The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

egarded by the Swiss Government as being “political refugees,” i.e., a group at risk of
persecution due to political beliefs or activities. All other refugees would be granted a
“temporary residence permit or a tolerance permit” which would allow sufficient time to
plan for and carry out a move to a more permanent haven. 7
Following the end of the Great War the Swiss Government introduced a “system
of control” over the admission of aliens especially the Ostjuden, the Eastern European
and Russian Jews, who were viewed as a leftist threat to Swiss culture, ethnicity and
native employment. Such immigrants were deemed to be unassimilable into the
dominant culture and posed a risk of Judaization. The Westjuden or Western Jews were
viewed as being more easily absorbed but this attitude changed with the events in
Germany and Austria. The 1930 census demonstrated that nine percent of the population
(355,000 out of 4 million) were aliens of which three hundred thousand possessed
residency permits which granted the right to work and change occupation or place of
residence. However, contemporary events mandated “very stringent control” over the
entry of future refugees. Rothmund acknowledged, during the period of April-September
1933, that ten thousand Jewish and non-Aryan refugees had been offered temporary
asylum within the Swiss Cantonates. This number later diminished following the return
of some Jews to Germany or resettlement in other countries. By December 1933
approximately 2,500 Jewish and non-Jewish refugees were residing within Switzerland,
decreasing to 1,500 by June 1935, following which the number increased to 3,400 on
March 31, 1936 and 9,000 on December 31, 1937. 8
7 “Proceedings,” July 11, 1938, 37-38.
8 Tenenbaum, “The Crucial Year 1938,” 55-53.
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