Alena Gerber

Alena Gerber became particularly famous in Switzerland when she was at the center of a xenophobic controversy between the conservative Swiss People's Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei) and German guest workers. The Swiss People's Party's stance was the too many German foreigners would already overcrowd Switzerland, destroy its cultural identity and take away the citizen's jobs. The German and Swiss yellow press newspapers BILD and Blick kept the issue in the media for several months, thereby indirectly contributing to Gerber's increasing popularity. The argument ended, when People's Party officials and Alena Gerber reconciled in public in late 2009.

Swiss television named Alena Gerber "one of the most prominent examples of Anti-German sentiment". Read Less