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Switzerland

Jewish Records

Online Resources

• 1940s Jewish Arrivals in Switzerland at MyHeritage - index ($)
• Jewish Switzerland
• Jüdische Genealogie [Jewish Genealogy]

Jewish History in Switzerland

"The Jewish people had suffered discrimination in Christian Europe since time immemorial and were repeated victims of persecution in many countries, including Switzerland. After the Black Death in the mid-14th century, they were accused of being well-poisoners and suffered pogrom-like persecution, were killed, forced to convert to Christianity or exiled. Prior to 1798 the Jewish community was tolerated in only two parts of Switzerland - Lengnau and Endingen (the common lordship of Baden, today the canton of Aargau).

"Although the revolutionaries had granted civic equality to Jews in France as far back as 1791, neither the Helvetic Republic nor the newly minted Swiss Confederation could bring themselves to do the same. Swiss Jews were considered as foreigners and the Swiss Constitution of 1848 denied them the freedom of establishment, trade and worship. Thanks to foreign pressure, particularly from France, the Jewish community in Switzerland was finally granted unlimited civil rights in 1866, and a provision to this end was added to the Federal Constitution of 1874."

• For more information on the history of Jews in Switzerland, read the Wikipedia article.
• For a Jewish population density map of Europe in 1900, click here.

JewishGen.org

• Find others, possibly cousins, searching for your family name in the same countries, cities, and villages. Search by clicking JewishGen Family Finder. Free registration required.

Switzerland Civil Registration

Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths in Switzerland started as early as 1799, depending on canton. For more information, click here.

Jewish Arrivals In Switzerland, 1938-1945

• 1940s Jewish Arrivals in Switzerland at MyHeritage - index ($)
• Find an explanation of the database by clicking here.
• The above is part of JewishGen's Holocaust Database. To search this database, click here.

Genealogical Periodicals

• A helpful periodical regarding Jews in Switzerland is Maajan-Die Quelle which can be seen at the FamilySearch Library.
  
  Maajan-Die Quelle, Zeitschrift fuer Jüdische Familienforschung.
  Organ der Schweizerischen Vereinigung für Jüdische Genealogie und der Hamburger Gesellschaft für Jüdische Genealogie E.V.
  Periodical 1987-present.
  
  The call number at the FamilySearch Library is 949.4 D25m and their website is Schweizerische Vereinigung für Jüdische Genealogie.

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