Haggadah Collections » Yudlov 3913 Haggadah Switzerland 1943

Yudlov 3913 Haggadah Switzerland 1943

- Title on Cover: Den jüdischen Flüchtlingen in der Schweiz, ZUR FEIER DES פסח-FESTES im Jahre 5703 (“To the Jewish Refugees in Switzerland, For the Celebration of the Pesach Festival in the Year 5703”)
- Publisher: Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund (SIG) / The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities
- Location of Printing: Zürich, Switzerland
- Year of Publication: Early Spring, 1943 C.E. / Hebrew Year תש”ג
- Format: Wartime pocket-sized booklet (approx. 13 cm)
- Scarcity: Extremely high. Distributed directly to families trapped in transition or confinement, these fragile paper pamphlets suffered high destruction rates. Very few clean, complete copies escaped the camps to survive into the 21st century.

Historical Context: A Lifeline in the Dark

The spring of 1943 was one of the darkest hours for European Jewry. Across Nazi-occupied Europe, the machinery of the Holocaust was operating at full capacity. For thousands of desperate Jewish men, women, and children, escaping across the perilous, snow-covered Alpine passes into neutral Switzerland was their final, literal hope for survival.

Upon successfully crossing the border, these traumatized, penniless refugees were systematically placed by Swiss authorities into heavily monitored labor camps, sanitariums, and quarantine quarters. They were safe from the death camps, but they were displaced from their homes, separated from their missing families, and stripped of all personal belongings.

As the Passover festival approached—the eternal holiday celebrating freedom from bondage—the Refugees Aide Committee of the SIG recognized a deep, spiritual crisis. To give these survivors a voice to recite the Haggadah, the committee scrambled under heavy wartime resource and paper restrictions to print this booklet.

The Printing: Formed by Necessity

Because time was short and printing materials were scarce, this Haggadah was not meticulously typeset by hand. It was produced via a stereotypic photo-offset process. The publisher literally photographed pages from an existing, standard daily prayer book (Siddur) and quickly compiled them into this slim, light-blue paper booklet.

The inner flap of the jacket cover proudly carries the simple, printed Hebrew text:

“מתנה הקהילה היהודית בשוויץ”
(A gift from the Jewish community in Switzerland)

A Document of Resilience

This booklet stands as a heartbreaking yet profoundly moving monument to the enduring Jewish spirit. Inside the bleak confines of Swiss refugee camps, holding this very paper, displaced survivors raised their voices to read the ancient words: “This year we are slaves; next year we shall be free men.”

It remains a tangible, physical witness to a community that refused to let the darkness of World War II extinguish the light of their heritage.

SPECIAL

HOLOCAUST

IRONID