Language:
French
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte
Angaben zur Quelle:
51,3 (2001) 296-317
Keywords:
Jews History 1939-1945
;
Jewish refugees
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jewish children in the Holocaust
Abstract:
Discusses Swiss refugee policy at the French-Geneva border between 1942-44. 9,860 Jews, 42% of all Jewish refugees entering Switzerland, crossed the border there. Provides information on 884 Jews who were turned away, 117 of whom were deported, shot, or went missing. The first to be refused and handed over to French or German authorities were escapees from the Groupements de travailleurs étrangers, destined for deportation from France in 1942. From October 1942 on, women and children were turned back secretly and not handed over, but 30% of them were caught by German border patrols. Describes the organization of three illegal rescue networks, each with a different approach to federal instructions concerning refugees. Through these networks, 120 Jews from Belgium entered Switzerland for family reunification, over 1,000 Jewish children arrived between 1943-44, and 200 (mostly baptized) Jews were accepted thanks to ecumenical lists. Concludes that Genevan border officials were indifferent to the increasing threat to Jewish lives after September 1943, as were federal authorities. Only in July 1944 were Jews accepted as political refugees in Switzerland.
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