Holocaust conference: Switzerland wants research into past to benefit future

A Swiss delegation led by the interior minister, Ruth Dreifuss, is attending a conference on the Holocaust, which opened in Sweden on Wednesday. Switzerland wants the meeting to focus on preventing a resurgence of intolerance.

A Swiss delegation led by the interior minister, Ruth Dreifuss, is attending a three-day conference on the Holocaust which opened in Sweden on Wednesday. Switzerland says it will emphasize the need for research on the Holocaust to be focused on the future, in order to prevent a resurgence of the intolerance and racism which made it possible.

Government representatives from 45 countries are attending the Stockholm International Forum to discuss how to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust, and to examine what role research and education can play in preventing genocide.

Cécile Bühlmann, deputy director of the Swiss federal commission against racism, says the Holocaust must be taught in the context of what happens when people suffer discrimination. The Swiss delegation will argue for work on the Holocaust to be geared to the future.

“The conference will keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, but it only makes sense if in our schools we teach the children to accept others, even if they are from other cultures, religious or linguistic backgrounds,” she said.

The Swiss delegation will also outline the measures taken by Switzerland to come to terms with its own role during World War Two. These include the creation of an Independent Commission of Experts in 1996, which has so far published reports on Switzerland’s gold dealings and its asylum policy at the time.

Swiss banks have also funded a major two-year audit of their dormant accounts from the Nazi era, and in 1998 reached a SFr1.25 billion deal with international Jewish organisations to settle all claims against them. In 1997, the largest banks also created a fund for needy victims of the Holocaust, which closed down last year after distributing its SFr270 million capital.

Besides the interior minister, Dreifuss, and Bühlmann of the commission against racism, the Swiss delegation includes the head of the government task force on World War Two, Lukas Beglinger, the head of the federation of Jewish societies, Rolf Bloch, and a representative of cantonal educational authorities, Peter Schmid.

The conference is intended primarily as a forum for discussion, and is expected to be concluded by a statement pledging to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive for future generations.

Beglinger says this should not be seen as an achievement in itself, but as a demonstration of the participants’ commitment. “This is a kind of political declaration that should be adopted by consensus,” he said.