The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities announced plans here today for the celebration during the current year of the 100th anniversary of the official emancipation of the Jews of Switzerland.
It was in January 1866 that the Swiss people voted in a referendum to abolish the requirement in Federal legislation and jurisprudence that Swiss citizens belong to the Christian faith. This constitutional change, however, only sanctioned individual rights of Jews. The acknowledgement of Jewry as a religious community and the right of freedom of worship for non-Christians were recognized in 1874.
In 1893, the Jewish community suffered a setback with the introduction after a referendum of a ban on shechita or Jewish ritual slaughter, a measure regarded by Swiss Jews as discriminatory. The Swiss Federation of Jewish communities will dedicate its annual assembly in Zurich next May to the centenary of Jewish emancipation in Switzerland.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
