A Border Between Poverty and Persecution A

Federal Customs Administration FCA Swiss Customs Museum Cantine di Gandria, Lugano +41 58 463 49 22 [email protected] Opening hours Tue – Sun, from 12 am to 5 pm A temporary For further information see: exhibition on www.customsmuseum.admin.ch smugglers and Free entrance refugees between Italy and Switzerland during the Second World War Opening AA BORDERBORDER 4 April BETWEENBETWEEN 2021 POVERTYPOVERTY ANDAND Gandria Lugano S. Domenico PERSECUTIONPERSECUTION Castagnola Museo Doganale Cantine di Gandria Grotto Lugano dei Pescatori Paradiso Caprino S. Rocco The original register of refugees who THE INGENUITY THE arrived at the Caprino border post, where the Customs Museum is now OF THE SMUGGLERS CAPRINO located, is on display in one of the rooms. According to current research, this is the only document of its kind in REGISTER Switzerland. It tells us about the refugees who sought refuge from persecution in Wehrmacht-occupied Italy. Dramatic, adventurous and moving The creativity of the smugglers knew stories that make us question and re- no bounds: in 1948, a homemade wood- flect on asylum in general and the Hol- en submarine encased in metal was ocaust in particular. seized. It was three metres long and had a carrying capacity of 450kg. The “pocket-sized submarine of Ceresio” was powered by pedals! SMUGGLERS AND REFUGEES The border with Italy was by far the area which saw the most intense lev- els of smuggling. The exhibition traces the history of smuggling, focusing on its most memorable period: the Sec- ond World War. Spared from the ex- pansionist ambitions of the menacing Axis powers, Switzerland was literally invaded by an army of smugglers. Men, women and even children from the Ital- THE BORDER ian border villages saw this tough and dangerous activity as a means of allevi- FENCE ating their difficult financial situations. In order to combat smuggling, the Ital- ian border guards built an impressive border fence network in the 1880s. The In those turbulent years, with the cen- “ramina”, as it is known in Ticino, had tre-north of Italy occupied by the Wehr- an ingenious alarm system consisting macht and ravaged by civil war, thou- of bells attached with special springs, sands of military and civil refugees, Smuggler dogs were introduced at ready to raise the alarm if anyone tried especially politicians and Jews, poured the end of the 19th century. Man’s loy- to cross the border illegally. into Switzerland. Around 26,000 mili- al friend was trained to cross specific tary and 12,000 civilian refugees were routes carrying a small pack weighing granted entry into Ticino and Mesolci- between 5kg and 10kg. The Italian bor- na, of whom around 4,500 were Jews. der guards had orders to shoot the poor But many people were also turned animals and killed hundreds of them. away. Some of the Jews who were re- From the 1930s onwards, however, many fused entry were arrested and deported dogs were found working on the other to Auschwitz, from where few returned. side, alongside the border guards..

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