Repugnant. Is there any other word to describe the Swiss lawmaker who said pigs have it better than Jews who were deported to Auschwitz? During a debate in Switzerland’s National Council, Green Party politician Jonas Fricker said: “The [Nazi] deportees had only a slight chance to survive. As for the pigs, they are condemned to death.”
Fricker has since stepped down and apologized, but his culture obviously allowed him to say such a thing. The problem is not just Jonas Fricker.
This is not the only anti-Semitic story to emerge from Switzerland this year. One involved a hotel owner posting a sign directed to Jewish guests instructing them to shower before entering the swimming pool. This hotel owner did not think there was anything wrong with singling out an ethnic group, even though she later had a reasonable explanation, and apologized anyway. But, as with Fricker, she illustrated a society that allows such behavior. It is impossible to imagine such signage in the US — at least in this century.
Apologies, stepping down — those are the actions of Monday morning quarterbacks. Anyone can say whatever they want after the fact. It doesn’t change what happened in the game — or in this case, on the parliamentary floor, where Fricker’s true self was revealed.
Another news item this year from Switzerland, one far more problematic and likely related to Fricker’s repugnant statement, was the proposal by a Socialist Party politician, Matthias Aebischer, to outlaw the import of kosher and halal meat. (Ritual slaughter has been illegal in Switzerland since 1894, as the result of an anti-Semitic referendum.) The proposal is offered under the guise of animal rights . . . yet, hunting remains legal!
Bans of burkas, hijabs, minarets; hiring discrimination against individuals with Muslim names; exams scheduled on the Jewish High Holidays — these are daily occurences in Europe.
Many Americans suffer from the misconception that Europe is some kind of a progressive wonderland while the US is an unsophisticated backwater — a view promoted by many Europeans themselves. It appears that self-reflection might not be high on the list of virtues of many Europeans, because when it comes to ethnic minorities, much of Europe is still in the Dark Ages.
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
