61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

affect the legal status even of Jews living in Switzerland. In June 1938, the
authorities had refused to intervene on behalf of Swiss Jews in Nazi Germany,
reminding the SFJC of the fact that the Federal Constitution of 1848 did not
recognise equal rights for Jews. 124 When in 1941 the Federal Council officially
abandoned the legal protection of Jewish Swiss citizens in France, the SFJC
lodged an objection accompanied by an expert legal opinion invocating both
the emancipation of 1866 and the bilateral residence agreement of 1882. The
SFJC made a point of stressing that universal legal principles, in particular the
principle of equality, were sacrosanct.
Secondly, the SFJC tried to muster its internal forces. This effort was not simply
limited to collecting donations for needy Jews abroad and later on for the
refugees in Switzerland. The SFJC was aware that, to be able to fulfil its humanitarian
commitment, it depended to a large extent both on the authorities as well
as on the sympathy of non-Jewish organisations which had been merged in the
Swiss Central Office for Refugee Relief. From a political point of view, the SFJC
did not want to be suspected of acting disloyally towards its own state, and
tended to co-operate with the authorities in order to be able to help the refugees.
With the aim of rallying its internal forces, the SFJC tried to achieve a high level
of consistency and discipline, not least through fear of quickly becoming the
victim of anti-Jewish and anti-refugee rhetoric. In this connection, numerous
contradictions arose due to social conditions and origin as well as religion and
politics. This could be seen for example in the varying attitudes to the
immigration of foreign Jews, in particular since, in view of growing anti-
Semitism and the authorities’ defensive attitude towards foreign Jews, some
feared for their own status as Swiss citizens. Different points of view also existed
with regard to the possible repercussions of the emigration of Swiss Jews, and
long-time Jewish residents. It is true that the publicly displayed goodwill, cooperation
and discipline were a matter of controversy within the SFJC. 125
Thirdly, the Swiss Jews supported a transit strategy in the policy on refugees
since, from 1938 on, Switzerland appeared quite suitable for dispatching relief
and deliverance to those in need in the Nazi sphere of influence. The SFJC
assumed that those who had escaped persecution would enjoy greatest safety
overseas and did not see much of a future for Jews in Europe. For this reason the
SFJC and the VSJF sought closely to co-operate with British Jewish and
American Jewish relief organisations from 1938 on, in order to cope with the
tasks that had been placed on their shoulders by the authorities and to offer the
refugees some prospects of a future in their new host countries. In 1938 and
1940, relief committees were set up in local Jewish communities to assist persecuted
Jews abroad. Several Jewish relief organisations operated from
Switzerland during the war, offering help to those being persecuted in Nazi-
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