SWITZERLAND 2007

 

There was a reduction in antisemitic activity in Switzerland in 2007 compared to the previous year. A total of 72 antisemitic instances were recorded, 38 in the French-speaking part and 34 in the German-speaking part. The xenophobic Swiss People’s Party, led by Christoph Blocher, made repeated attempts to abolish the clause in Swiss criminal law that prohibits racist acts and denial of genocide.

 

the jewish community

Jewish community numbers remained stable at about 18,000, or 0.25 percent of Switzerland's population of 7.3 million. All major cities in Switzerland have a Jewish community, the largest being located in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. Seventeen communities are members of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG/FSCI). Switzerland's two liberal communities have formed a platform with the SIG to deal with antisemitism and security. CICAD (Coordination Intercommunautaire Contre l'Antisémitisme et la Diffamation), based in Geneva, represents Switzerland's French-speaking Jewish communities.

The communities operate Jewish day schools in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne and four newspapers: Tachles and Jüdische Zeitung (in German) and Revue Juive and Hayom (in French).

            Monitoring of antisemitism and assistance to victims in the French-speaking part is carried out by CICAD (for report, see www.cicad.ch), while the AKdH ((Aktion Kinder des Holocaust) covers the German-speaking region. The two reports are integrated by the SIG, which advises and represents most of the communities on matters related to antisemitism.

 

extremist organizations

The xenophobic Swiss People’s Party (SVP/UDC), led by Christoph Blocher, who was Swiss minister of justice until December 2007 (see below), made repeated attempts to abolish the clause in Swiss criminal law that prohibits racist acts and denial of genocide in public, on the grounds that it unduly restricts freedom of expression. Their campaign included a scheme to deport immigrant families (immigrants make up 20 percent of the Swiss population) if their children were convicted of a violent crime, drug offenses or fraud. A preliminary procedure introduced by Blocher aimed at removing this provision, however, was rejected by the Swiss federal parliament.

            National elections for the Swiss Federal Assembly (federal parliament), the National Council and the Council of States were held in Switzerland between October and December. The SVP/UDC consolidated its position by running an efficient campaign demonizing foreigners in general and Muslims in particular. Accusing them of criminality and dependence on public welfare, it hung posters calling to expel "black sheep" from Swiss society. The SVP/UDC remained the leading party in the National Council, increasing its vote by 2.3 percent to 29.0 percent.

The electoral success of the SVP/UDC was attributed in large part to Christoph Blocher. The parliamentary election, which takes place every four years, is followed by the election by parliament of the Swiss government, composed of seven ministers (federal councilors) of all principal parties. Although, generally, existing ministers are re-elected, on December 12, the parties, with the exception of the SVP/UDS, succeeded in electing Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, a more moderate representative of the party, to replace Blocher as minister of justice. Following her acceptance, she was ejected from the party.

Blocher was ousted not only because of his extremist views but because of his aggressive rhetoric which affected relations within the government. Indeed, many deputies had voted for Blocher four years earlier in the hope that membership in the government would make him more collegial.

            On August 24, Roland Wagner, vice-president of the right-wing Swiss Democrates (SD), which lost its only seat in the National Council, resigned his position, after he had helped two German neo-Nazis, Timo Voelkerland and Daniela Uebelacker, members of the neo-Nazi Freie Nationalisten Rhein-Main, organize a shooting exercise in Switzerland. The training session was filmed secretly by Apabiz, an anti-fascist study center in Berlin. The Swiss army lodged an investigation against Wagner for illegal possession of weapons.

            A rise in right-wing extremist activity was observed by Jewish community monitoring agencies. For example, in September, uniformed neo-Nazis were seen playing war games in the streets. Others were reported building bunkers and trenches in an attempt to re-animate the everyday lives of Wehrmacht soldiers. Two non-Jewish schools, in Gruyere and Bulle, were vandalized by neo-Nazis in January. Swastikas were found on the windows of the Gruyere school.

Although no violent activity was recorded by the Swiss left or by extremist Muslims groups, condemnation of Israel in antisemitic terms in the streets of Swiss cities was considered the work of such groups. For example, on October 7, a poster with the text “USA, global manipulation,” adorned with three Stars of David, and the tags “53rd US state,” “USA Tsahal [Israel Defense Force]” and “Very, very dirty,” was reported in the Rue des Grottes in Lausanne. A few months later, the same poster was again seen with tags such as, “4,000,000 Jews in Palestine, 20,000,000 Israelis in the USA,” and “New-York/Tel Aviv/Guantanamo.”

 

antisemitic and racist activity

Data collected from both regions showed a reduction in antisemitic activity in 2007 compared to 2006. This tendency was related to the calmer political atmosphere both in the Middle East and in Switzerland compared to the previous year. A total of 72 antisemitic instances (2006: 140) were recorded, 34 in the German-speaking part and 38 in the French-speaking part.

            The widely publicized fire at the Hekhal Haness Synagogue, which occurred during the festival of Shavuot and severely damaged the building, is not included in the above statistics. The only conclusion that the police and the public prosecutor could reach was that the fire had been lit deliberately; however, they were unable to prove that the motive was antisemitic, despite the significant choice of target.

            Most of the incidents involved antisemitic graffiti on or near Jewish facilities and anti-Jewish texts in printed and electronic materials. For example, antisemitic graffiti saying “Jews out” and “We hate you dirty Jews” and swastikas were discovered near the main Zurich synagogue in July.

In addition, an article published in October in a pre-election context in the weekly Le Confédéré, a newspaper close to the moderate right-wing Radical Party, made the following statement : “It seems that UDC wants to gain the power and wealth of the country (like the Jews in the dormant assets affair [see, for example, ASW 1999/2000]).” When asked by CICAD for a retraction, the chief editor Adolphe Ribordy refused, explaining that his statement referred to the attitude of the World Jewish Congress in connection with the monetary claims made against Switzerland, and attacked the use of accusations of antisemitism by Jewish organizations.

            The Radical Party, although embarrassed by the article, claimed that Confédéré was not an official party mouthpiece. Furthermore, it complained about the aggressive tone used by CICAD.

 

opinion poll

An opinion poll conducted in March by gsf.bern, an institute for sociologic research based in Bern, among a representative sample of 1,030 residents of Switzerland found that 10 percent of respondents revealed antisemitic attitudes, while 28 percent had a few antisemitic prejudices or had anti-Jewish opinions that were partly connected to their views on Israel; 37 percent held mainly positive views about Jews. There are no comparable surveys for previous years.

It is noteworthy that the majority of the Swiss population favors combating antisemitic trends in the Swiss population and supports criminal sanctions for antisemitic actions as well as anti-racism legislation.

 

attitudes toward the holocaust and the nazi era

In March the final report of ICHEIC (International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims) was issued. The Zurich and Winterthur companies were to pay 3.3 million dollars to Holocaust survivors and their heirs.

 

responses to racism and antisemitism

In light of the attempts of then Justice Minister Christoph Blocher to abolish the clause in the penal code relating to racism and denial of genocide, it should be noted that according to a report published on April 7 by the Swiss Commission against Racism (EKR), Jews topped the list of victims of cases brought in Switzerland between 1995−2004 on the basis of article 261bis of the Swiss Criminal Code against the perpetrators. This provision prohibits racist actions and statements in public as well as public denial of genocide. Of the 277 cases of criminal proceedings regarding discrimination, 25 percent involved Jews and 20 percent involved colored foreigners; 12 percent of the perpetrators were associated with the extreme right. The relatively large number of antisemitic cases (compared to the overall figure for racist offenses) brought before the tribunals is due in part to the fact that the Jewish organizations and individuals are more organized and their awareness of their rights more developed.

            A ceremony scheduled for March 12 in Geneva, Switzerland, to commemorate Louis-Ferdinand Céline, the French physician and author of antisemitic pamphlets, was cancelled. The owner of the apartment where Celine lived during the years 1925−27 and where a memorial plaque was to be placed cancelled the event after he received anonymous threat letters.

            Three soldiers accused in March of making the Nazi salute and uttering racist ideas were to face a military tribunal in Switzerland. A military judge failed to have the affair settled within the army unit. Earlier, in January, Felix Muller was appointed head of the Special Service against Extremism in the Swiss army. The unit, in cooperation with other army departments regulating behavior discipline, was to work to combat racism in the military.