Jewish Emancipation in Europe as a Transnational/Border-crossing Project. The Political Influence of France on Switzerland as an Example

Of all European states, France had the greatest influence on the course of emancipation legislation in Switzerland in the first half of the 19th century. Not only did the trade treaty which was concluded between the two countries in 1864 provide the immediate impetus for the deletion of the last discriminatory passages in the Swiss Federal Constitution. Even before that, there had been several French interventions in favor of Jewish-French citizens, some of whom were at a massive legal disadvantage in Switzerland.

I will first discuss the Swiss-French settlement treaty of 1827, which formally gave the Swiss Confederation the right to exclude Jewish French citizens from legal settlement on Swiss territory. In 1835/36, France imposed a nine-month economic embargo on the border-canton of Basel-Country during the course of the so-called "Wahl-Handel" - Basel-Country, in violation of international treaties, had declared a land purchase contract in favor of two Jewish French citizens null and void. Further French interventions in Switzerland followed in 1851/52, when the cantons of Basel-Country and Basel-City began to expel Jewish residents who did not have valid residence permits.
I will conclude my presentation with a discussion of the 1864 trade treaty between France and Switzerland – a contract which also included a new settlement agreement that henceforth precluded discrimination against French citizens of the Jewish faith -, and I will adress the economic and political reasons that led Switzerland to accept the terms of this agreement.