German Jew – Forced to Leave Switzerland

Jew Forced To Leave Switzerland
This German passport was issued in 1934 at the Consulate General in Zurich / Switzerland to Leo Neumann (I do have also another one in his name and one for his wife). As you can see the big red “J” on page one, we know he was a Jew. But Switzerland was for him not anymore a safe place when fleeing from the Nazis as Leo was EXPELLED by the Swiss Alien Police to leave Switzerland.

Most interesting here is the reason from the Alien Police as the stamp is saying “Foreign infiltration”! Switzerland was pushing him out of the country because they had “too many foreigners”. Considering that the Nazis already implemented systematic repression on Jews by 1933 the order from neutral Switzerland to expel him is most significant and life-threatening!

The introduction of a visa requirement limited to German “non-Aryans” in October 1938 and the closing of the border for refugees entering “solely on racial grounds” in August 1942 was controversial even at the time. At the latest since the 1957 Ludwig Report, these two measures have been considered decisive turning points, key events that must be examined if the whole of Swiss refugee policy is to be made transparent and understandable. The J-stamp and the image of the “heavily laden lifeboat” became symbols for these events, which continue to arouse controversy even today. Jew Forced Leave Switzerland

Source: Independent Commission of Experts Switzerland – Second World War: Switzerland and Refugees in the Nazi-Era. Bern, 1999. ISBN 3-908661-07-2

Jew Forced Leave Switzerland