Hans Fässler MA in History and English Language, Zürich University Cunzstrasse 31 9016 St.Gallen (Switzerland) Mail: hans.faessler@kst.ch Web: www.louverture.ch Phone: +41 71 288 39 52 St.Gallen (Switzerland), 20th January, 2010 Brady W. Dougan CEO Credit Suisse Paradeplatz 8 8001 Zürich Dear Mr Dougan RE: Swiss Bank Credit Suisse And Its Slavery Past Let me start by introducing myself: I am a Swiss historian and author of a book on Switzerland's links with slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries, and from 1984 to 1994 I served on the state legislature of the Swiss canton of St.Gallen. Today I am addressing you in a matter of considerable historical, political and financial significance. You are receiving together with this letter: => copies of requests by Messrs Diallo, dos Santos Pinto, Larsen, and Kuhn. They demand that Credit Suisse reconsider and publicly revoke their decision to deny access to their corporate archives, namely those of Clariden Leu, on grounds of banking secrecy, protection of the bank's clients and their descendants, as well as on grounds of the documents in question being allegedly private, and that the representative of the aforementioned corporate archives – be they under the authority of Credit Suisse, Bank Leu or Bank Clariden Leu ¬– grant any qualified historian willing to do research into the history of the relationship between Switzerland, Denmark and slavery, particularly on the Danish West Indies, access to all archival resources relating to the "Zinskommission Leu" between 1755 and 1798, on grounds of these not being private but statal or semi-statal. You are thus hereby asked to forward the said requests to Hans Nützi, Ceo of Clariden Leu, with appropriate directions. Incidentally, each request contains a personal substantiation as to whether these measures are considered necessary. The originals of these requests are being sent to chairman Walter B. Kielholz. => a copy of a letter to the Mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, requesting him to clarify in the context of Chicago's Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance of October 2, 2002 whether the City of Chicago is or has been doing business with Credit Suisse and, should that be the case, to require the bank to refrain from concealing their links with slavery and to that end grant a commission of independent historians and researchers access to their corporate archives in order to give an account on whether or not the bank has profited from slavery. I want to round off this letter by emphasizing that, should the request to the Mayor be of no avail, I am willing to explore judicial proceedings and/or to summon support among African-American members of Chicago City Council, and I am likewise already sounding the possibilities of involving a number of other US cities and states with similar legislation (be it passed or pending) in this campaign: Los Angeles (Slavery Disclosure Ordinance), City and County of San Francisco (Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance), Detroit (Slavery Era Records and Insurance Disclosure), New York (Disclosure of Information Regarding Past Engagement in Slavery by City Contractors), North Carolina (State Contracts/Slavery Profits Bill), Cleveland (Slave Era Business and Corporate Insurance Disclosure Law), Philadelphia (Slavery Disclosure Ordinance), Oakland (Slavery Disclosure Ordinance), Massachusetts (Slavery Era Disclosure Law), Maryland (Slavery Era Disclosure Law). I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, Hans Fässler hans.faessler@kst.ch cc: An identical letter has been addressed to Hans-Ulrich Doerig, chairman of Credit Suisse Group. A selection of Swiss and international media A number of transatlantic historians and activists in the field of transatlantic slavery