Switzerland”s executive body agreed on Wednesday to help pay for the country”s first national memorial to honor the six million Jews and other victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution, reports The Associated Press.
The Federal Council, the seven-member executive branch, approved 2.5 million Swiss francs (about $2.8 million) for the memorial that will be erected at an unspecified “central location” in the capital, Bern.
Switzerland has long grappled with its ties to Nazi Germany.
In the 1990s, Switzerland”s first Jewish and woman president, Ruth Dreifuss, called for national introspection on the issue, and a government report said Switzerland had taken part in over three-fourths of worldwide gold transactions by Nazi Germany”s Reichsbank &mdash both as a buyer and an intermediary.
Federal and local officials said details of the memorial are still being worked out, and did not specify when it would be completed.
Switzerland and its capital, through the move, were “creating a strong symbol against genocide, antisemitism and racism, and for democracy, the rule of law, freedom and basic individual rights,” the government said in a statement quoted by AP.
The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, an umbrella group, and federal officials said Switzerland has about 60 small, private sites remembering the Holocaust and other crimes of the Nazis.
“There is, however, no official or national memorial for the numerous Swiss victims of persecution, for the thousands of refugees repelled at the borders or deported, but also for the many courageous helpers in this country,” the federation said, noting that the memorial would be created to honor them all.