Switzerland and the Second World War / edited by Georg Kreis.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kreis, Georg, 1943-

Standardized Title:

Schweiz und der Zweite Weltkrieg. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Switzerland.

World War, 1939-1945.

Neutrality.

Physical Description:

xvii, 378 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Portland, OR : F. Cass, 2000.

Summary:

This collection of essays sheds light on the history of Switzerland during World War II, covering such topics as: trade; financial relations; gold; refugees; defence; and foreign relations. It also touches on official post-war measures to suppress the problematic aspects of Switzerland's involvement in the war.The work contributes to the debate that started in 1966 over the "dormant accounts" of Holocaust victims still held by Swiss banks. This issue has spread to include questions about: fugitive Nazi funds and the gold trade between the Swiss National Bank and the German Reichsbank; art dealing; insurance companies; participation in the "Aryanization" of Jewish companies in Germany; and slave labour.

Contents:

Introduction: Four Debates and Little Dissent / Georg Kreis 1

1 Foreign Trade and Swiss Politics, 1939-45 / Marc Perrenoud 26

2 Switzerland's International Financial Relations, 1931-50 / Jakob Tanner 42

3 German Gold - Allied Gold, 1940-45 / Philippe Marguerat 69

4 Unclaimed Assets of Nazi Victims in Switzerland: What People Knew and What Else They Ought to Know / Peter Hug 81

5 Swiss Refugee Policy, 1933-45 / Georg Kreis 103

6 Investigating 'Anti-Semitism'?: On the Concept and Function of 'Anti-Semitism' and Problems Involved in Research / Jacques Picard 132

7 Pilet-Golaz and the Making of Swiss Foreign Policy: Some Remarks / Neville Wylie 158

8 'Neither this Way nor any Other': Swiss Internationalism during the Second World War / Madeleine Herren 171

9 The Military National Defence, 1939-45 / Rudolf Jaun 194

10 Political and Humanitarian Resistance in Switzerland, 1939-45 / Andre Lasserre 212

11 'Spiritual National Defence' in the 1930s: Swiss Political Culture between the Wars / Josef Mooser 236

12 Swiss Memory of the Second World War in the immediate Post-War Period, 1945-48 / Luc van Dongen 261

13 The 1946 National Public Opinion Survey as a Democratic Challenge / Niklaus Stettler 282

14 Governmental Malaise with History: From the White Paper to the Bonjour Report / Sacha Zala 312

15 Lest We Forget. Switzerland and the Second World War: The Sources / Andreas Kellerhals-Maeder 333

16 On the Role of the 'Swiss Independent Expert Commission on the Second World War' / Jean-Francois Bergier 353.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [362]-363) and index.

ISBN:

0714650293

OCLC:

43050063