II.4. L’afflux des réfugiés juifs de l’Italie vers la Suisse pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale : la question des refoulés

Abstract

The Swiss policy of turning away Jewish refugees at the border during WWII has sparked endless debates. This article explores the migration of Jews from Italy in particular. The Independent Commission of Swiss Experts — World War II (ICE) found that Switzerland turned away at least 12,500 civilian refugees at the Italian border, most of whom were Jewish.According to this author, a large number of these refugees were in fact not civilians, but rather soldiers from the Italian army who, after the armistice of 8 September 1943, no longer wanted to fight alongside the Wehrmacht. Even though research into this topic is still ongoing, the author can already state that the number of refugees who were turned back at the Italian border was in the hundreds, not thousands.The Swiss Canton of Tessin, which bore the brunt of the influx of immigrants arriving from Italy, took steps to welcome political Italian refugees and provided them with preferential treatment, but was reticent to do the same with Jewish refugees seeking asylum. Like elsewhere in Switzerland, the Canton of Tessin also saw varying levels of anti-Semitic attitudes.It was only in July 1944 that Switzerland formally decided to welcome Jews. By that time, however, very few were requesting asylum. The country’s change of heart had come too late. Switzerland opened its doors to Jewish refugees only after a long and damning delay.