L'Etat fédéral et la discrimination des juifs suisses et étrangers : analyse d'un processus politique de création et d'abolition de l'altérité (1848-1874)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to understand why people of the Jewish faith suffered many forms of discrimination in Switzerland between 1848 and 1874. In contradiction with the liberal and secular principles of the Federal state’s designers, certain rights were reserved for the Christian population in the 1848 constitution. An alterity has thus been built within the Swiss nation itself. Removed during the revisions of 1866 and 1874, in response to strong external pressure, these provisions were rooted in a breeding ground of anti-Semitic prejudices.