Immigration and the Schwarzenbach initiative

After the Second World War, the economy grew strongly. Switzerland needed many workers. In 1948 it concluded an agreement with Italy. After that, mainly Italians came. They worked in construction, in factories and in hotels. Many only had a permit as a seasonal worker (Saisonnier): they were allowed to stay for a few months and could not bring their family. Later, people also came from Spain, Portugal, Yugoslavia and Turkey.

Not everyone agreed with immigration. People spoke of «Überfremdung» (foreign infiltration). In 1970 Switzerland voted on the Schwarzenbach initiative, named after the politician James Schwarzenbach. It wanted to limit the number of foreigners to a maximum of 10 percent in every canton except Geneva. Hundreds of thousands would have had to leave the country. The initiative was narrowly rejected with 54 percent voting no.

In the 1990s Yugoslavia broke apart. There were wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and later in Kosovo. Many people fled from these wars to Switzerland. Some already had relatives here who had come earlier as workers. Switzerland took in, for example, many thousands of people displaced by the war in Bosnia. Today many of their families are firmly settled in Switzerland.

Memory aid: 1950s: Italy. 1970: Schwarzenbach. 1990s: Yugoslavia.