61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

(Schweizerische Zentralstelle für Flüchtlingshilfe, SZF). In 1942 Alphons Koechlin,
President of the Swiss Reformed Church Association (Schweizerischer
Kirchenbund), demanded both at a personal meeting and in written form in a
private letter and in a communiqué, that the authorities implement the
restrictive regulations less severely, whereupon the Geneva «Vie Protestante»
magazine reproached him for favoring Jewish refugees and encouraging crime in
Switzerland. 107 At the general meeting («Landsgemeinde») of the Young Church
(«Junge Kirche») held on 30 August 1942, when Federal Councillor von Steiger
compared Switzerland to a life-boat that was full, the Federal Council’s policy on
refugees was personally and strongly criticised by Chief Justice Max Wolff,
President of the Reformed Zurich Synod (Reformierte Zürcher Synode), and Walter
Lüthi, a protestant minister from Basel. 108 The Reformed Church pastor Paul
Vogt, who dealt with refugees, and Gertrud Kurz-Hohl, Head of the Christian
Peace Service (Christlicher Friedensdienst), also tried several times to bring pressure
to bear upon the authorities to change their policy. On 23 August 1942, for
example, Gertrud Kurz made a special trip to the place where Federal Councillor
von Steiger was vacationing. And in July 1944, Paul Vogt put before the Federal
Council proposals for concrete measures to save 10,000 Hungarian Jews. The
Federal Council replied that the «attention necessary» had been paid to the
question, but that the interests of the army had to be taken into account: «As
you know, the large number of foreigners represents a heavy burden and a daily
impediment for our national defence system. It is becoming increasingly difficult
to find accommodation for them.» 109 Although the attempts at a political level
mentioned above were made by individuals, they included upper-level representatives
of the Reformed Church. On the Catholic side, among the bishops for
example, no such initiatives were taken in favour of the refugees, as far as is
known. Not least out of deliberate national loyalty, the episcopate never criticised
official policy on refugees and at times even explicitly approved it. In
October 1942, Bishop Marius Besson declared, «our authorities are quite right
in not practising an unqualified open-door policy and in taking all the necessary
measures to maintain the welfare of the country». At the same time, and this
shows the utter contradiction of his stand, he urged his followers to offer the
«mass of extremely friendly refugees» the traditional «generous hospitality». 110
The Lucerne moral theologian Alois Schenker, who was also President of the
Caritas Refugee Committee (Flüchtlingskommission der Caritas), was one of the few
exceptions. In October 1942, he criticised the stand adopted by the majority of
the National Council, and indirectly that of Federal Councillor von Steiger as
well, by describing the opinion which held that 9,000 immigrants were the
maximum as «not commendable» and declaring that Switzerland would not
stand the test of history. 111
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