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Edgar Bronfman, now spearheading efforts to press Switzerland on Holocaust restitution, pulls no punches when talking about the Swiss officials he has dealt with.

"Money seems to be their creed," said Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Restitution Organization. "Anything they've got, they will hang on to at all costs."

For the last two and a half years, Bronfman has been negotiating to reclaim the large sums Jews deposited in Swiss banks prior to and during the Holocaust, money the Swiss banks have so far been reluctant to return.

Speaking by phone from his New York office last week, the longtime businessman said his efforts may finally have borne fruit.

He said that within a week, "they'll be forthcoming with an announcement aimed at a settlement of this whole issue."

Bronfman has asked for about $3 billion. A settlement near that amount, he said, would finally close the books on the issue — and would likely lead to the withdrawal of a $20 billion class action suit filed in the United States against Swiss banks.

Over the past year, finance officials around the country, including California State Treasurer Matt Fong, suspended business dealings with the Swiss because of perceived "foot-dragging" on the restitution issue. At a meeting in New York in December, those officials agreed to delay further sanctions until March 31 pending Swiss action on the issue.

"Let's get the whole thing done," Bronfman said. "I think we'll be able to do that."

Bronfman, who founded the Seagram's brewing company, will speak on his efforts next week during a visit to the Bay Area. He will talk on "Holocaust Restitution: An Issue of Justice," Thursday at a luncheon sponsored by the Commonwealth Club of California and the Jewish Community Relations Council.

Also that day, Bronfman will meet Bay Area Jewish students at 2 p.m. at the Fairmont Hotel, and he'll give the keynote address at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation's annual finance and real estate dinner.

The Swiss issue has for Bronfman become in many ways a personal quest, which he both pursues and discusses with great vigor. Yet he lost no family members in the Holocaust.

Nevertheless, "I think of the Jewish people as one large people," said Bronfman. "So to that extent, I lost six million."

Bronfman's involvement with the Swiss issue began in late 1995 when he received a letter from then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. "He asked me to deal with the Swiss on behalf of all Jewry, including the state of Israel," Bronfman recalled.

After two and a half years, he's beginning to lose patience.

"If the Swiss are going to keep digging their heels in, then I'll have to ask all the U.S. shareholders to suspend their dealings with the Swiss," he said. "It's coming to a point where it has to resolve itself or it has to be total war. I can't be sitting on my thumbs forever."

Bronfman added that Switzerland's recent actions during the Iraq crisis did little to assuage his anger toward them. Bronfman said that when Israel asked to borrow gas masks from other countries, Switzerland was the only nation to insist on payment.

"They just won't learn, will they?"

Bronfman's sharp stance against Switzerland has led to accusations that he has created a climate of anti-Semitism there. "That's the only thing [about this fight] that has been difficult for me personally," he said.

But "I've thought a great deal about that, and I've come to two conclusions. One: Jews don't create anti-Semitism; anti-Semites do. And two: The only answer to anti-Semitism is pride in one's Jewishness.

"I can look them in the face and say it's their problem, not mine."

Bronfman noted that should a settlement be reached, he won't necessarily feel pride in the accomplishment. "When you're talking about a subject like this, it's very difficult to be pleased," he said.

"I'll feel that at long last, justice has been done, and history is correctly reflecting what has happened."

If a settlement is reached, the first order of business will be to distribute funds to survivors.

"We want to make sure they live out their lives in a decent way," Bronfman said.

With the remaining funds, Bronfman wants "to rebuild Jewish life. I want it to be like a giant Ford Foundation that works out projects to better Jewish education and values all over the world."

Bronfman says he still has a lot more work to do. While acknowledging that progress has been made in several countries, he noted that restitution issues have arisen in Belgium, Holland, Sweden and France, among other countries.

Bronfman seems ready — and anxious — to continue his efforts.

"If Hitler taught people one thing, it's that they can [mistreat] Jews, and no one will give a damn," he said.

"We're not going to let them do that anymore — at least not while I'm around."