Swiss Review 1/2020

Swiss Review / January 2020 / No.1 8 Focus There was another reason why the Swiss authorities refrained from do- ing everything they could to protect at-risk Swiss citizens abroad. Some – criminals, social misfits, disabled people – were actually unwanted be- cause it would have put a strain on the state purse to house them. Others belonged to groups that were ostra- cised in Switzerland: communists, gypsies, homosexuals, social outsid- ers. “There is considerable evidence in the records to support this,” says Spörri. Thus, the Chief of the Division of Foreign Affairs in Berne, Pierre Bonna, informed the diplomats in Berlin that “the embassy is not per- mitted to put itself on the line if by doing so it disadvantages all other Swiss that are worth protecting for the benefit of elements who have con- tributed to the difficulties they now find themselves in through their own fault or un-Swiss, challenging behav- iour”. “That sort of woman” This stance sealed the fate of Anna Böhringer-Bürgi from Basel. The au- thorities labelled her behaviour “dis- solute” early on; she also encountered problems with the law. By marrying a German, the mother of seven lost her Swiss citizenship. Shortly after war broke out, she sought refuge in Switzerland at the age of 54 and ap- plied to regain her citizenship. She was turned down. She was deemed to be “a notorious harlot and law- breaker”; care would be taken to en- sure that “that sort of woman does not regain cantonal citizenship” noted a civil servant. Böhringer had to leave the country. In 1945, she died in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Later, Switzerland rejected her daughter’s application for compensa- tion. They justified their decision by saying that her mother did not have Swiss citizenship at the time of her arrest. The 391 concentration camp victims detailed in the book have nowall died. Their horrific experiences stayedwith survivors like AlbertMülli theirwhole lives. The Zurich plumber and social democrat was arrested by the Gestapo inVienna in 1938 and later transferred to the Dachau concentration camp as a political prisoner. Hewas accused of having communist ties. Mülli sur- vived six years there. He returned to Switzerland, started a new life and be- came amember of the cantonal parlia- ment. Before his death in 1997, the past caught up with him. In the nursing home where he lived with dementia, hewas tormented by nightmares. Day andnight, he relived the horrors of the concentration camp. Mülli’s daughter told the book authors that it was very painful to watch him suffer this way. Keeping memories alive The book is just the start, says Spörri; extensive research into Swiss victims of the Nazi terror is required. Moral reparation is also needed; recognition that these victims existed, that they were harmed and had suffered injus- tice. Many of them fought against the Nazi regime and paid with their lives. “We think it’s time that a member of the Federal Council says something on the topic,” Spörri says. The author welcomes the commitment of the Or- ganisation of the Swiss Abroad to erecting a memorial (see Page 9). To date, the Federal Council has said nothing definite on the topic of me- morials. A memorial could be combined with digital forms of remembrance to reach the younger generations too, suggests Spörri. Such as a website con- taining the life stories of the victims; i.e. a virtual memorial. One thing is clear: there will soon be no more con- temporarywitnesses to theHolocaust. This makes it all the more important to store their accounts in a collective memory. Anne-Françoise Perret-Gentil-dit-Maillard, a book binder from Neuchâtel, joined the Resistance in Paris. She was deported to a concentration camp, but managed to escape. Switzerland refused to compensate her for her suffering as a Nazi victim. The Zurich social democrat Albert Mülli, pictured here in 1995, fell into the clutches of the Gestapo in Vienna in 1938. He survived several years in the Dachau concentration camp. Back in Switzerland, he was spied upon by the intelligence services. Claude Richard Loever was arrested in France in 1944 for his involvement in the Resistance. The occupation authorities initially deported the 18-year-old to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. He died in 1945 in the bombardment of the Buchenwald concentration camp. All photos: Laurent Favre, Dorénaz Archives. From: “Die Schweizer KZ-Häftlinge”, 2019, © NZZ Libro