Greeks in Switzerland

The Greek community in Switzerland consists of Greek residents in Switzerland and their descendants.

It is part of the worldwide Greek diaspora .

history

Greeks who had left the Ottoman Empire lived in Switzerland as early as the 18th century . In August 1821, the Greek Revolution (Greek War of Independence against the Turks) had already lasted four months, the first philhellenic organization was founded in Bern , another center of the movement was Geneva , from where the Greek by choice Jean-Gabriel Eynard also came . The story of a character of Greek origin describes Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1955 novel Greek seeks Greek .

Numerous Greek millionaires have settled in Gstaad since the 1960s. In the BILANZ list of the 300 richest there are six Greeks, the reason for emigration to Switzerland is the tax legislation. The family of Spiros Latsis is one of the ten richest families in Switzerland. In 2013 it became known that Spiros Latsis had moved from Geneva to Monaco .

During the military dictatorship (1967–1974) in Greece, many opposition figures found asylum in Switzerland. The Swiss Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Greece was founded in Bern in 1967. In 1975 the Association of Greek Academics in Switzerland was founded in Zurich .

With 63 donations to Switzerland, in particular Graubünden and the Engadin (as of 2008), this is the second most important country after Greece, in which the Stavros-Niarchos-Foundation finances charitable projects. While still alive, Stavros Niarchos set up a foundation for the Upper Engadin District Hospital in Samedan.

Some Swiss writers have Greek roots; Georges Haldas was born in Geneva in 1917 as the son of the Greek accountant Léonidas Halter and the Swiss Marguerite Monard. Perikles Monioudis was born in Switzerland to Greek parents. One of the most important mediators of modern Greek literature and culture in the German-speaking area was the journalist, historian and university lecturer in Neo- Greek Studies Pavlos Tzermias .

Demographics

A total of 8,340 and 11,000 people of Greek descent live in Switzerland, around 7,000 of them in the greater Zurich area . The main cities with a large proportion of people of Greek descent have Greek associations and organizations.