Since the time of the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), Switzerland has been recognised as a permanently neutral country; it also had a long tradition of offering refuge. From the moment the Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933, Switzerland was confronted with thousands of Jewish refugees. The government decided to differentiate among several categories of refugees: 1) political refugees, who were granted asylum; 2) immigrants, who were granted temporary residence for a limited period; and 3) refugees whom the government tried to force to leave the country at the earliest possible moment. During the war, non-Jewish refugees, too, flocked to Switzerland from all the occupied countries. A total of 300,000 foreigners passed through Switzerland during the Nazi period, and 30,000 of them were Jews. In the early years of the Nazi regime, Jewish refugees, for the most part, were able to take care of themselves, and eventually also to leave for other destinations. Following the annexation of Austria to Germany in March 1938, thousands of Jews tried to enter Switzerland. The Swiss were totally opposed to the idea of allowing a great stream of refugees to enter the country. Of special significance was the initiative undertaken by Chief of Police Heinrich Rothmund, to distinguish the passports of German and Austrian Jews with a special mark. In the fall of 1938, Switzerland and Germany reached an agreement on this issue: Every German or Austrian Jew had a "J" stamped on his passport. During the war, Switzerland sought to avoid offending Germany, on which its economy depended. As early as October 1939, the Swiss authorities imposed new restrictions on the entry of foreigners, especially Jews, into the country. A further deterioration took place in 1940, in the wake of the German conquests in northern and Western Europe. The refugees in Switzerland were put into camps, and in 1942 several dozen refugees were sent to labour camps. The entry of refugees from France was banned altogether. After the German occupation of southern France, however, in November 1942, entry regulations were once again made more stringent. Still, several thousand persons succeeded in entering illegally through Jewish Aid Groups.
