61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

would be estranged from their family traditions and their religious beliefs. In
addition, during the rare and brief family holidays, the parents and children
often had problems understanding each other since the children had quickly
picked up their new language and were beginning to forget their mother
tongue.
In the course of the war some adults also benefited from «free places»
(«Freiplätze») in private households. For many refugees, this brought welcome
relief from the wearing daily routine in a home or a camp, and in some cases
allowed them to participate in intellectual and cultural life. For many Swiss, the
«accomodation campaign» (Freiplatzaktion) gave them the opportunity to
express their solidarity with the refugees, while others charged rather steep
prices for board and lodging. From autumn 1943 on, when it became more
difficult to find further mass accommodation, the authorities too welcomed the
private accommodation of refugees. The following figures for spring 1944,
which are partly based on estimations, illustrate the variety of conditions in
which the refugees lived. Out of the 25,000 or so civilian refugees living in
Switzerland at that time, 9,300 were living in civilian camps and homes; 3,000
were waiting in reception camps to be admitted to civilian quarters; 5,300 were
living with relatives or in boarding houses; 1,600 men and women were
working on the land or as domestic staff and had private accommodation; 1,000
people had a «free place» in a Swiss household, and 2,500 children lived with
foster families; 580 refugees had access to higher education. 151
With regard to the demands made on the refugees, the same applies as has
already been pointed out for military reception camps: during their stay in
Switzerland the refugees were subject to far-reaching controls as well as being
under a certain pressure to conform. Unfavorable findings such as dependence
on welfare, and moral objections like «immoral conduct», «homosexuality», or
«unruliness» could result in the residence permit being withdrawn and the
person in question being deported. This illustrates that the authorities looked
upon the decision to deport a refugee as being a matter of their own discretion,
and how criteria of political advisability in the matter were decisive. «It may be
necessary to deport a person as an act of self-protection on the part of the state; it may
also be advisable if the foreigner is unworthy of being granted asylum for personal
reasons» was Robert Jezler’s opinion in 1944. 152
At the end of 1943, a turning point was reached in the way the authorities dealt
with the refugees: on the side of the authorities there was more willingness to
meet the needs and wishes of refugees in homes and camps. The principle of
separating families was abandoned. After 1943, students were allowed to
continue their studies – which had been interrupted by their flight – at Swiss
universities and thanks to private initiatives university camps were set up for
156