The politics of “transmigration” : why jewish refugees had to leave Switzerland from 1944 to 1954

Author(s) : Simon Erlanger

Source : http://www.jstor.org/stable/25834667

Abstract:

The effort to prevent Jewish immigration was central to the Swiss authorities long before the rise of Nazism in Germany and the resultant waves of refugees who reached the Swiss borders in the 1930s and 1940s. Special regulations were enacted to prevent “foreign infiltration,” making it increasingly difficult for Jews to settle in Switzerland. Instead, the aim of Swiss policy was “transmigration” or onward migration; permanent asylum was to be denied. The transmigration policy was suspended during the war. However, most of the Jews who managed to reach Switzerland were interned to prevent them from striking roots in the country. Transmigration was resumed in 1944, and subsequent improvements in Switzerland’s treatment of the refugees were made in this context. By 1954, Switzerland had succeeded in compelling almost all the Jewish refugees to leave.