"If, however, the result of the fundraising is disappointing, all is lost. Not only will the organizations have no more money, but our opponents who even now are urging the complete closing of our borders, will then say to the Federal Government: 'Close the doors, let nobody in. The Swiss people do not want them…'" [478]
Many Church leaders publicly recommended this collection. Prof. Karl Bart did so in the following words: <216> "There are reasons for and against aid to refugees as currently suggested to us Swiss. The reasons for are: The Christian reason. 'In as much as ye have done it unto one of these least, ye have done it unto me.' The refugees are our concern: not because they are valuable or agreeable human beings, but because in all the world they are to-day the lowest and the most miserable people, and as such they, with their inseparable companion the Saviour, knock on our door. They are our concern, not in spite of their being Jews but just because they are Jews, and as such are the Saviour's brethren in the flesh. (I suggest that this first reason is the strongest and may well be the one decisive and effective reason in this matter). The Swiss reason. The refugees (whether they are aware of it or not) do us a great honour, in looking upon our country and seeking it out as the last refuge of justice and mercy. Many of the great and dreadful things which occurred in our time will be forgotten. After centuries, however, it will still be asked, whether Switzerland proved true to its name as the free Switzerland in these days, or renounced it. The question whether the Lest that we Swiss are capable of and have, can be preserved throughout the present crisis, will be decided only by opening our hearts and hands to these refugees, or by turning our backs upon them. The Humane reason. We see in these refugees the fate we have miraculously been spared. It is quite true that we also are not too well off to-day. It is, however, equally true that we are well enough off to be in a condition exactly opposite to these unfortunate fellow-creatures: well-fed and even rich. Can we bear this, without wanting to help them to the best of our ability? Would it not be disgraceful, even to let our lips suggest any reasons at all against offering such aid?" [479]
In December, 1942, 1,595 refugees were admitted and 330 sent back. At the end of December, the number of immigrants and refugees amounted to 16,200. Of the refugees, 8,467 had entered Switzerland illegally between August 1, 1942, and Dec. 31, 1942. This development led the Department of Police to propose to the Federal Council that new decrees, more stringent than the preceding ones, be issued for the whole of the Swiss border. Apparently the order of Sept. 26, 1942, that being a Jew was no reason for admittance, mostly was not observed. [480] <217> The decree of Dec. 29, 1942, ordered that foreigners arrested whilst crossing the border or in the region of the border (up till 10 kilometres) must be turned back immediately. Exemption would be granted to the categories a, b and c mentioned in the decree of Sept. 26, 1942. [481] "Further, parents with children not over six years old; or if at least one of their children is not older than six; refugees who can prove that they have a spouse, parents or children in Switzerland; or when at least one of a married couple has been born in Switzerland. [482] The "Report of the Swiss Protestant Relief Society" comments:
"We are grateful that a Delegation of the Federation of Churches also remonstrated with the Federal Government in the matter. No substantial amendments to the decree were obtained, but in practice the attitude of the authorities was more obliging than the wording of the decree leads one to assume. The possibilities of providing asylum, and the readiness of the authorities to grant it, are in no small measure dependent on the willingness of the Swiss people to make sacrifices for the refugees. We therefore emphatically insisted that the congregations of the Evangelical Church should take upon themselves the financial responsibility for the upkeep of as many refugees as possible, and so to fulfil towards individual refugees Christ's commandment of love. [483]
In the first seven months of 1943, 1,821 refugees were sent back and 4,733 admitted. "Its is impossible to determine, how many Jews were among those admitted; apparently they made up the vast majority." [484] On May 9, 1943, the Synod of the Evangelical-Reformed Church of the City of Basel adopted the following Resolution:
"The Synod, deeply concerned by the information received regarding instruction given by the authorities to the border guards and the dreadful horrors still being undergone by refugees wanting to cross our borders, charges the Church council to urge the Executive Committee of the Federation of Churches to remonstrate afresh with the responsible authorities on behalf of the refugees according to the Church's responsibility to be a Protector, and desires that the congregation, through the 'Church Messenger', be kept suitably informed of the Synod's negotiations concerning the refugee and asylum problem. [485] <218> In October, 1943, the Church Council of Zurich addressed the following message "To the Reformed People of Zurich":
"… We are able only through rumours to gain a vague impression of the dreadful reality. And because it is beyond the powers of our imagination, we are in danger of closing our hearts and trying to suppress any awareness of the fact that daily, hourly, indeed every single moment, thousands suffer, bleed, starve, despair, die. We also let ourselves be misled by a falsely understood neutrality, which freezes our feelings towards the distress of foreigners, or causes in us a moral apathy towards injustice and inhumanity, sometimes even making us adopt the catchwords and evil slogans of anti-Semitism and racial hatred, and persuading us to accept ideals which are hostile to the Gospel of love to God and to ones neighbour… All humane people are haunted by descriptions of the sufferings to which members of the Jewish people have been exposed during these past four years of war, this following centuries of being slandered, ridiculed, beaten and persecuted throughout the Christian era! Expelled from home and work, forcibly separated, children tom from the arms of their mothers, mothers from the arms of their children, anew they are uprooted just when they had supposed they had found a protecting refuge. They have been tossed towards an uncertain destiny, which all too often only spelled destruction, misery, starvation, beatings, despair and death. Indeed, no other nation has been so overwhelmed by storms of persecution and deluged by sufferings, as has been the people of Israel. Who as a Christian, or as a Swiss, can fail to be oppressed by the distress of the Jewish people, or to be confronted by questions unsolvable by the words guilt and atonement, because we have certainly sufficient cause to ask questions about our own guilt in this matter and to apply to ourselves Christ's word: 'Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' Such an admission can result only in one thing: the emergence of a deep sympathy and a desire to help wherever and however we can, to grant refuge to the homeless, to shelter the exposed, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the imprisoned, to support the weak, to comfort the mourning; in accordance with the example of the good Samaritan and the teaching and promise of our Master: 'In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me'…" [486]
In November, 1943, the "Social Study Committee of the Swiss Union of Reformed Pastors" published the following Statement: <219> "… With shame and sorrow we see this purposeful turning away from Christ in a monstrous effort to exterminate entire races and peoples. The Christian conscience cries out against this. We therefore appeal to all those in responsible positions in the world, to save what still may be saved. We demand that the Swiss Government which maintains diplomatic relations with all governments in the world, devise with them and with the International Red Cross, a plan of rescue. In the name of Jesus we demand that our authorities put a stop to the driving back of refugees to their death, until final measures are taken, and to grant them a safe, Christian asylum. Our thanks go to the people of Switzerland for their cordial hospitality, even though it is hampered by authority!…" [487]
In my opinion this is the sharpest protest against the official refugee policy of the Swiss government that was ever published during the second world war.
At the end of 1943, it was ordered not to send Jewish refugees back if they objected. Thus Jews who fled Italy after its occupation by the Germans, were to be admitted; however, in the case of a real 'run' one might have to stop admitting them for some time. [488] It is, in my opinion, undeniable that the protests of the Churches and Church" leaders contributed to alleviating the measures against the refugees and their ultimate cancellation in practice. In the meantime, unspeakable sufferings had been inflicted on refugees who had been sent back and fell into the hands of their mortal enemies.