Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Citing Holocaust, Swiss Jews Demand Open Door for Migrants

Citing Switzerland’s refusal to take in greater numbers of Jews during the Holocaust, the president of its Federation of Jewish Communities urged his government to take in migrants from the Middle East.

Federation president Herbert Winter’s plea, titled “Refugees: No, the Boat is not Full,” was published Tuesday in the Les Temps daily.

While thousands of Jews found refuge in neutral Switzerland from the Nazi genocide, “thousands also were turned away at the borders and murdered in concentration camps,” Winter wrote.

The Swiss are “privileged” to have good economic circumstances and “morally obligated to act for those less fortunate,” wrote Winter, who cited the integration of Swiss Jewry into society as proof that host countries benefit from immigration as much as the newcomers.

More than 340,000 migrants, many of them refugees, have crossed over to Europe from the Middle East this year, according to the European Union’s border authority. The flow has increased drastically in recent weeks, as tens of thousands entered through Hungary and Slovenia.

Jewish European groups, including the Central Jewish Organization of the Netherlands, urged European governments to act generously toward refugees from Syria and Iraq, who make up a large portion of the migrants. Some of the same groups also urged vigilance to prevent terrorism and an increase in anti-Semitic violence as a result of the stream of immigrants.

In Hungary alone, some 150 Jews are involved in relief operations for refugees, according to the Mazsihisz umbrella group of Jewish communities. And in Britain, some 150 young Jews last week took part in a march in London in support of refugees.

Separately in the Netherlands, a Jewish hotel owner, Benoit Wesly, said this week he would house refugees in two rooms in each of his two hotels in the southern city of Maastricht, where they would also receive free meals. “Entrepreneurs must do something to solve this problem,” he told RTL broadcaster.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.