61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

claim they were wealthy in order to obtain an entry permit for Switzerland.
Federal Councillor von Steiger recommended that «a policy of leniency» be
adopted with respect to collecting the tax; in cases where «improper behaviour
(e.g., a manoeuvre to evade payment) was encountered, or where the people
concerned were not ready to help» strict application of the law was called for. 132
A total of around 500 emigrants and refugees who had assets of 20,000 francs
and more paid the solidarity tax, a tax on assets which was introduced by the
Federal authorities in March 1941. It is apparent from the tax lists, which
distinguished between «Aryans» and «non-Aryans», that the amounts paid by
Jewish emigrants were higher than the sums turned over to the Jewish relief
organisations. Out of the total of 2.4 million francs which were distributed
among the relief organisations in five instalments up to 1946, approximately
1.5 million francs were received by the Jewish refugee relief organisations.
Between 1933 and 1954 the various relief organisations which had joined to
form the Swiss Central Office for Refugee Relief, spent around 102 million
francs 133 of which the Association of Swiss Jewish Welfare and Refugee Relief
(VSJF) accounted for 69 million francs. The Swiss Committee for Aid to
Children of Emigres accounted for 8 million francs; the Swiss Churches Relief
Committee for Protestant Refugees, for 10.1 million francs; the Catholic relief
organisation «Caritas», for 7.5 million francs, and the social democratic Swiss
Workers Relief (Schweizerisches Arbeiterhilfswerk, SAH), for 2.2 million francs.
The remaining amount was spent by various smaller relief organisations. In
general, the relief organisations obtained their funds through collections,
contributions from organisations and institutions of which they were members,
as well as from membership dues and donations from supporters. The relief
funds which the VSJF had at its disposal came from various sources. While a
good 15% was donated by the Jewish population of Switzerland, the Central
Office for Refugee Relief and other organisations provided around 17% of the
VSJF’s income. Over half of the Association’s total revenue came from the
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). 134 Between 1933 and
1950, Jewish refugee relief organisations received 6.4 million francs from the
Confederation, representing 10.5% of their total revenue. It must be said,
however, that Federal contributions to the VSJF increased substantially only
with the creation of permanent asylum in 1947. Until then, the Confederation
had paid out less than 2 million francs (which moreover until 1941 could be
used only for the emigration of refugees). 135
At the outset the Confederation contributed funds (totalling 1.8 million francs
up to 1950) mainly to finance the migration of refugees to a third country.
Added to this were contributions towards the cost of running the Central Office
for Refugee Relief which amounted to around 373,000 francs up to 1954.
150