When World War I brought the Joyces to Zurich in 1915, they had no trouble entering the country. Their flight from the Nazis would prove much more difficult.

A Sea-Change in Migration Policy

The experience of the Joyce family is typical for the first half of the 20th century. While Europe and the Atlantic world had pursued liberal migration policies until the mid-1910s, World War I represented a turning point. Increasingly, migratory movements came to be limited and monitored by the state.

In Switzerland, for example, the Federal Council reacted to the Russian Revolution in the fall of 1917 by issuing an executive order that established the Swiss Border Police. This eventually led to the founding of the Federal Aliens Police (“Fremdenpolizei”). The following two decades would see a further tightening of regulations – not least significant entry restrictions after the outbreak of World War II.

Supported by Friends

The Joyce family in Paris was impacted directly by these tougher migration policies. They first moved to the South of France and then, after the fall of Paris in the summer 1940, sought the help of their Zurich friends to obtain permission to return to Switzerland. Initially, however, officials recommended that their request be rejected.

Only when a series of public personalities voiced their support for the Joyces did the tide slowly begin to turn in their favor. The banker Paul Ruggiero managed to convince the authorities to lower their request for a security deposit from CHF 50,000 to CHF 20,000. Edmund Brauchbar in New York and Carola Giedion-Welcker in Zurich then pledged CHF 4,300 and CHF 15,700, respectively, as a security. This eventually made it possible for James and Nora, their son Giorgio and their grandson Stephen to return to Zurich. The small group of refugees arrived in the city on December 17, 1940.

However, their return constituted a happy ending only to a limited extent. On January 9, after dinner, James Joyce developed severe stomach pains, and on January 13, 1941, he died as a result of complications arising from a perforated ulcer, just short of his 59th birthday.

Table of Contents

1. James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Law: An Introduction
2. Obscenity and Literature: Legal Context around 1915
3. James, Nora, and the “Konkubinatsverbot”
4. Adultery as a Crime of Property
5. Doubt as a Virtue
6. Joyce Files a Lawsuit in Zurich
7. Dying Without a Safety Net
8. Ulysses Outlawed in the U.S.
9. A Victory for Free Speech
10. Suicide as a Crime
11. A Difficult Return: Stricter Migration Laws
12. A Defamation Case Against the BBC