ESCAPE FROM THE HOLOCAUST. YUGOSLAV JEWS IN SWITZERLAND (1941-1945)

Abstract

The destruction of the Yugoslav state in April 1941 implied it joining the ‘new European order’ under the domination of the National Socialist Germany in which the Jewish people were exposed to total annihilation. The greatest number of Yugoslav Jews saved their lives by escaping to the areas under the Italian rule. After Italy capitulated in September 1943, a larger number of refugees found refuge in neutral Switzerland. Jewish refugees, like other Yugoslav refugees, enjoyed the help of the Yugoslav government in exile through its diplomatic missions. The conflict of two resistance movements in the country caused a division among the Jewish refugees in Switzerland. Ideological, political and social differences among the refugees were also reflected in the issue of returning to the country after the war. The paper was written on the basis of archival research and relevant historiographical literature.

Keywords

• Kingdom of Yugoslavia
• the ‘new European order’
• Jews
• the Holocaust
• refugees
• Italy