A piece of Switzerland in the heart of Marseille: the consulate also houses the “Swiss house”, in which the city’s Swiss associations meet. Here: the council room.
swissinfo.ch
For their 64e congress, the Swiss associations of France gathered on April 26 and 27 in Marseille. The annual meeting was an opportunity to recall the long history that links Switzerland to the Marseille city. It also made it possible to ratify a three-year-old project which was setting things on fire.
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April 28, 2024 – 2:22 p.m.
Friday April 26: the room hosting the conference on the Swiss in Marseille looks like so many others. She is sober, gray, without much soul. The boredom that emanates from the room contrasts with the attention paid to the presentation in progress by the forty presidents of Swiss clubs in France.
At the desk, Paola Ceresetti, guide-lecturer, presents with enthusiasm and a touch of Italian accent the centuries-old history that links Switzerland to Marseille. “The history of the Swiss of Marseille is not well known. And yet, they left many traces,” she begins.
From the end of the 16e century
An open door to the world, the city of Marseille has always attracted a large number of migrants. The Swiss do not escape its attraction, and the end of the 16e century saw the arrival of a large Swiss community.
Unlike other foreign groups, the Swiss often represent a skilled workforce and quickly build a good reputation. They made a place for themselves in the trade, so much so that at the end of the century, there were 171 Swiss (including 157 Protestants) out of the 489 traders in the city.
By the Edict of Fontainebleau of 1685, King Louis XIV banned the Protestant religion in France. But the Swiss traders, mainly Protestants, had such economic importance for the city that their presence was tolerated.
One of the most important Swiss merchant families, the Zollikoffers, originally from Staint-Gall, Frenchified their name to Solicoffre to go more unnoticed. However, most Swiss never change their nationality and families remain Swiss for generations.
Other groups also appeared, such as Ticino sculptors and marble workers. Marseille is in fact the gateway to stone. They leave their mark in several places in the city, notably with a fountain and altars for Fossati or statues which adorn the bottom of the stairs of Saint-Charles station (main station in Marseille) for Botinelly.
The fountain built by the Swiss Fossati is located at Place des Capucines, in the 1st arrondissement of Marseille.
Picasa
Due to the importance of the community, the Confederation founded the first Swiss consulate in France in Marseille in 1799.
Golden age
The 19th century represents the golden age of the port of Marseille, which developed strongly, but also of the Swiss who came there, stayed there or left. Women, in particular, are arriving in increasing numbers, often alone. They were in the majority until the First World War.
At the time, many Swiss reached Marseille with the idea of making it their starting point for the Americas. For many of them, the journey nevertheless ends there, either due to lack of money to continue the journey, or because they find a job in the city and then settle there permanently.
Due to the influx of thousands of their fellow citizens between the end of the 19e century and the 1920s, the Swiss present in the Phocaean city set up associations with the aim of managing these cohorts, perpetuating Swiss identity and preserving the good reputation acquired over the centuries, synonymous with prosperity for the community. This is how the Swiss Charitable Society, which still exists today, was born, as were the Helvetia-Massilia Foundation, the Swiss Commercial Circle, the Stade Helvétique (football team), the Harmonie suisse or again the Swiss Gymnastics Society of Marseille.
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Return to neutral country
The Swiss diaspora experienced a decline during the Second World War. Located in a free zone (not occupied by the Germans) until 1942, Marseille is a city of refuge which allows people to emigrate even further. Many Swiss families, on the contrary, choose to return to their neutral and free country of origin.
One of the great figures of the Marseille Resistance is also of Swiss origin. Berthe Albrecht Wild, Swiss on her father’s side, is one of six women named CompanionExternal link of the Liberation. The Order of the Liberation was established by General de Gaulle in 1940 in order to reward individuals or military and civilian communities who have distinguished themselves in the work of liberating France and its Empire, we can read on the official website of the Order.
One of the last Swiss footprints in the history of the city of Marseille is the Cité radieuse, prototype of a new social housing imagined by the architect Le Corbusier. If it is one of the most criticized buildings in the city, it has also become one of the most emblematic.
Listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Cité radieuse was built between 1947 and 1952. It has 337 apartments of 23 different types.
tourisme-marseille.com
Today, around 5,000 Swiss live in Marseille and are registered with the consulate there, but it is estimated that their real number is at least triple that.
Controversial project
Saturday April 27: the second day of the congress of the Union of Swiss Associations of France (UASF) takes place in the same conference room as the day before. And the atmosphere is quite different there.
Françoise Millet-Leroux, president of the Union of Swiss Associations of France.
swissinfo.ch
If the start of the general assembly is marked by good news, such as the increase in the number of members in several clubs (Montpellier, Bordeaux, Pays de Gex and Annemasse), or the founding and membership of the At the UASF of the Amicale des Suisses de Loire et Haute-Loire, several faces close when item 7.2 of the agenda arrives: “Award of a student scholarship”.
The project, launched in 2022 by the president of the UASF, Françoise Millet-Leroux, aims to award a scholarship to a Swiss student, member of a club affiliated with the UASF, wishing to carry out their higher studies in Swiss. The stated goal: to motivate young people to join clubs to rejuvenate them.
The idea, reduced by several elements, is therefore put back on the table for the third consecutive assembly. The voice of Maggy-Laure Giorgini, president of the Swiss club Pays de Gex, rises: “I think that the UASF should first financially support the associations affiliated with it rather than a hypothetical student.” The stone in the pond – the same one for three years – has been thrown away. Several heads nod in the ranks.
In addition to Françoise Millet-Leroux, several club presidents are defending the project. “It is important that the UASF continues its social tradition,” says Paolo Lupo, president of Genevois sans frontières. “This project could mobilize and enable young people to be reunited in the long term,” believes Jean-Michel Begey, of the Société suisse de Bordeaux. Daniel Fau, president of the Swiss Society of Besançon, concludes: “Is it the role of the UASF to fill the finances of its members?”
In the vote, the new version of the project was finally accepted by 38 votes against 4 refusals and 0 abstentions.
The voice of Maggy-Laure Giorgini resonates for the last time: “I am announcing to you that, starting next week, I will take steps to ensure that the Pays de Gex club leaves the UASF.”
