Swiss dealt in Nazi art

SWISS ART dealers played a big part in the trafficking of Nazi- looted art, but no one was ever punished, a government-commissioned report said yesterday. In fact, some dealers were compensated when they were forced to return the art.

Under a special law that lapsed in 1947, Switzerland's supreme court reviewed 77 cases of looting.

"In every case [the court]accepted that the buyers of looted property acted in good faith," said Thomas Buomberger, who co-ordinated the report.

As a result, the Swiss government compensated the Fischer Gallery in Lucerne, whose dealer handled more looted art than anyone else in Switzerland. Buomberger said a prime source for the gallery's purchases was Walter Andreas Hofer, head of the art collection of Hermann Goering.