Zurich - Switzerland yesterday rejected as "outrageous" allegations that it treated Jewish refugees like slaves in forced labour camps during the second World War. "We think that the term `slave labour camps' is outrageous and dishonest," said a spokeswoman for the government task force handling charges about Switzerland's wartime past.
The spokeswoman, Ms Linda Shephard, was responding to a highly critical historian's report compiled for the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre and released on Tuesday. "Refugees had to work hard in Swiss camps but got housing and food and a modest remuneration for this," Ms Shephard said.