My Mothers Diamonds: In Search of Holocaust Assets
by James Kirby
Category: History

In January 1997 a night-watchman found a large bin load of files marked for shredding and thuse the Swiss Banks most guarded secret was out. What followed was a remarkable story of survivors and descendents of the holocaust victims taking on the huge Swiss banking institutions to be allowed to claim back their own assets. My Mother's Diamonds is an incredible story which begins in Melbourne when a lawyer, Henry Burnstyner, took on a brief which was to prove to be a landmark case. He represented the Barusch family, who fled Poland, against the Swiss Banking Corporation in the first successful claim in the world. The book continues through until June 1998 with the discovery that a set of paintings in a New Zealand gallery were under claim from a Jewish family in Florence.It is a personal account of ordinary people trying to get justice from the rich and powerful banks, insurers and galleries and it exposes the alleged corruption, secret and opportunism on the part of the Swiss financial industry.This is a story that will appeal to a wide cross section of people interested in current affairs, world history, the Jewish community, true life espionage and basically anyone who wants to be absorbed by an incredibly gripping story.