Thomas F. (hardtack) -
This is a very interesting book about how Switzerland maintained its neutrality and freedom during World War II, although for many years it was surrounded by fascist controlled territory. It was not without cost as the county was on 1/3 rations for many years and was only able to import enough coal for its population to heat one room in a house. And as many of the males were on military duty, most work, including factory and farm work, was done by women, girls and young boys.
However, the book's downside is that it is very repetitive. The reader is constantly reminded about how the individual Swiss citizen is an expert marksman or markswoman, how the Swiss can mobilize it's army in a few hours, how the Swiss treasure their guns and other military equipment kept in each home, how the leaders constantly proclaimed they would never surrender... the list goes on. As such, the book could have been many pages shorter.
It's also interesting how we remember the Swiss traded with Nazi Germany, and forget how the Swiss also traded with the Allies, providing precision instruments. The Swiss trade with German accounted for slightly less than 1% of Germany's military needs. They needed to trade with Germany to obtain coal and food. In fact, as the end of the war drew near, the Allies didn't provide the Swiss with coal or food even though the Swiss border was accessible in some areas.
Plus, the Swiss cared for tens of thousands of interned Allied soldiers and refugee civilians, as it served as a haven for people fleeing Nazi tyranny. If the U.S. had opened its borders to the Jews in the same proportion of our population as the Swiss did then over 1.2 million Jews would have found haven in the U.S. But the U.S. didn't. In fact, the U.S. didn't release as many visas to people fleeing the Nazis as it had available.
And when Allied planes accidentally bombed Swiss towns and killed people, time and time again, the Swiss government only issued protests and not retaliation. Whereas the Swiss Air Force actually shot down many German planes over flying its borders.
Still, some Swiss did profit from the war, and problems with the recovery of Nazi stolen funds and objects are still an issue. But "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." The Allies had their own war profiteers who cared little for those who died. My own mother remembered being in a butcher shop with her mother during the war, when they overheard another woman stating, "If the war will only go on another two years, my husband and I will be set for life." Which is when my grandmother punched the other woman out, knocking her to the floor.
However, the book's downside is that it is very repetitive. The reader is constantly reminded about how the individual Swiss citizen is an expert marksman or markswoman, how the Swiss can mobilize it's army in a few hours, how the Swiss treasure their guns and other military equipment kept in each home, how the leaders constantly proclaimed they would never surrender... the list goes on. As such, the book could have been many pages shorter.
It's also interesting how we remember the Swiss traded with Nazi Germany, and forget how the Swiss also traded with the Allies, providing precision instruments. The Swiss trade with German accounted for slightly less than 1% of Germany's military needs. They needed to trade with Germany to obtain coal and food. In fact, as the end of the war drew near, the Allies didn't provide the Swiss with coal or food even though the Swiss border was accessible in some areas.
Plus, the Swiss cared for tens of thousands of interned Allied soldiers and refugee civilians, as it served as a haven for people fleeing Nazi tyranny. If the U.S. had opened its borders to the Jews in the same proportion of our population as the Swiss did then over 1.2 million Jews would have found haven in the U.S. But the U.S. didn't. In fact, the U.S. didn't release as many visas to people fleeing the Nazis as it had available.
And when Allied planes accidentally bombed Swiss towns and killed people, time and time again, the Swiss government only issued protests and not retaliation. Whereas the Swiss Air Force actually shot down many German planes over flying its borders.
Still, some Swiss did profit from the war, and problems with the recovery of Nazi stolen funds and objects are still an issue. But "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." The Allies had their own war profiteers who cared little for those who died. My own mother remembered being in a butcher shop with her mother during the war, when they overheard another woman stating, "If the war will only go on another two years, my husband and I will be set for life." Which is when my grandmother punched the other woman out, knocking her to the floor.
