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Russian Switzerland, Part 2

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Russian Switzerland, Part 2

02.12.2008

After the turbulent events that took place in Russia between 1917 and the early 1920s, Russian political йmigrйs certainly remained in Switzerland, but a full-fledged Russian diaspora ceased to exist. The attitude in Switzerland toward Soviet Russia, and later toward the Soviet Union during the interwar period, was extremely negative. For example, in 1939, the head of the Swiss Foreign Ministry began a movement to have the Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations (the only case of this happening in the history of this organization). In 1943, after an indigenous fracture ensued during the Second World War, the president of Switzerland, Marcel Pilet-Golaz (who was favorably disposed to Hitler's “New European Order”) did not hesitate to invite the Anglo-American allies to conclude a peace treaty with Hitler in Europe in order to enable the Third Reich to quietly wage war against the Soviet Union.

Oddly enough, the tragedy of war once again led to the emergence of a large Russian community in Switzerland, albeit in very unique circumstances. In this case, it was Soviet troops and collaborators from the Russian Liberation Army who found themselves trapped inside the alpine country during the war.

It is common knowledge that Switzerland did not take part in the Second World War, but the neutral country could not avoid the effects of that terrible war forever. By the middle of 1940, Switzerland was trapped on all sides by Nazi Germany and its allies. The first internment camp for soldiers of the French army, which had been destroyed by the Germans, was set up. Later on, the camp was filled mostly by captured soldiers fleeing German concentration camps, members of the anti-Hitler coalition and Italians who did not want to cooperate with the Nazis after the fall of Mussolini's regime.

The first large group of Soviet refugees in Switzerland came during the summer 1944. In early 1945, taking advantage of the Wehrmacht’s military defeats in southern Germany, 8,000 Soviet prisoners of war managed to escape. At the time of Germany’s surrender, 11,000 Red Army soldiers were being held in internment camps. Along with Soviet prisoners of war, a small number of collaborators from General Vlasov’s Russian Liberation Army who had fed the scene of battle also found themselves in the Swiss camps.

Typically the Swiss treated Soviet prisoners of war and Vlasov’s prisoners far worse than the Italians or the British internees. Moreover, unlike their Western comrades in misfortune, Soviet prisoners of war were among the last to leave the Swiss camps. Only in August and September 1945, after the war had ended in Europe, did the vast majority of Soviet citizens return to their homeland from Switzerland. A number of the internees (the minority) did not want to go back, however. It is not difficult to guess that most of this group was either members of national Wehrmacht formations (notably the Azeris) or Vlasov’s troops. Naturalization had been promised only to units of defectors; it was announced that the rest would be able to “exercise the right of asylum until they were able to travel to another country.”

Meanwhile, in 1946, diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Switzerland were finally restored, although that did not turn the alpine country into a common destination for Soviet people. Switzerland naturally remained a place of exile for many prominent figures of the Russian intelligentsia (from Nabokov to Solzhenitsyn), but an organized Russian diaspora in Switzerland never really took shape at this time.

The situation began to change, quite radically, only in the early 1990s when the collapse of the socialist system created new conditions for the emergence of a Russian diaspora in Switzerland. According to Switzerland’s Federal Bureau of Statistics, the Russian community in Switzerland began to steadily increase in the mid 1990s. In 1995, approximately 5,000 Russians made their home in the country of 7 million. By 2002, the figure had grown to 6,000, and in 2007, 10,000 of our compatriots were living there. At the same time, the number of Russians has never exceeded even one percent of the total number of foreigners registered in Switzerland. Officially, there are still far fewer Russians in Switzerland than Albanians, Serbs, Croats, Italians and Germans. On the other hand, according to unofficial data, the number of Russian citizens in Switzerland is considerably higher than 10,000. Some estimates put it as high as 70,000 people.

The Russian diaspora is now concentrated mainly in the cantons of Geneva and Zurich, as well as a small commune in Cologny. In fact, Switzerland has become a “second homeland” for many of our well-known compatriots, such as chess player Victor Korchnoi, figure skaters Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, businessman Viktor Vekselberg, and others. A unique feature of the Russian-speaking community in Switzerland is its dispersion of sorts. In this respect, it is quite telling that up until the beginning of the 21st century, no Russian-language periodicals existed for 80 years in Switzerland (following the cessation of publication of Russkoye obschestvo in Davos, Za rubezhem and Davossky vestnik). Only in 2000 did publication of the bilingual Russian-French magazine Bely medved begin. In the same year, the Russian Switzerland internet portal opened, and beginning in June 2003, Gagarin Times began to be published.

Indeed, in recent years, the life of the Russian diaspora in Switzerland has noticeably revived, and at the state-level, Russian-Swiss relations have reached a new level. In 2006, for example, the “Year of Anniversaries” in relations between Russia and Switzerland was declared. In both countries a number of notable events have been held, including an exhibition “Switzerland – Russia: A Century of Love and Oblivion” at the History Museum in Lausanne, a financial forum, as well as the Week of Economy and Culture in Geneva and Moscow. As part of the “Year of Anniversaries” some 60 cultural events have been held. Recently in Switzerland, the Miss Russia contest was held for the first time, drawing the participation of quite a few girls with Russian roots.

Today in Switzerland dozens of public organizations for our compatriots are in operation. The largest of them was founded in February 2005 – the Association of Russian Compatriots of Switzerland, whose president, Olga Sarmanova, also heads the Coordination Council of Compatriots in Switzerland that was founded in 2007. The Association has recent supported a number of activities designed to promote Russian language and culture, assist in the integration of immigrants from former Soviet countries, and implement support programs for Russian compatriots. For example, in 2008, the Day of Slavic Literature was held in Zurich, and a summer camp for children from different Russian schools across Switzerland was organized. Another event was a teachers’ conference on “Problems and Prospects of Teaching Russian in Switzerland – Kindergarten to University” that was held at the University of Fribourg.

Of course, in today’s multicultural Switzerland the Russian language does not occupy a leading position. The total number of Russian language students in higher education, secondary schools, and various courses was approximately 2,000 as of 2005. The number of students studying Russian is increasing, however, especially in Geneva, Fribourg, Berne and Zurich. The greatest success has perhaps been at the University of Geneva, where the International Center of the Law Faculty at Moscow State University was opened in September 2002. Russian citizens wishing to obtain a legal education can study here, as can Swiss citizens and nationals of other countries.

At the same time, the number of students studying Russian in Switzerland’s secondary schools is decreasing. Cantonal authorities in charge of public education have reduced targeted subsidies allocated to strengthen the teaching of foreign languages, including Russian. Greater commercial success with Russian language courses has been seen, however, and a number of community colleges are offering Russian. This can be attributed to the growth of trade and economic ties between Russia and Switzerland, as well as an increase in the number of marriages between Swiss nationals and people from Russia and the CIS. The increasing interest in Russian culture and Russian language also manifests itself in cultural venues such as theatres and clubs in the major cities.

Just as in the 19th century, the Orthodox Church plays an important role in the life of the country’s Russian diaspora. Incidentally, Russian and Swiss churches never stopped interacting during the 20th century, especially after the Russian Orthodox Church joined the World Council of Churches in 1961, which has its headquarters in Geneva. There are currently a number of parishes belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate in Zurich, Geneva, Payerne and Dompierre.

To conclude, we should mention one interesting fact. At the beginning of the 21st century, Russian scientists play a significant role in the life of the Russian diaspora. Several of them have taken part in the creation of the Large Hadron Collider. Russian scientists, particularly nuclear physicists, not only took an active part in building the machine over the last fourteen years, but today they are playing a leading role in the project’s implementation. Over time, many scientists have moved to Switzerland to take up permanent residence, and now Russian researchers can be found working in many universities across the country and in almost every major laboratory and research center.

Thus, the greatest scientific experiment of our time, which fate has determined should take place in Switzerland, is also marked by a Russian presence – just like the entire history of this alpine country…

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