My Swiss-Not-Swiss Ancestors

By DOUGLAS D. SCHAR

Dr. Schar’s study of what he has dubbed Swiss-Not-Swiss Ancestors, or Swiss Crypto Jews is free.

When you begin to investigate Hidden Jewish Ancestry, you will find all kinds of surprises lurking in your family tree. Nothing could be more true than my own journey into my family’s genealogy.

Every family has an origin story. As in, Our family came from Italy and immigrated to New York, or Our family came from France, and immigrated to Argentina, or Our family is from this village in the north of Spain and has always been from this village in the north of Spain.

My family story is that we are German and English, with some of that German being German Jewish.  When I began researching my family I discovered that contrary to our family lore, my family was not from Germany. In fact, almost all of them immigrated from Switzerland. True they spoke German when they got off the boat in in either Pennsylvania or North Carolina, but they did not immigrate from Germany. Most of them came from Switzerland.

As I looked further into my family, I discovered that though my ancestors immigrated from Switzerland, science indicated they were not Swiss. My ancestry DNA research revealed my immigrant ancestors were genetically more similar to Sephardic, Ashkenazic, and Mizrahi Jews than to the Swiss people they lived amongst.  It turns out much of my family were Swiss Crypto Jews. Crypto Jews are persons of Jewish ancestry that assume a Christian identity and do their best to conceal their Jewish ancestry. So, I discovered that though my family immigrated from Switzerland to the United States, they were not Swiss.

This led to quite a big research project,  I would almost call it a book, which I entitled “Swiss Crypto Jews.” You will find this book on my website in a PDF viewer and as a downloadable PDF File.

My study of Hidden Jewish History or Crypto Judaic history really started when I read the works of Donald Yates and Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman. These two researchers studied the history of Crypto Jews in the British Isles and wrote three fantastic books on the subject. What became clear to me reading their books was this. Jewish migration to the British Isles occurred in successive waves, the first wave occurred long before the time of the Romans when Israelites bought tin in the Southwest of England,  the next with the Roman invasion, the next with William the Conqueror, the next with the Italian bankers and musicians of the 15th century, the next being the Sephardic Jewish refugees in the 16th century, the next being the arrival of German Jews in the 19th century, and finally the arrival of Eastern European Jews in the 20th century. The island nation had successive waves of Jewish immigration, and with each wave a new layer of Jewish presence in the British Isles came to be.

My research revealed Swiss Crypto Jewish history was very similar to British Crypto Jewish history. Switzerland is a physical bridge between northern and Southern Europe, and from the Roman times forward had acted as a highway between the two halves of Europe. Jews first came to Switzerland with the Romans as soldiers and tradesmen, later they came as traders that traded from Germany all the way to China (Rhadanites), later they came with the general movement of Jews from Southern Europe to Northern Europe, later they passed through as refugees from Spanish persecution,  and later still as Huguenots fleeing persecution in France. It seems with each successive wave of Jewish migration through Switzerland, Jewish DNA remained behind.

This would explain why my “Swiss-Not-Swiss” ancestors carried Jewish DNA rather than local Swiss DNA. They were Jewish people who ended up in Switzerland in one or more of the waves of Jews that made their way to Switzerland.

If you are Swiss, or you family immigrated to North or South America from Switzerland, and your DNA report indicates you have Jewish ancestry, read the book I wrote on the topic. It may give you some insight into how that is the case, whether or not your family recalls having Jewish ancestry or not.

A twist of fate, or coincidence, or divine providence: once I finished researching my own “Swiss-Not-Swiss” ancestors, distant relations whose families never left Switzerland began contacting me. Three such relatives live in specific towns, believe their family to have lived in that town forever, and wonder why they are genetically 35% Sephardic Jewish or 42% Ashkenazi Jewish. Having researched my own Swiss Crypto Jewish family, the answer is not that mysterious.

Have a read of my research. If you thought your family was from Switzerland but have discovered you have Jewish ancestry, you may find some answers.

At the back of the book, you will find some other sources of information that may help you fill in your family story.

One way to start the process is to take DNA Consultants’ Jewish DNA Fingerprint Plus Test. I did, and with all my Jewish ancestors it was no surprise that it revealed both my father and mother had Jewish DNA matches.

Download PDF

Douglas Schar, Ph.D. is a historical consultant who contributes pieces on crypto-Jewish genealogy. He is the creator of the site Hidden Jewish Ancestry (which is highly recommended). One of his current history/genealogy projects is to make the so-called Alien Rolls of London (ca. 1520-1820) better known. These records mark the appearance in England (and thence to America) of Sephardic Jewish families which we think of today as “good old English stock,” such as Adams, Anderson, Drake, Davis and others. Another of his projects is testing the overlap between Gypsy/Roma and Jewish genealogy in Scotland, Spain and among Pennsylvania Dutch families.

See also

Basic Jewish DNA Fingerprint Test (DNA test)

Jewish DNA Fingerprint Plus (DNA test)

Jewish (population page)

Jews and Muslims in British Colonial America (book)

Book of Jewish and Crypto-Jewish Surnames (book)

Hidden Jewish Ancestry (Dr. Schar’s website)

Hidden Jewish Immigrants to the Pennsylvania Colonies, by Dr. Douglas Schar (blog post, August 13, 2024)