3.11.3 Switzerland: World War II: Attitude towards Jews
Description
This article is from the Switzerland FAQ, by Marc Schaefer schaefer@alphanet.ch with numerous contributions by others.
3.11.3 Switzerland: World War II: Attitude towards Jews
FACTS: Switzerland did ask the German to put the 'J' on German Jews'
Passports. Switzerland did not accept many Jews and only when
they had someone to pay for their stay in Switzerland. Thus
the already-existing Jewish community had to pay for any new
arriving Jew, with absolutely no support from the government.
The head of the Foreigner Office (Police des Etrangers) was
anti-jew. Switzerland officials made official apologies for the
comportment of Swiss officials during the war in 1995
(Kaspar VILLIGER, President 1995).
INTERPRETATION:
Switzerland did not collaborate with the Nazis on that specific
point. Switzerland only made more difficult for Jews (and
others) to seek refuge in Switzerland. Nevertheless, most of
the Swiss *population* did support the refugees. It is
damageable to Swiss's reputation that these apologies were
made 50 years later; however the cold war is one of the
reasons. The Eizenstat report evaluates the number of Jews
having found refuge in Switzerland as 50'000 (of which
20'000 left Switzerland during the war) plus 100'000 other
refugees (this figure only counting after 1940).
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