New book defends Swiss role in Nazi era

Switzerland mobilised its army all through the war. home.datacomm.ch

A French journalist's new book, "Another Switzerland" aims to redress what he believes is a misguided worldview that Switzerland collaborated with the Nazis.

Newly released and available on bookshelves in Lausanne and Paris, the pages of Jean-Pierre Richardot’s book unfurl a portrait of the Swiss people who resisted Nazi Germany, although he acknowledges that some Swiss acted dishonourably.

“Enough is enough”, Richardot contends. Fed up with the negative press Switzerland has received for its wartime role, the historian set out four years ago to prove that fundamentally, the Swiss were active in fighting the Nazis.

Bergier reports

His report presents a far different view than the report by the nine-member Independent Commission of Experts (ICE), led by the Swiss historian, Jean-François Bergier.

A more negative portrait of the Swiss role in the Second World War emerged in the Bergier reports, which found that some Swiss had collaborated with the Nazis.

Bergier released a series of 25 academic studies last year.

Those reports effectively changed the perception held until the 1990s that Switzerland was a small country that defended its borders during the Second World War against the aggressors.

Defending Switzerland

Former “Le Monde” journalist Richardot, though, is having none of it.

He claims to “know” that the Swiss were not “for the Nazis”, as he hears claimed around him. He says he “knows”, because he was there.

Born in 1929, Richardot lived in Switzerland between September 1942 and March 1945. At the time, he was impressed that the Swiss “were no cowards.”

Testimonies

A series of around 50 interviews with Swiss people from all stations of life forms the backbone of Richardot’s book. He methodically chronicles their personal wartime experiences to arrive at the conclusion that the Swiss actively resisted the Nazis.

The author praises Swiss acts of defiance such as those in Western Switzerland of members of the French resistance.

Among those interviewed for the book, is August Lindt, whom Richardot knew well. The former Swiss ambassador and former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees played an essential role in the secret resistance movement created in 1940 by Swiss from all walks of life, according to Richardot.

The group was ready to intervene in cases where the Swiss government capitulated to the Nazis, thanks to military assistance granted by the Swiss army.

Swissophile

While Richardot’s book is overtly pro-Switzerland, it refuses to apologise for Swiss sympathy for Nazi Germany. He condemns what he calls the Swiss politics of “survival” among those who capitulated.

“Switzerland was not this paragon of virtue as has been thought for a long time. Nor was it disinterested and without conviction, so we are looking to address a very weird caricature of this country,” Richardot said.

The formal title of the book is “Une autre Suisse – 1940-1944/ A bastion against Nazi Germany” by Jean-Pierre Richardot.

swissinfo