A Critical Evaluation of the Bergier Report on "Switzerland and Refugees during the Nazi Era", With a New Analysis of the Issue

The so-called second Bergier report offers a wealth of information as well as some useful and valuable analytical insights, but it also suffers from a number of shortcomings and weaknesses, some of which are quite serious. The significance of important facts is not worked out properly. The abundant numerical data remain unexploited. The analysis is often repetitious and sometimes inconsistent. Many interpreta-tions are far-fetched. The general image of Switzerland's refugee policy it paints is difficult to reconcile with several central facts. Its severe judgements therefore seem to rest on fragile foundations. For all these reasons, a very different and, in part, a novel analysis of Switzerland's policy and practice vis-à-vis the refugees is proposed in a constructive spirit, an analysis that seems fully corroborated by the available information and numerical data.