Aid for workers' children in Switzerland

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The Arbeitserkinderhilfe der Schweiz was an aid organization founded in Zurich in 1932 to support the children of Swiss unemployed people and emigrants , which existed until 1936 . When its activities increasingly shifted to humanitarian and refugee aid as a result of the persecution by National Socialism , it merged with the Swiss Workers' Relief Organization (SAH) founded in 1936 .

The children's aid organization founded by social democratic activists began its activities in 1932 under the name Proletarian Children's Aid . The name was changed to Arbeitserkinderhilfe der Schweiz in 1933, with Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann as head .

At this time, Children's Aid expanded its activities to Austria and France , which were threatened by the growing Third Reich , and organized children's recreational activities for French émigré children in Switzerland over several months . This was done in cooperation with the Swiss Aid Organization for Emigrant Children (SHEK). This work, under the direction of Nettie Sutro-Katzenstein , was also founded in 1933 with the aim of supporting the children of parents who had emigrated to France. This activity - which enabled almost 5,000 children to relax by 1939 - was increasingly being transferred to the SHEK.

Since, on the other hand, the worker's child aid increasingly shifted to the areas of refugee aid and further training , the merger with the newly founded Swiss Workers' Relief Organization in 1936 was only logical. It is sponsored by the Swiss Confederation of Trade Unions and the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland .

For aid in the Spanish Civil War, the SAH joined forces in 1937 with 13 aid organizations to form the Swiss Working Group for Spanish Children (Ayuda Suiza, SAS) , which in 1940 - due to the expansion of the war misery to more and more countries (Finland, Poland, Benelux, France) - was 17 Organizations for the Swiss working group for war-damaged children and, from January 1, 1942, for children's aid of the Swiss Red Cross .

After 1945, the Swiss Workers' Relief Organization also undertook humanitarian and development aid in Southeastern Europe and later disaster and reconstruction aid in several countries in Africa, Asia and Central America. Today, under the new name Solidar Suisse (from 2011), it is a humanitarian aid organization with a wide range of activities including development cooperation and currently 65 projects.

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