61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

epeatedly as justification. At the meeting held on 30 August 1942, Federal
Councillor Eduard von Steiger justified closing Switzerland’s borders by
comparing the country to a life-boat that was already full, at the same time
referring to «limited supplies». 69 He voiced the same argument again in
parliament in September 1942, saying: «Anyone who does not recognise this
problem is ignoring the difficulties surrounding our economic negotiations and
the seriousness of our situation.» 70 At the same meeting, however, pastor Walter
Lüthi declared that it was extremely uncharitable to believe that a few tens of
thousands of refugees could not be taken in and at the same time share the food
available with perhaps 100,000 dogs. 71 Federal Councillor Marcel Pilet-Golaz,
on the other hand, remarked in September 1942 in an internal note that «food
supplies are not a problem at the moment» and declined the offer of an
American aid organisation to provide food if Switzerland took in more
refugees. 72 Thus, it turns out that the opinion on the question of food supplies
differed and that its assessment depended less on the current supply situation
and the future situation, which was difficult to foresee, than on basic attitudes
concerning the refugee question. Naturally, the introduction of bread rationing
on 16 October 1942 was sometimes linked to the presence of the refugees. At
the same time the Federal Council emphasised that the sacrifices made by
Switzerland «are nowhere near as great as those being made by other nations».
Some people thought only about having enough to eat themselves, while others
were at best prepared to make a small sacrifice in favour of those who had been
persecuted. Due to the fact that food was rationed and the amount of land cultivated
was increased, people living in Switzerland were comparatively well fed,
with the result that a real emergency situation with regard to the supply of food,
which would have justified the restrictive policy vis-à-vis refugees, never in fact
arose. 73
Concern about national security
The issues of both internal and external security played a central role in Swiss
policy on refugees. General Guisan showed concern about the presence of
foreigners in the country since, if Switzerland went to war, they would
constitute an additional risk factor. 74 In order to draw the government’s
attention to the dangers of espionage, sabotage and infiltration, Guisan
submitted a long report to the Federal Council on 4 May 1940 in which he
recommended a series of preventive and defensive measures. These were mainly
directed at Germans living in Switzerland but also concerned refugees:
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«A further category of internal enemies is to a certain extent emigrants.
[...] Dutch and English reports indicate that large numbers of Jewish