Swiss nomadic people were victims of crimes against humanity, says government

Keystone-SDA

The Swiss government has acknowledged that persecution of Sinti and Yenish travellers in Switzerland in the 20th century is a crime against humanity based on current international law. Around 2,000 children of the Swiss Traveller community are believed to have been taken away from their families.

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Between 1926 and 1973, Pro Juventute’s Hilfswerk für die Kinder der Landstrasse (Charity for the Children of the Country Road) took around 600 Yenish children away from their families. They were forcibly placed in homes or in foster families. “In disregard of the principles of the rule of law,” as the federal government wrote on Thursday.

Not only children of the country road

But it wasn’t just the Children of the Country Road campaign. Authorities and church aid organisations were also active in a similar way, and Sinti minors were also placed in out-of-home care. According to the government, it must therefore be assumed that there were around 2,000 placements.

According to today’s legal understanding, the state shares responsibility for the injustice, the government also states. Without the help of authorities at all levels of government, the persecution would not have been possible. The government and the Pro Juventute Foundation were closely intertwined in terms of personnel.

According to a legal opinion that the government took note of at its meeting, the acts are to be classified as crimes against humanity under current international law. A “cultural genocide”, on the other hand, as claimed by Traveller organisations, does not exist from a legal perspective.

Apology reaffirmed

In 2013, the government asked the victims of compulsory welfare measures to apologise, and it has now reiterated this request for an apology. On Thursday, Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider personally expressed the government’s concern to representatives of the Sinti and Yenish communities.

The government has already had the events investigated and has also provided financial assistance, both to victims of coercive measures and to Sinti and Yenish organisations. The Confederation now wants to clarify with those affected by the end of 2025 whether there is a need for further reappraisal of the past.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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