Swiss guard tours offices of Spielberg

Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

LOS ANGELES — Christoph Meili, the former Swiss bank security guard, visited with Steven Spielberg last week while touring the filmmaker's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, a spokeswoman for Spielberg has confirmed.

Meili has been under fire from many of his countrymen since January, when he found sensitive Holocaust-era documents in the shredding room of the Union Bank of Switzerland and turned them over to the Swiss Jewish community.

Meili has said he felt impelled to act a few months after watching Spielberg's "Schindler's List," so a meeting with the film's creator held special meaning for both men.

Spielberg apparently found Meili's story of great interest, but a spokeswoman for the director said there were no plans or discussions regarding a future film concentrating on Meili's action.

Meili recently left Switzerland for the United States with his wife and children, saying their lives were threatened. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee that held hearings on Swiss dealings with Nazi Germany and Jewish assets in Swiss banks, is trying to win U.S. citizenship for Meili.

Tom Tugend

JTA Los Angeles correspondent