Mathieu Musey

On the farm of the Mennonite Burkhalter family, one of Switzerland's most famous refugees, Mathieu Musey, sought refuge with his entire family from April 1987 to January 1988. On the Mont Dedos farm above the Pichoux Gorge near Souboz, he was arrested during an operation by the Bern police on January 7, 1988, an operation that shortly thereafter led to the military deportation of the Musey family to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).

^{The Musey family gets into the helicopter (Photo: RTS Screenshot*).}

Dora Burkhalter will never forget the morning of January 7, 1988, when police officers arrived at Mont Dedos farm with guns and a helicopter:

“We heard a deafening noise, then we saw policemen armed with guns and dogs surrounding the house. I thought that a war must have broken out. Then the Museys were taken away and we never saw them again.

We had told no one that we were housing rejected asylum seekers, not even our closest neighbors. For a long time I myself did not even know that our host family was wanted. Two of my sons, Daniel and Pierre, were members of a Mennonite peace group. Therefore, we were asked to take in a refugee. Musey, his wife, two small children and an adopted son stayed with us for nine months.

As a declared opponent of the Mobutu regime, he would have risked his life on his return home. He was a member of the government-in-exile that was prepared to overthrow the dictator. (…) Anyway, as time went by, our farm was no longer safe for him. Shortly before Christmas, Musey had found a new hiding place. But at the insistence of his wife, he had returned home to us for vacation. Therefore, the police were able to catch him. After that, there was a charge against us. We had to pay a fine. But my husband and I have no regrets, even though even within the Mennonite community we were accused by some of having acted illegally with this shelter. As Christians, it was our duty to welcome them. All the more so because our own Anabaptist ancestors were also often on the run. Many were also deported. And many survived only because people offered them shelter - without asking many questions. In this way, the Burkhalters had also found asylum in the Jura in the 18th century. Now it was time for us to help others. Out of gratitude for the help that had often saved the lives of our ancestors!”

The case Musey

On the farm of the Mennonite Burkhalter family, one of Switzerland's most famous refugees, Mathieu Musey, sought refuge with his entire family from April 1987 to January 1988. On the Mont Dedos farm above the Pichoux Gorge near Souboz, he was arrested during an operation by the Bern police on January 7, 1988, an operation that shortly thereafter led to the military deportation of the Musey family to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). Musey had lived in Switzerland for 17 years and had taught at various universities before his request for asylum was rejected by the Swiss Confederation. At the time of the events, he was executive secretary of the Zairian Opposition Coordination in Switzerland and a minister in the government-in-exile. His arrest received much media coverage, and Musey publicly described his abduction as the result of a plot between then-Swiss Justice Minister Elisabeth Kopp and President Mobutu.

Mathieu Musey died in Kinshasa (Congo) in February 2021 at the age of 80.