the country's wartime conduct, including banks' holding the assets of those who perished in the Holocaust. The nine members, from Britain, Israel, Poland, Switzerland and the United States, have issued a series of reports examining numerous facets of Switzerland's actions.

The latest set of 10 studies, amounting to nearly 4,000 pages, delves into the financial aspects of Switzerland's relations with Germany and Italy. The studies also refute criticism of the commission's earlier report that the Swiss turned away thousands of Jews after 1942 when it was known that many would perish in Nazi death camps.

In the current reports, the historians found that Switzerland returned millions of dollars in assets to German owners after the war in violation of the 1946 war compensation accord, which committed Switzerland to turning over money from the sale of German assets to the Allies to be used for compensating victims of the Nazis.

Dr. Christiane Uhlig, one of the five researchers who worked on the report, said they were not able to determine what part of the returned assets had belonged to top Nazis.

In a debate over the issue during the 1990's, Swiss officials invoked the postwar agreement as having settled all wartime claims. But in 1998, Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion to settle claims by Holocaust survivors against Switzerland.

The Swiss Bank Corporation, now part of Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS A.G., and the predecessor to Vontobel Holding A.G., one of the country's largest private banks, took active roles in trading stolen securities, which violated Swiss law, the panel said. These companies have consistently said they should not be held responsible for what happened in that era.

At the time, government officials looked the other way, and the frequent transactions ''made Switzerland into an indispensable supplier of foreign exchange for Germany,'' the panel said. This was particularly important because the Allied isolation of Germany left Switzerland as one of the few countries where the Third Reich could get other currencies to buy fuel and weapons to fight the war, the historians noted.