Notes from the Federal Palace AMANDINE MADZIEL In the maternity hospital in Elne, the lives of women and children of many nationalities and religions were saved as they fled from Franco’s dictatorship or then had to flee the Gestapo. Spanish, Jewish and Romany women were hidden here, in spite of orders from the Swiss Red Cross to follow Vichy’s racial laws. Around 200 Jewish babies are believed to have been saved. Elisabeth Eidenbenz took in and cared for those seen as ‘undesirable’. Thanks to her determination and sometimes her disobedience, 600 babies escaped certain death via a Swiss maternity ward. Her story Born in Wila (Zurich) in 1913 to pastor Johann Albrecht Eidenbenz and Marie Eidenbenz, née Hess, she was the third of six children. Elisabeth trained as a teacher. She attended Zurich Youth College from 1929 to 1933 and the School of Domestic Economy in Neukirch an der Thur in 1934. She began her career as a teacher in working-class neighbourhoods in Winterthur and Zurich. Elisabeth was first recruited as an aid worker by the Service Civil International in 1938, during the Spanish Civil War, and initially looked after the employees of the Swiss Aid Committee for the Children of Spain, otherwise known as Ayuda Suiza, in Burjassot in the province of Valencia. In January 1939, when Catalonia was conquered by the Francoists, she was dispatched to the South of France to set up a maternity and rest home for refugee women and their children in Brouilla, near the Spanish border. When the home had to be evacuated in late September 1939, Eidenbenz spotted the Château d’En Bardou, in the neighbouring town of Elne. She raised the funds required, and the property was purchased by the Swiss Aid Committee for the Children of Spain. A little renovation work later, and it officially opened its doors as a maternity hospital. An iconic image: Elisabeth Eidenbenz with Spanish child refugee Pablo. All images from the Paul Senn photo reportage in the “Schweizer Illustrierte” newspaper of 25 February 1942 © Gottfried Keller Foundation Elisabeth Eidenbenz: a story of modesty This Swiss Abroad, who was modest and remains little known to the general public, brought hope and humanity in times of war. of hope. A large number of women were unable to bring their older children with them and were forced to leave them in the camps. These moments were genuinely heartbreaking and having to be split up like this was unimaginably traumatic for the families. Yet, being able to rest out of the wind and the cold, as well as having sufficient food, was an unimaginable blessing for the women and children who ended up in the maternity hospital. The place of refuge offered these uprooted and excluded women a safe haven and support to allow them to concentrate on The Mothers of Elne The Mothers of Elne, which was in operation between November/December 1939 and Easter 1944, provided rest and respite for its residents. They came mostly from the camps surrounding Rivesaltes and Argèles and were in a lamentable state when they arrived. The cold, sand, lice, scabies, dysentery and more took the lives of many babies and children in the camps. Mortality rates were atrocious and making it to the maternity hospital gave its residents a ray Swiss Review / October 2025 / No.4 28
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