M&G reporter
British banks last week launched a scheme to reunite Holocaust victims and their heirs with money frozen in United Kingdom accounts since World War II. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has published names of 10 800 dormant bank accounts holding 2,8-million frozen during the war to prevent the cash reaching enemy hands.
The list of account names was recently posted on the Internet (www.restoreuk.org.uk) by Restore UK, an agency set up and run by the association to return the accounts to their rightful owners.
Under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1939, all accounts held by people living in enemy territory were frozen. Those from countries which had declared war on Britain were seized, while those held by people from countries invaded by Germany were also frozen so they could not be plundered by the Nazis.
While these accounts have long since been available to holders or their relatives, thousands have remained unused and possibly forgotten.
The BBA emphasised that most of the account holders or their relatives probably still lived abroad. Where an account is found to belong to a Holocaust victim, the balance will be multiplied by 26 to bring it into line with today’s values.
Original details of the frozen accounts were handwritten and deciphering some of the names has been a challenge. All likely variations on a name are listed, providing 13 000 names which could relate to the 10 800 accounts.
The Restore UK project includes accounts at all Britain’s big High Street banks as well as the leading investment banks such as Barings and NM Rothschild & Sons.