Britain lists assets frozen in war

The Government is to publish the names of 25,000 accounts frozen in British banks during the Second World War which included assets belonging to victims of the Nazis. Louise Jury says the move follows claims that Britain wrongly refused at the end of the war to return money to its owners.

A leading Jewish organisation last night welcomed the publication of thousands of names of people and companies whose accounts were frozen under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

Lord Janner QC, chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said the next step was to compensate Holocaust victims or their heirs whose money should have been returned but never was.

All enemy assets were frozen during the war, but this included accounts held by Germans and other eastern Europeans who were victimised by the Nazi regime. After the war, the Government set up a restitution procedure for people who could prove they were victims, but the trust believes many legitimate claims were refused.

In one case, the family of a woman who killed herself rather than be taken by the Gestapo to a death camp was denied any claim because she was not actually "detained". Others were refused if they had insufficient proof of a parent or if they had been in a labour camp rather than a death camp. Documents suggest that money not claimed was used to compensate British companies owed money or who had incurred losses as a result of the war.

The publication of the list was announced yesterday by Lord Haskel, the government whip. Lord Janner said it was a significant victory. The gesture prevented Britain from being "put together with Switzerland" which has come under intense international pressure for its handling of assets deposited in its banks.

Lord Janner said: "This is a landmark. But what the minister did not do was to say that they would take every step to ensure that justice is done." The Government must set up measures to help people bring claims, he said. The trust estimates that up to pounds 35m at 1945 values was not restored to account owners after the war.

Miklos Breuer, 73, heir to an account, said there should be a claim procedure so the matter could be finished. His father, a Hungarian, deposited pounds 800 at a London branch of Westminster Bank in 1938. But when Miklos tried to claim it in 1960, the bank said that the money had been given to the government and could not be retrieved.

However, a spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry yesterday stressed there was no money available.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews also welcomed the announcement. The president, Eldred Tabachnik, said the board had regularly pursued the matter with government authorities after the war but to no avail.