Georg Kreis (born November 14, 1943) is a Swiss

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. He is a professor emeritus of modern general history and history of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

and was head of the University’s Europa Institute until July 2011. Aside from his academic duties, Kreis was the President of the Swiss Federal Commission against Racism, a Swiss government-supported commission of experts, from its founding in 1995 until 2011. He was appointed a member of the

Bergier Commission The Bergier commission in Bern was formed by the Swiss government on 12 December 1996. It is also known as the ICE (Independent Commission of Experts). Founded in a decade when Switzerland had come under recurring criticism for its behaviour dur ...

of historians to investigate Switzerland’s conduct during World War II. Kreis was quoted by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

as stating he felt the scandal about Nazi Gold and the

World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks The World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks was launched in 1995 to retrieve deposits made into Swiss banks by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II. Initiated as WJC negotiations with both the Government of Switzer ...

unearthed anti-Semitism that had always been part of the Swiss societal fabric. He also lead a research project financed by the Swiss Government to investigate Switzerland’s ties to Apartheid South Africa and authored the project’s final report. Kreis also lead a renowned 2014 project to write an all-encompassing history of Switzerland, based on newly released archival sources. In 2006, Swiss news magazine

Schweizer Illustrierte ''Schweizer Illustrierte'' is a weekly illustrated news magazine owned by Swiss media company Ringier. History and profile ''Schweizer Illustrierte'' was established in 1911 as ''Schweizer Illustrierte Zeitung (SIZ)'', and adopted its current na ...

designated Kreis to be one of the 100 most important Swiss citizens of the year. In 2007, he won the Fischhof Prize issued annually by the Swiss Society for Minorities, a group advocating for the rights of minorities in Switzerland. The publication of Kreis’ autobiography in 2018, led to him being profiled in multiple Swiss newspapers such as

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...

and

Basler Zeitung ''Basler Zeitung'' (literally: "Basler Newspaper"), or ''BaZ'', is a Swiss German-language regional daily newspaper, published in Basel. History and profile ''Basler Zeitung'' was created in 1977 through the merger of the '' Basler Nachricht ...

. In 2022, Georg Kreis gave multiple interviews to the Swiss press about current affairs. One of these interviews was about Swiss neutrality in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, another about the removal of historical artifacts with alleged colonial connections from Swiss cities. In 2023, Kreis was interviewed by

Swiss Television Schweizer Fernsehen (SF; "Swiss Television") is the German-language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in Switzerland for Linguistic geography of Switzerland, German-speaking Switzerland. It h ...

about his latest project, regarding Swiss ties to colonialism in Africa. Kreis was heavily criticized by members of the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) after he compared the

Swiss minaret ban The federal popular initiative "against the construction of minarets" was a successful popular initiative in Switzerland to prevent the construction of minarets on mosques. In a November 2009 referendum, a constitutional amendment banning the c ...

(which the party proposed and successfully campaigned for the Swiss people to vote for in a 2009 referendum) to a hypothetical SVP-initiated ban on synagogues during World War II, with calls for his resignation as Head of the Swiss Federal Commission against Racism. Kreis was a member of the

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland french: Parti radical-démocratique it, Partito Liberale Radicale rm, Partida liberaldemocrata svizra , logo = Free Democratic Party of Switzerland logo French.png , logo_size = 200px , foundation = , dissolution = ...

before quitting the party in 2013, citing its apparent ideological rightward shift. He had long publicly criticized party leadership for allying itself with the Swiss People’s Party as opposed to more moderate political forces.

References

Swiss historians 1943 births {{DEFAULTSORT:Kreis, Georg Living people