Swiss Review 4/2021

Swiss Review / August 2021 / No.4 32 “That deep connection with Europe is being called into question” He has been passionate in his efforts to preserve Switzerland’s memory of the Holocaust. And he wants the “Fifth Switzerland” to have greater political clout. Outgoing OSA President Remo Gysin looks back – and ahead. INTERVIEW: MARC LETTAU Mr Gysin, you were born shortly before the end of the Second World War. And now you are campaigning for a Swiss Holocaust me- morial. Will the memorial project be your lasting legacy? This is a subject that has alwaysmoved me. Thewar and its consequences and the atrocities of the Holocaust were something we always talked about at school and at home. It is a very difficult subject. I still can’t comprehend what happened. But, decades later, tell us what motivated you to reignite the conversation by proposing a memorial. “Beobachter” set the ball rolling in 2017 with a novel take on the subject. The magazine focused on the people with Swiss passports who were victims of the horrors of that era, the Swiss fight- ers in the French Resistance, and Swit- zerland’s Jewish expatriates. However, victims also included womenwho lost their Swiss citizenship through mar- riage – and consequently any protec- tion that Switzerland may otherwise havegiventhem. Thismovedmedeeply. No one loses their Swiss citizenship through marriage now. Swiss Abroad gen- erally get greater protection and recogni- tion than they did back then. Things seem to be different these days. By no means is everything perfect. Take the current resurgence in an- ti-Semitism. When tensions escalate between Israel and Palestine, for ex- ample, this poses a renewed threat to Swiss Abroad. But other people in the “Fifth Switzerland” also need our pro- tection, such as those affected by nat- ural disasters or by poverty. The groundwork for a Swiss Holocaust me- morial has been laid. Do any past highlights that you remember pale in comparison? My 20 years in the OSA have been full of memorablemoments. In particular, all the personal encounters that I have had with Swiss Abroad. I was also lucky enough that the start of my presidential term coincided with the OSA’s 100th-anniversary celebrations. A spectacular way to start. This was followed by other spectacu- larmoments, such as the Swiss Abroad Day at the 2019 “Fête des Vignerons” (winegrowers’ festival) inVevey. Even the pandemic was remarkable in a completely different way. I thought it was incredible how swiftly we were able to switch to entirely new forms of communication. If memorable moments shape our view of the past, then the future is all about the challenges that lie ahead. For example, the framework agreement with the EU is dead. Switzerland walking away from the negotiations raises many questions regarding the future of things such as international mobility, freedom of es- tablishment, freedom of movement, health insurance, and social security. There is now a great deal of uncer- tainty. We are conducting this interview in Basel. If you looked around you would not notice any difference here. Remo Gysin present- ing the Holocaust memorial project in Berne. Photo: Keystone