Swiss Association of Israelites

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The Swiss Association of Israelites ( SIG ), founded in 1904, represents the majority of Jews in Switzerland . Today 16 member communities are affiliated to the umbrella organization . The main tasks of the SIG are to represent Jewish interests vis-à-vis federal authorities , institutions throughout Switzerland and the media, dialogue with other religious communities, the promotion of knowledge about Judaism in Switzerland and the representation of Swiss interests in international Jewish organizations. The aim of the SIG is also the prevention of all forms of anti-Semitism and racism . He is also committed to religious issues, such as the supply of kosher meat .

history

When it was founded in Baden in 1904, the association was initially subject to 13 Jewish communities. The purpose was set to "protect and represent the general interests of Judaism in Switzerland." The most important items on the program at that time were, among other things, the fight against the ban on slaughter anchored in the Swiss constitution in 1893 (in 1926 the SIG received from the authorities the exclusive import license for butchered meat) and the coordination of the cemetery issue . Although Jewish citizens were constitutionally treated as equals as early as 1874, they were still discriminated against in Switzerland. The areas of responsibility of the SIG expanded over the years and also included the centralization of poor relief, placement of Jewish traveling teachers, holidays for Jewish soldiers, as well as help for needy Jews in pogrom countries.

In the time of National Socialism until the end of the Second World War , the dominant field of work of the community federation and its aid organization, the Association of Swiss Israelite Poor Care (VSIA), was solidarity with the Jews seeking refuge. At the beginning of 1945 the VSJF, as the relief organization was called, looked after around 23,000 people. Aid to refugees was very costly, and the SIG had few resources to help Jews abroad. Therefore, he concentrated the aid primarily on consignments of food, clothes and medicines via Le Colis Suisse or the ICRC . The association of municipalities gained international importance in foreign aid through the fact that its then President Saly Mayer took over the honorary representation of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in Switzerland.

However, the SIG fought against the defensive stance of the Swiss government with little success. At the end of 1936 the SIG founded the Jewish News Agency (JUNA) in order to intensify its defense against increasing anti-Semitism . In general, however, the SIG's public presence was characterized by caution and restraint. The high point was the internationally acclaimed Bern trial of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion , which was a great success in 1935 when the court exposed the conspiracy writings that were circulating around the world as a forgery.

The new and old tasks of the SIG after the Second World War consisted of “vigilance against possible hostility” and “cooperation in all cultural and social endeavors”. The “ economic miracle ” of the 1950s and the establishment of the Christian-Jewish dialogue sustainably promoted the acceptance of the community federation.

In the 1990s, the SIG brokered the remaining "heirless accounts" from the Second World War between the Swiss authorities and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in the case of dormant assets .

For decades the VSJF was a division of the SIG. Today it is an independent association and at the same time the social department of the SIG. The entire archive of the SIG is located in the Archive for Contemporary History at ETH Zurich and is open to interested parties for research purposes.

President

Term of office Surname
1904-1914 Hermann Guggenheim
1914-1936 Jules Dreyfus-Brodsky
1936-1943 Saly Mayer
1943-1946 Saly Braunschweig
1946-1973 Georges Brunschvig
1973-1980 Jean Nordmann
1980-1988 Robert Braunschweig
1988-1992 Michael Kohn
1992-2000 Rolf Bloch
2000-2008 Alfred Donath
since 2008 Herbert Winter

Member communities

As of July 2017: 16 member communities

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zsolt Keller: History of the Swiss Association of Israelites - SIG. In: swissjews.ch/SIG Factsheet. Swiss Association of Israelites (SIG), September 1, 2009, accessed on June 9, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Swiss Association of Israelites (SIG) / IB SIG archive. In: Archive for Contemporary History / onlinearchives.ethz.ch . ETH Zurich , accessed on June 9, 2017 (German, French, English).
  3. ↑ Member communities. In: swissjews.ch. Swiss Association of Israelites (SIG), accessed on July 10, 2017 .