Postcards from Switzerland and Holland - Journal for the Study of ...

\\jciprod01\productn\J\JSA\4-2\JSA205.txt unknown Seq: 1 28-DEC-12 11:45Postcards from Switzerland and HollandManfred Gerstenfeld*INTERVIEW WITH SIMON ERLANGER“There are about 18,000 Jews in Switzerland. This is about the samenumber as in 1900. The general population, however, has more thandoubled since then to over 7.8 million. The number of Swiss Jews and theirdescendants living in Israel is 14,000. Because it was usually the young andactive who left for Israel, the Swiss Jewish community today tends to beolder, with many members on the periphery of the communities. Demographically,Jewish life is centered today in Zurich and to lesser extent inGeneva and Basel. Only in Zurich the number of Jews remains constant atabout 6,000. The Basel Jewish community, for instance, has diminished byabout a third in the past thirty years and now numbers around 1,100. Manysmall communities had already vanished by the 1990s, and others are likelyto disappear within a generation.”This is the observation made by Simon Erlanger when I interviewedhim last year. Erlanger, who teaches Jewish history at the University ofLucerne and is also the editor for a television station in northwestern Switzerland.In my interview with him, had this to say:“Following the Six Day War, the anti-Zionism of the New Leftbecame a political factor in Switzerland overriding the traditional pro-Israelstance of the social-democratic left. 1 Antisemitic incidents were rare during1. Christina Späti, Die schweizerische Linke und Israel: Israelbegeisterung,Anti-Zionismus und Anti-Semitismus zwischen 1967 und 1991 (Berlin: KlartextVerlagsgesellschaft, 2006).501

\\jciprod01\productn\J\JSA\4-2\JSA205.txt unknown Seq: 2 28-DEC-12 11:45502 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:501the 1970s but began to multiply after the Lebanon War of 1982. By then,for example, cemeteries were desecrated almost on a regular basis. 2 Duringthe 1980s and 1990s, a militant extreme right also emerged. Due to thecountry’s liberal laws, Holocaust deniers and revisionists used Switzerlandas a base. This changed for the better by 1994 with the introduction of an‘anti-Racism law.’ By 1987, when the First Intifada broke out, most of theSwiss mainstream media had become hostile toward Israel and the generalatmosphere for Jews had deteriorated. Since then Switzerland has seen anunprecedented upsurge of both traditional antisemitism and its newer disguise,‘anti-Israelism.’“A 2007 poll found that over 86 percent of Swiss Jews deplore mediabias and distortions. They consider that this has contributed to a majordecrease in personal and communal security. There are many verbal andsometimes physical attacks. They are rarely recorded. In 2007, the SIG, theSwiss Federation of Jewish Communities, set up an institution to collectdata and provide statistics. Another organization, CICAD, reports on anti-Semitic incidents in the western, French-speaking part of Switzerland. MostSwiss Jewish communities employ important security measures.Erlanger continued:“A specific Swiss element in the rise in antisemitism was the affair ofthe dormant Jewish bank accounts during 1992-1998. For many years,descendants of Holocaust victims had claimed accounts that their murderedrelatives had held in Swiss banks. This issue was raised immediately afterthe war and then again in the 1950s. After payment of small sums by thebanks to Jewish organizations and the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities,the matter had been considered settled. Restitution issues werereopened in Europe in the 1990s. Concerning Switzerland, this developedinto a controversy about the country’s record during World War II. Thisincluded economic collaboration with the Nazis, laundering of stolen gold,and the anti-Jewish refugee policy. The government initially refused tocooperate with Jewish claimants, as did the banks. Later on, major Jewishorganizations and the US government became involved. This led to theworst Swiss foreign policy crisis in decades. Ultimately, a financial settlementwas reached between Swiss banks and Jewish organizations. TheSwiss then had to face a past that did not correspond to the heroic selfimagethey had cherished. The myth of neutrality, while at the same timeresisting Nazi Germany, was largely discarded. Many Swiss felt coerced bya hostile outside world—mainly Jews and Americans—seeking to damage2. Cf. Hans Stutz, Rassistische Vorfälle in der Schweiz (Zurich: GRA-Stiftunggegen Rassismus und Antisemitismus, 1992).

\\jciprod01\productn\J\JSA\4-2\JSA205.txt unknown Seq: 3 28-DEC-12 11:452012] POSTCARDS FROM SWITZERLAND AND HOLLAND 503Switzerland’s self-image for political and financial purposes. Thereupon, asizable rise occurred in overt antisemitism and anti-Americanism.“In 1996, then Swiss president Pascal Delamuraz referred to the restitutiondebate as ‘blackmail’ and asked whether Auschwitz was located inSwitzerland. This gave antisemitism a new respectability. The debate on theSwiss wartime record relegitimized antisemitism in many parts of societyand unleashed an antisemitic wave. There was another antisemitic wave in2001. Then economics minister and federal counselor Pascale Couchepinsuggested, along with the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, toabolish the prohibition of shechita [ritual slaughter]. Not only militantanimal rights groups, but much of the public was outraged by this proposal.Articles and letters to the editor openly used traditional antisemitic languagethat would have been unacceptable earlier. The government droppedthe proposal to keep internal peace.”Concerning the future, Erlanger concluded our interview with thiswarning: “Many young Swiss Jews have emigrated over the decades, whilemany others have opted out of the organized Jewish community and oftenout of any form of Jewish life. The future of the community—however wellestablished and affluent—is cause for concern.”INTERVIEW WITH ELMA DRAYER“September 11, 2001, was a turning point for the Jews in the Netherlands.On September 12 of that year, I visited psychologist Bloeme Eversfor a story about a synagogue in the western part of Amsterdam, of whichshe is the inspirational founder. I was still somewhat in shock from watchingthe attacks in the United States on TV all day. Evers said to me, ‘Thiswill have repercussions for us Jews.’ I asked her, ‘What are you talkingabout? Muslims executed the attacks yesterday.’ I didn’t understand whatshe meant at all.“Afterwards, I thought a lot about what she said. Within three days, theperpetrators became the victims and the victims had become perpetrators. Achange of roles had taken place. Since then, I have seen similar examples ofthis phenomenon.“In the weeks following 9-11, there was unrest in Amsterdam West,where many Muslims live. A few weeks later, Moroccan youngsters threwstones at Jews who were coming out of the synagogue. I still had to finishmy article on the synagogue. I called the police to check what was happening.The police spokesman said, ‘I would prefer if you don’t pay too muchattention to this incident. These people are already in an unfavorable position.’He wasn’t speaking about the Jews at whom the stones were thrown,but about the Muslims who threw the stones.”

\\jciprod01\productn\J\JSA\4-2\JSA205.txt unknown Seq: 4 28-DEC-12 11:45504 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:501The writer of these paragraphs, Elma Drayer, worked at the Dutchdaily Trouw from 2001 until 2010 as an editor and columnist. Now she is afreelance journalist. “This incident must be seen in a larger context,” Drayersays. “In recent years, one hears public statements that were deemedsocially unacceptable in the Netherlands after the Second World War. Afterthe war, antisemitism was heavily suppressed. Now people speak about theJews in an increasingly condescending way. This is also related to thechanged position of Israel. One cannot separate the anti-Israel mood fromantisemitism. The antisemitism, which was latent after the Second WorldWar, now has reemerged with great force.“To this has to be added that many people do not take Muslims seriously,but view them with pity. This is a new form of the ancient paternalism.Yet if one states that this construct plays a major role in the judgmentabout Israel, one receives responses like, ‘You are never allowed to sayanything about Israel because then you are immediately termed anantisemite.’ ”Drayer continues, “In a column about the conference of Holocaustdeniers in Teheran in 2006, I wrote: ‘Maybe I missed it, but I haven’t seenany angry Jews shouting in our streets, marching toward the IranianEmbassy. I didn’t hear them chant ‘All Muslims are liars.’ Nowhere have Iseen an effigy of Ahmadinejad in flames. Yet, this conference was anincredible provocation. On the other hand, the Muslim world requires farless provocation in order to explode. One only has to remember the reactionsto the Danish Muhammed cartoons. His followers started riots; tens ofpeople were killed as a result. Yet many Dutch bloggers and opinion makersexpressed their solidarity with the Muslims.“In many places, there was a call to respect Muslim sensitivities. Weshould understand that one should not joke about them and our cartoonistsshould show more restraint. There were no similar expressions of supportfor the Jews when stones were thrown at them. The always-alert opinionmakers and bloggers kept their pens quiet.”Drayer cites another issue: “In 2007, a report from the Center forInformation and Documentation on Israel [CIDI] was published. It gave anuanced view of antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands, which hadincreased in 2006 by 64%. The three main national ‘quality’ papers, ofwhich my own is one, did not publish this information. The Amsterdamdaily Het Parool published the report on the opinion page, as if antisemitismis an opinion with which one can agree or disagree.“I wrote a column about that. I explained how antisemitic incidentswere registered, what was included as such and what was not. I also wrotethat the CIDI did not register critical opinions about Israel as antisemitic, anapproach that I agree with. CIDI also does not include antisemitic remarks

\\jciprod01\productn\J\JSA\4-2\JSA205.txt unknown Seq: 6 28-DEC-12 11:45506 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:501immigrants because they are prejudiced. I consider that statement veryantisemitic. On the other hand, I receive many positive reactions from readers,which offers a welcome balance.“I’ve read the Hamas Charter, which promotes the murder of all Jews.Yet people do not care to find out what is written in it. One of the oft-heardcomparisons in the Netherlands is that of Jews and Muslims. A falseimpression is given that Muslims are similarly the victims of the Dutchpeople as the Jews once were. It is expressed as: ‘Islamophobia is the newantisemitism.’“For many years now, I have lived near a synagogue in Amsterdam.When there are services on Saturdays, police are on guard. This doesn’tshock anyone in the neighborhood. Yet it is scandalous that this isnecessary.”This portion of the essay is an adaptation of an interview with Drayer by ManfredGerstenfeld, from Gerstenfeld’s The Decay: Jews in a Rudderless Netherlands(2010).*Manfred Gerstenfeld is emeritus chair (2000 to 2012) and member of the Board ofFellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He has authored fifteen books,edited five, and is a frequent JSA contributor and founding JSA board member.