Metadata: Archive of the Christian-Jewish Task Force
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Reference number:
- IB CJA-Archiv
- Title:
- Archive of the Christian-Jewish Task Force
- Title (official language):
- Archiv der Christlich-Jüdischen Arbeitsgruppe
- Creator/accumulator:
- Christian-Jewish Task Force
- Date(s):
- 1949/2000
- Language:
- German
- French
- English
- Extent:
- 2.5 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The Christlich-Jüdische Arbeitsgemeinschaft in der Schweiz (CJA; Christian-Jewish task force in Switzerland) was founded in 1946. In November 1945, a group of Jews and Christians, including the two refugee helpers Paul Vogt and Gertrud Kurz, met in the Protestant social and refugee home “Sonnenblick“ in Walzenhausen (AR) to investigate the causes of the Shoah. In a statement, the group condemned antisemitism and the passive behaviour of Christians and churches in the face of National Socialism and called for the active fight against antisemitism and its roots. Against this background, the Christlich-Jüdische Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Bekämpfung des Antisemitismus (Christian-Jewish task force to combat antisemitism), founded in April 1946, set itself the task of promoting dialogue among Jews and Christians and opposing antisemitism in all its forms. In 1948, it was renamed Christlich-Jüdische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (CJA) in der Schweiz and from then on, it campaigned for the banishment of anti-Jewish content from educational material and sermons, was involved in teacher training and organised public lectures and conferences on Judaism and aspects of Christian-Jewish relations. Although the CJA’s main focus was on theological and inter-religious issues, it also regularly intervened in current events whenever antisemitic or anti-Israeli tendencies emerged. For example, the task force regularly intervened against antisemitic publications and took action against anti-Israelism, which had been growing stronger since the 1970s. In the 1990s, in the context of the controversy over Switzerland in the Second World War, it took a stand against newly emerging anti-Jewish resentments. It carried out its tasks in close cooperation with other organisations, in particular with the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) and the two major Swiss national churches. At the international level, the CJA was a member of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ). At the end of the 1990s, due to internal conflicts, the CJA plunged into a long-lasting crisis that made the umbrella organisation largely incapable of action, with the result that most of its work continued only in the local groups. With the election of a new executive board in October 2010, the CJA Switzerland took a first step toward a new beginning.
- Archival history:
- In 1999, Eduard Gerber, former president of the CJA Switzerland (1981-1986), handed over about 2 shelf metres of documents to the AfZ, followed by another 1.5 shelf metres in 2007. Of these, around 0.2 shelf metres came from his activities as president and member of CJA Switzerland’s central executive committee. The remaining documents came from his activities as president and central executive committee member of the CJA Local Group Bern as well as from other institutional and private activities. The documents on the CJA Switzerland were taken over by the AfZ and incorporated into the CJA archive. The AfZ transferred the remaining files to the Bern State Archives, which contain the extensive estate of Eduard Gerber. In 2011, the AfZ received documents on the CJA Switzerland from Käthi Frenkel, secretary general of CJA Switzerland, from the years 1949-2000. These were the files of the presidents Rudolf Brändle (1986-1993), Georges Braunschweig (1993-1997), and Albert Frey (1997-2001), files of the central treasurers Martin Haueter and Willy Vogelsang as well as a collection of CJA Switzerland bulletins. According to information provided by Lukas Hohl, central director of CJA Switzerland where the documents were stored until 2011, the documents had been in the possession of Albert Frey until 2007. The files of the central secretariat of CJA Switzerland from 1958 to 1996 are in the collection of Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich, also in the AfZ, who held the office of central secretary during these years. After Ehrlich's resignation in 1996, the position of central secretary was no longer filled. Furthermore, early documents of the CJA up to the 1970s can be found mainly in the holdings of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) and in the JUNA archive.
- Access points: locations:
- Bern
- Switzerland
- Subject terms:
- Jewish-Christian relations
- Access, restrictions:
- Partially restricted. Subject to application.
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://onlinearchives.ethz.ch/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2019
