The President of Switzerland, Simoneta Somaruga, spoke for the first time about the sufferings of inmates in concentration camps during the Second World War, reports B92.
She assessed that her country was "cold-hearted" towards them.
On the occasion of the upcoming 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, a reception was held for the first time for the surviving Swiss from the concentration camps.
Somaruga invited the survivors along with a group of history students from the University of Bern.
It is little known to the public that between 400 and 600 Holocaust survivors live in Switzerland.
They came to Switzerland after the Second World War, most of them from Hungary, Poland and the former Czechoslovakia.
In addition to them, at least 391 Swiss citizens were in German concentration camps, almost none of whom are alive anymore, and they were members of the resistance movement, Jews, socialists, "asocials", Jehovah's Witnesses, Roma.
Switzerland has long had a problem in dealing with "its" inmates.
In the recently published book "Swiss in Concentration Camps", it was pointed out that during the Second World War, Switzerland left its citizens stranded in concentration camps, reports Tanjug.
At the reception, the president of Somarug spoke for the first time about the fact that the Swiss were also victims of inhumane policies and that the state treated them "cold-heartedly" after the war.
"You have suffered a lot, and the least we can do is to show you and your families that you are well taken care of by us," she told the crowd.
The surviving camp inmates are satisfied that for the first time official Switzerland has taken a stand towards them.
They pointed out that Switzerland's long hesitation was connected to the fact that after the Second World War, many high-ranking officials had no interest in looking at the past.
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