Switzerland and the genocide: new research and perspectives In the context of Switzerland’s chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

During the Second World War, Switzerland was the neutral power whose geostrategic position was the most threatened; it was landlocked in the heart of German Europe from November 1942. What were the asylum policies conducted by Switzerland with regard to persecuted Jews, from the beginning of Nazism until 1942, then from 1942 until the end of the war? Has Switzerland been a place of refuge? As part of this symposium, historians specializing in these questions will share with us their latest works concerning the attitude of Switzerland towards persecutions and the Holocaust.

German and Swiss soldiers on the German-Swiss border, 1940. Shoah Memorial/coll.

→ 9:30 am Opening

→ 10 a.m. Switzerland and the Third Reich
Presidency: Mauro Cerutti, professor emeritus, University of Geneva

Diplomatic, military, economic and financial issues
Thomas Maissen, professor, University of Heidelberg, director, Institut historique allemand, Paris

Restitution and discussions on dormant accounts in the post-war period
Jakob Tanner, professor emeritus, University of Zurich

The Swiss information platform on persecution and genocide, and Jewish organizations
Jacques Picard, professor emeritus, University of Basel

Official research on Switzerland and the Second World War: from the Ludwig report (1957) to the Bergier report (2002)
François Wisard, historian, historical service, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

→ 11:30 The passage to Switzerland. 1933-1945
Presidency: Renée Poznanski, Ben-Gurion University, Israel

The refoulement of Jewish refugees at the Swiss border
Serge Klarsfeld, historian

The report of the Bergier commission on refugees. Introduction
Marc Perrenoud, historian

The passage from France to Switzerland
Ruth Fivaz-Silbermann, historian

The passage from Italy to Switzerland
Fabrizio Panzera, State Archives, Canton of Ticino

The influx of Jewish refugees from Italy to Switzerland during World War II. Quantitative aspects and case study: the border guard post of Caprino.
Adriano Bazzocco, historian

The passage from Germany to Switzerland
Guido Koller, historian

→ 3 p.m. Actions and inaction: the Swiss abroad and foreigners in Switzerland
Presidency: André Kaspi, professor emeritus of universities

The silence of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the face of deportations
Daniel Palmieri, historical researcher, ICRC, Geneva

The Swiss Red Cross – Rescue of children. The great figures of the Just and rescue
Helena Kanyar-Becker, historian

The allied intelligence services in Switzerland
Christian Rossé, historian

Foreign diplomats in Switzerland and false documents
Jakub Kumoch, Ambassador of Poland to Switzerland and Markus Blechner, honorary consul of Poland in Switzerland

→ 5 p.m. History and memory of Switzerland during the Second World War
Presidency: Denis Peschanski, research director, CNRS

The places of memory of the Holocaust in Switzerland
Fabienne Meyer, historian

Challenges for education and memory in a neutral country and a context of diversity
Monique Eckmann, professor emeritus, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, Geneva

History and memory of Switzerland in the face of the Holocaust. General conclusion
Georg Kreis, professor emeritus, University of Basel
Mauro Cerutti, professor emeritus, University of Geneva

Programme subject to change.