According to the study, 50,000 seasonal children live hidden in Switzerland

According to a study, the number of hidden children of guest workers in Switzerland is higher than previously believed. According to this study, from 1949 to 1975, 50,000 seasonal workers secretly lived in this country.

Migration historian Toni Ricciardi told the Keystone-SDA news agency:

As part of a project of the National Research Programme, Ricciardi studied the cases of Italian guest workers, who made up up to 90 percent of seasonal workers. The “NZZ am Sonntag” was the first to report on the investigation on Sunday.

The seasonal worker status, introduced in 1934, allowed guest workers to live in Switzerland for nine months a year. Children were only allowed to be with them for three to six months, depending on the canton. This often led to painful divorces: the children had to either stay in their home country or live hidden in Switzerland. In 2002 the seasonal worker status was abolished.

There is no official information on the number of hidden children and Ricciardi says he is surprised that a country like Switzerland has so little data on this phenomenon. Until now, historians estimate the number of children of seasonal workers at 10,000 to 15,000. But even the figure of 50,000 does not capture the full dimension of the problem.

The Geneva historian assumes that half a million minors were affected by the divorces, which brought with it the seasonal worker status. In Italy, children often lived with their grandparents or in institutions.

Living in hiding also meant not being able to go to school. Over time, however, the situation changed. Civil society ensured that the children of the seasonal workers could go to school and receive medical care, for example in the canton of Neuchâtel. According to Ricciardi, the authorities sometimes turn a blind eye. Yet there was fear.

The family separations left many traces on those affected. An association called Tesoro, which was founded in Zurich last autumn, offers help in these cases. According to “NZZ am Sonntag”, he is calling for a historical overview, an apology from the Swiss authorities and financial compensation.

For historian Ricciardi, any compensation in this regard is not the most important. For him, it is primarily about making the story of the seasonal worker’s children known.

(yam/sda)