Wiedergutmachungsinitiative

Wiedergutmachungsinitiative (literal: reparation initiative) in Switzerland, is a so-called Volksinitiative, i.e. a request to suggest federal law by direct democracy,^[1] started in April 2014.

Summary

In April 2014 the collection of the authenticated signatures of at least 100,000 Swiss citizens started; they have to be collected by 1 October 2015. That popular initiative primarily tries to take care of the fates of forced child labourers in Switzerland, the so-called Verdingkinder, a former term used in Swiss-German language. That practice, another then claimed 'integration project' related to the so-called 'misplaced persons', affected tens of thousands of juveniles which were placed as cheap labourers at Swiss farms, among them also Fahrende or Jenisch juveniles affected by the then Swiss foundation Kinder der Landstrasse – but not their families.^[2]

The initiative, probably a unique fact in the Swiss media culture, is actively supported by the Beobachter that also participated to reveal the backgrounds of the fates of Verdingkinder,^[3] and the Kinder der Landstrasse foundation. The popular initiative – set up by Guido Fluri and other prominent Swiss citizens, among them the Swiss writer Lukas Hartmann^[4] – is supported among others also by the parent organization of the Swiss churches and the association of the Swiss teachers.

Aims (excerpt)

The initiative, incidentally started by an inter-political committee as there were missing adequate measurements by the Swiss governmental authorities, claims:

• Reparation for victims of forced child labourers and welfare-driven coercive measures;
• a scholarly review of this dark chapter of Swiss history;
• a fund over 500 million Swiss Francs;
• only severely affected victims obtain redress from;
• an independent commission will examine each case individually.^[5]

Backgrounds: 'Verdingkinder' and 'Kinder der Landstrasse'

Verdingkinder (literally: "contract children" or "indentured child labourers") were children who were in Switzerland taken from their parents, often due to poverty or moral reasons – usually among others mothers being unmarried, very poor citizens, of Gypsy–Yeniche (Swiss German also Fahrende) origin^[6][7] – and sent to live with new families, often poor farmers who needed cheap labour. Many of these children, now adults, have now come forward to say that they were severely mistreated by their new families,^[4] suffering neglect, beatings and other physical and psychological abuse. There were even auctions where children were handed over to the farmer asking least money from the authorities, thus securing cheap labour for his farm and relieving the authority from the financial burden of looking after the children. In the 1930s, p.e. in the Canton of Bern about 20% of all agricultural labourers were children below the age of 15.^[1] Swiss municipality guardianship authorities acted so, commonly tolerated by federal authorities, to the 1960s, not all of them of course, but usually communities affected of low taxes in some Swiss cantons. The Swiss historian Marco Leuenberger investigated, that in 1930 there were some 35,000 indentured children, and between 1920 and 1970 more than 100,000 are believed to have been placed with families or homes. 10,000 Verdingkinder, women and men in Switzerland, are still alive in the mid-2010s.^[8]

Supplement of the Swiss Federal Constitution claimed by the initiative

The initiative claims, the Swiss Federal Constitution has to be amended as follows:^[9]

Art. 124a Wiedergutmachung für die Opfer von fürsorgerischen Zwangsmassnahmen und Fremdplatzierungen, literally reparation for the victims of welfare step coercive measures and foreign placements:

1. The Confederation and the Cantons shall provide for compensation for the injustice, which has suffered particular resident, Verdingkinder, administrative supplied, or forcibly sterilized forced adopted people and Fahrende (a Swiss-German term for literally Yeniche people) as a result-driven welfare coercion or foreign placements.
2. To provide an independent scientific review of these measures and promote discussion about it to the public.

Art. 196 Ziff. 1212. Übergangsbestimmung Zu Art. 124a (Wiedergutmachung für die Opfer von fürsorgerischen Zwangsmassnahmen und Fremdplatzierungen), literally Transitional provision to Art. 124a (reparation for the victims of welfare step coercive measures and foreign placements):

1. The Swiss Confederation establishes a fund in the amount of 500 million Swiss Frances for the victims of welfare step coercive measures and foreign placements that were done before 1981.
2. Eligible are people who were directly affected and hard of such measures. The amount of restitution depends on the sustained injustice. About the payment of benefits, an independent commission has to conclude.
3. The fund is dissolved twenty years after its creation. Any residual amount will be refunded proportionately to the depositors.

Status

On 19 December 2014 the initiative was submitted at the Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzlei).^[10][11] On 16 September 2016 both chambers of the Swiss parliament approved that presumably to each surviving individual will paid CHF 25,000 in compensation.^[12]

See also

• Child labour in Switzerland
• Kinder der Landstrasse
• Verdingkinder

Literature (excerpt)

• Marco Leuenberger & Loretta Seglias (editors): Versorgt und vergessen. Ehemalige Verdingkinder erzählen. Rotpunktverlag, Zürich 2008, ISBN 978-3858693822
• Lotty Wohlwend & Arthur Honegger: Gestohlene Seelen: Verdingkinder in der Schweiz. Huber Verlag, Bern, ISBN 978-3719313654
• Sara Galle and Thomas Meier: Von Menschen und Akten - die Aktion Kinder der Landstrasse der Stiftung Pro Juventute. Chronos Verlag, Zürich 2009, ISBN 978-3034009447.
• Thomas Huonker, Regula Ludi: Roma, Sinti und Jenische. Schweizerische Zigeunerpolitik zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Beitrag zur Forschung (Veröffentlichungen der UEK, Band 23). Chronos Verlag, Zürich 2001, ISBN 3-0340-0623-3
• Walter Leimgruber, Thomas Meier and Roger Sablonier, redaction by Bernadette Kaufmann: Kinder zwischen Rädern. Kurzfassung des Forschungsberichts «Das Hilfswerk für die Kinder der Landstrasse». Published by and in order of Bundesamt für Kultur «und Kinder» 20, Nr. 67, November 2001, Zürich 2001.^[13][14]

References

External links

• Official website (German)
• Wiedergutmachungsinitiative on the website of the Swiss Federal Chancery (Schweizerische Bundeskanzlei) (German)
• Wiedergutmachungsinitiative on the website of the Swiss television SRF (German)

Elections and referendums in Switzerland
Parliamentary elections	1848 1851 1854 1857 1860 1863 1866 1869 1872 1875 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1896 1899 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015
Referendums	1798 1802 1848 1866 1872 1874 1875 1876 1877 1879 1880 1882 1884 1885 1887 1889 1890 1891 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1905 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1915 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1933 1934 1935 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016