Extreme right-wing violence, especially against foreigners, increased in 1997. Several anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in August, coinciding with the opening ceremony of the centennial of the first Zionist Congress in Basel, and mounting accusations against Switzerland for its wartime dealings with the Nazis. Extreme right-wing party activists spoke out against the setting up of a special governmental fund for Holocaust victims. However, the anti-Semitic campaign resulting from the 1996 revelations regarding Nazi gold and deposits of Holocaust victims in Swiss banks, declined somewhat.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

EXTREMIST MOVEMENTS AND HATE GROUPS

Skinheads of all shades were responsible for increasing violence in the streets. In addition to the Swiss Hammerskins (SHS), the leading Swiss skinhead group, the Rechts-Front-Ybrig (RFY) has been active since April 1997. Members are between 17 and 20 years old, and their slogan is " RFY -- Save the nation." The Patriotische Ostflügel (POF), a group of skinheads in easternmost Switzerland, display stickers with xenophobic slogans. Another newly formed skinhead group, Nationale Initiative Schweiz (NIS), introduced their publication Morgenstern at the beginning of the year on the occasion of the JSVP (Young SVP) convention, revealing the close links between an extreme right-wing group and a legal political party.

In spite of the authorities' efforts to curb the activities of extremist groups, many succeeded in reorganizing by joining the European-wide network of the radical right. An increase of violence was registered in extreme right-wing circles in 1997. As in other West European countries, extremists set fire to asylum seekers' homes. A serious arson attack took place, for example, in Nussbaumen in August 1997.

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES

Several anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in August, coinciding with the opening ceremony of the centennial of the first Zionist Congress in Basel, and mounting accusations against Switzerland for its wartime dealings with the Nazis. It was suspected that a small device that exploded not far from the opening ceremony was connected to this event. Moreover, Jewish community leaders had to be given police protection after they received death threats. It was also reported that a man, wearing a skullcap, was assaulted on a Zurich tram in summer 1997. Another incident in August was the refusal by a landlord in Arosa to let a vacation apartment to Rabbi Abraham Pinter of the UK, with the remark, "We don't let to Jews."

Propaganda and Holocaust Denial

The anti-Semitic propaganda campaign launched in 1996 in the wake of the revelations concerning Nazi gold and deposits of Holocaust victims in Swiss banks decreased somewhat in 1997. Still this year, too, anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial propaganda was distributed in Switzerland, including a cassette entitled "A New World Order." It contained anti-Semitic conspiracy claims based on the anti-Semitic books of Jan van Helsing and Des Griffin (see ASW 1996/7). The cassette was produced by the well-known neo-Nazi activist Martin Frischknecht. Jürgen Graf, Switzerland's leading Holocaust denier, continued to publish his books, which have been translated into several languages (see previous reports). His writings are mainly disseminated through the Canadian-based Zündelsite and the Belgium-based site of the Vrij Historisch Onderzoek, both Holocaust denial forums on the Internet. Graf, who graduated in Danish from the University of Bern in 1978, is often invited by Danish and Scandinavian neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers to lecture, write papers or translate their publications. Several charges for criminal activities were brought against him in 1997.

An anti-Semitic manifesto of 20 pages, denying the Holocaust and defaming and insulting Zionists, was circulated in Switzerland in 1997. The manifesto purported to "protect Switzerland from slanderers and blackmailers." The pamphlet called Zionists "Jewish Nazis" and referred to "the lies" of the Nazi gold campaign. It was printed and distributed by the anti-Semitic group FAZIS (Front of Anti-Zionists of Switzerland). Anti-Zionist propaganda leaflets were also disseminated by NIS skinheads during the events marking the centenary of the Zionist Congress.

SVP politician Ernst Gassmann attracted public attention by using insulting language toward Jews during the Shrovetide (period of Christian penitence before Easter). He was convicted of infringing the anti-racist law and fined Sfr 800.

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

As in 1996, statements rejecting or minimizing Switzerland's moral obligation to Holocaust victims continued as part of the public polemic (see ASW 1996/7), especially of right-wing circles. FDP president Franz Steinegger claimed, during the discussion of Switzerland' s role during World War II, that the country had become the object of "extortion," while SVP/UDC leader Christoph Blocher came out against the creation of a Holocaust fund as well as against the planned Foundation for Solidarity, using his website on the Internet as well as right-wing publications such as the monthly Schweizerzeit to express his views. Switzerland's President Flavio Cotti aroused controversy when he claimed that criticism of Switzerland's wartime role was limited to certain regions in the US, especially New York. As a result, World Jewish Congress vice president Kalman Sultanik accused Cotti of using the same language as that of former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, who was barred from entering the US because of his wartime role in a Nazi military unit. Sultanik recalled that Waldheim had claimed to be the victim of "interest groups in New York and the lobby of the American East Coast."

The roots of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism were discussed in spring 1997 at a meeting organized by the Reformed Church Community in Zurich-Eng. The participants were historians, representatives of the Reformed Church, the secretary of the Swiss Bishops' Conference and a representative of the Jewish community in Zurich. One of the conclusions reached was that while political Catholicism condemned racist and biological anti-Semitism, it did not dissociate itself from the old anti-Jewish religious stereotypes. Thus, it was partly responsible for creating an atmosphere which enabled silent acquiescence to Switzerland's restrictive wartime policy. It was agreed by all parties that without religious anti-Semitism, racist and biological anti-Semitism would not have gained such strength.

RESPONSES TO EXTREMISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

In reaction to the wave of anti-Semitism in Switzerland, aroused by the controversial issue of Jewish funds, the cultural committee of the Jewish community, together with the Theatre Saint-Gervais, produced a play based on anti-Semitic letters which had appeared in the press. The play, directed by Shelley Kastner, was shown in Zurich, Bern, Biel and Geneva. These letters, which accused the Jews of every evil, from the atomic bomb to pornography and racism, demonstrated a deeply-rooted anti-Semitism expressed in negative Jewish stereotypes, such as "the money Jew," "the criminal," "the Nazi," "the war criminal [Zionists], "the liar," the Jew as "immoral, powerful and influential" and "the animal torturer." The play was followed by a discussion between the audience and invited guests, including historians, sociologists and politicians.

Court Cases

In 1997 charges were brought against publishers and bookshops that disseminated anti-Semitic books and journals. Marcel Huber, alias Harry Zwiefel, author and publisher of the book Uns trifft keine Schuld: Report der amerkanisch-jüdischen Attacken und Lügen gegen die Schweiz, was among those charged, as was Ernst Indlekofer, editor of the paper Recht + Freiheit, for minimizing the Holocaust. Marion Danowski was fined Sfr 1500 for publishing a book called Hermann Esser, The Jewish World Plague and offering for sale an Encyclopedia of National Socialism as well as Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Following a complaint by the Swiss chapter of the anti-racist organization LICRA, the attorney-general of the canton of Geneva fined two bookshops for disseminating Roger Garaudy's Founding Myths of Israeli Politics (see France and previous reports).