Switzerland Stayed Neutral—Until It Didn’t

Описание: How Switzerland Walked the Line—and Crossed It When Conscience Called


Switzerland’s neutrality in World War II wasn’t a passive stance but a daily struggle to stay free in the shadow of Nazi Germany. The story follows Swiss neutrality under pressure: a young Swiss student, Maurice Bavaud, tries to assassinate Hitler in Munich; Swiss fighter pilots in Bf 109s defend Swiss airspace, shoot down German aircraft over the Jura, and pay with their lives; and ordinary Swiss citizens live under more than seven thousand air-raid sirens as the war closes in on their borders. At the same time, Swiss humanitarian workers turn neutrality into rescue. Police commander Paul Grüninger quietly backdates passports and lets thousands of Jewish refugees into Switzerland, sacrificing his career to save lives. Swiss Red Cross nurse Rösli Näf and educator Anne-Marie Im Hof-Piguet pull Jewish children off deportation lists in Vichy France and smuggle them to safety. In the south of France, Elisabeth Eidenbenz transforms a ruined château at Elne into the Maternité Suisse, where hundreds of refugee babies are born instead of being counted as expendable. Other Swiss volunteers like Elsbeth Kasser create warm, protective spaces in grim internment camps, giving children food, schooling, and a sense of dignity. Decades later, Switzerland begins to rehabilitate and honor these figures, acknowledging that its World War II history is not just about “Swiss neutrality” on a map, but about ordinary people who made neutrality an active, risky job—fighting in the sky, bending rules at the border, and turning paperwork, courage, and compassion into a quiet resistance that saved thousands.