Year of disasters eclipses furore over Swiss wartime past

Jean-Francois Bergier (left) celebrates the end of his commission's work with the Swiss president, Moritz Leuenberger Keystone

The latest revelations about Switzerland's wartime role have drawn little notice as the year's tragic events have diverted the public's attention.

The Bergier Commission has finished five years of research – it will cease to exist at the end of 2001 – and has presented the Swiss cabinet with its 25 studies detailing aspects of Switzerland’s role during the Holocaust era.

The Independent Commission of Experts (ICE), as it is formally known, was set up in 1996 at the height of the controversy over dormant accounts in Swiss banks, held by victims of the Nazis. Its brief was to determine Swiss links with the Nazis to determine the exact nature of their relationship.

Even though there was a general feeling that interest in the issue had died down recently, the chairman of the commission, Jean-Francois Bergier, does not agree with it.

In an interview, he told swissinfo that the Swiss public’s interest has certainly not diminished but it was changed by other events.

“When we began our research in the mid 90s, people were panicking that the image of Switzerland could be damaged [by our findings]. However, there were other tragic events, which actually have affected the image of Switzerland,” he said in the interview.

However, Hans-Ulrich Jost, a historian at the University of Lausanne who has studied Switzerland’s role during the Second World War, does not think the interest in the reports has been brushed aside by events such as the collapse of Swissair or the massacre in the parliament in Zug.

Recently he told swissinfo that the lack of interest could be explained by the fact that the country is not ready to come to terms with its wartime role.

“One of the reactions I’ve seen…is simply to refuse the results and instead go back to the traditional interpretation of Swiss neutrality and Swiss history during that period,” Jost said.

Change Swiss history

During a press conference at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Bergier said that even though “Swiss history books were only updated once in 50 years”, he was hoping the commission’s findings would be incorporated in the schoolbooks.

“Our findings will certainly change the image of Swiss history and bring the history of this particular period closer to reality. That is also what the Swiss government wanted us to do,” he said.

However, Bergier does not think the reports, which shed light on the country’s political and economic ties to Nazi Germany, will actually harm Switzerland’s image.

“The worst thing would be to ignore our history. The fact that this country is ready to face its own history is a very positive aspect,” he explained.

More Anti-Semitism

One of the greatest surprises for Bergier, who celebrated his 70th birthday on December 5, was the strong anti-Semitic feeling among the Swiss during the Second World War.

“The mentality at that time was not exactly what I had in my own memory. More people were anti-Semitic against foreign Jews than I expected,” he told swissinfo.

Bergier was also stunned about the extent of trade relations between Swiss companies and the Nazi regime.

“I was surprised about how close the Swiss industry’s relations were with the rest of the world, but in particular with our nearest neighbours, Italy and Germany. There was a lot of room to manoeuvre and the firms could chose their own strategy much more than we expected,” he said.

Not always the truth

Even though Bergier felt the public was informed extensively about the ongoing work of the ICE, he attacked the press for not always reporting the truth.

“The public was informed, however, not always well informed. There is a big difference between the quality and the quantity of information,” he lamented.

“When we began in the mid 90s our findings were so emotional that it was almost impossible for the people [journalists] to have an objective view of the problem, however, it is the role of the media to transmit the findings of the scientists.”

Not enough time

The commission agreed to do its research within a period of five years, during which the 30 historians spent about SFr22 million ($13 million). Bergier thinks his team could have dug even deeper had they had more time.

He thinks other interesting facts would have been the elite’s role in politics and economics and to find out who actually had the power in Switzerland during the Second World War, however, there was not enough time.

“Research is never finished. Particularly in this case it would have been good to have more time to digest the findings and get some distance to all the facts after the research.”

Like a Himalayan adventure

Bergier was one of the last historians to join the ICE, which was established by a parliamentary decision in 1996 to investigate the volume and fate of assets moved to Switzerland before and during the Second World War.

When the cabinet phoned the history professor of the Federal Institute of Technology in December 1996 and told him about his new mission, he said he felt like “going on a Himalayan adventure”.

“My worst experience during the time with the commission was the night when I was asked to take on this job. I knew that the expectations were very high and it was very frightening. I could not sleep at all during that night,” he said.

But Bergier has no regrets about joining the team and feels good about the work the commission has done. “I am feeling kind of free now but I am also proud that we have done useful work, which will hopefully open a large debate.”

The first thing the 70-year-old committed mountaineer wants to do now is get some rest and distance to his research, before getting back to his own research on ‘European Alpine history in the late middle ages and early modern times’.

“Since my childhood I have loved the mountains and I have always been fascinated by their history. If I can call myself a pioneer once in my life, it will probably be in this field.”

The 500-page report will be published in four languages – German, French, Italian and English – in March 2002.

by Billi Bierling