# In WWII, how did Switzerland remain out of it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589 "2007-09-26T19:30:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/41 "2007-09-28T06:35:00Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Some of the stolen gold even came from fillings in the teeth of Holocaust victims. Traces of this gold can be found in Swiss coins. [/QUOTE] You mean in _current_ Swiss currency? Or even of the time? Cite for either claim? ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/42 "2007-09-28T08:29:35Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Traces of this gold can be found in Swiss coins. [/QUOTE] Really? How does one distinguish ex-filling gold from freshly-mined gold or melted-down-inca-treasures gold? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/43 "2007-09-28T08:47:23Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by_ **alphaboi867** : > Traces of this gold can be found in Swiss coins. Which Swiss coins would those be? As far as I can see they haven’t minted gold coins since 1930. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/44 "2007-09-28T11:17:11Z")
I recall reading that for a while during World War II, there were periods when Hitler stationed large forces in France near Geneva. (Geneva is within walking distance of France.) I also recall that during these periods, the Swiss essentially evacuated Geneva, leaving a small rearguard to mount a symbolic resistance in the event of a German attack. ---
**Author:** ![Themenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Themenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themenin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/45 "2007-09-28T12:38:11Z")
From a purely terrain point of view, this would make sense. Geneva can be reached from France without crossing any high altitude passes. But directly beyond Geneva you’re trapped between Lac Léman and the mountains. Jura being the easier terrain (2,000 meters-ish), and Valais to the east is a bottleneck with 4,000+ meter peaks along both sides. Any Swiss defensive strategy would have to involve withdrawing from the vulnerable cities, and holding onto the more difficult terrain. As for those Swiss coins, they sure don’t look like gold - but if they are, I’m rich ! ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/46 "2007-09-28T12:45:40Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] How were the Swiss expected to return Allied airmen or POWs, when they were completely surrounded by Axis territory? [/QUOTE] They weren’t. They _were_ expected, as a neutral, to also intern Axis airmen and POW’s. This they did not do. Thus, their “neutrality” is suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Tibidabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@Tibidabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibidabo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/47 "2007-09-28T12:50:23Z")
snip [QUOTE=Lemur866] Switzerland can be compared to Ireland, another neutral country. While Switzerland wasn’t ideologically sympathetic to the fascists, they certainly cooperated with Germany in order to preserve their “neutrality”. And while Ireland couldn’t bring itself to ally with the UK, they certainly provided a lot of help for the allies…all unofficially, while trying to maintain neutral status. Plenty of British pilots who crashed in Ireland somehow made it back to the UK, despite the fact that Ireland was obligated to intern them. The Germanys could have responded by treating Ireland as an enemy country rather than a neutral country, but at what cost, and for what gain? How would dropping bombs on Ireland as well as England help them win the war? It was better to keep Ireland neutral but pro-Allies rather than explicitly a member of the Allies. [/QUOTE] Dublin was bombed by the Luftwaffe a few times by mistake. The Germans subsequently apologised and paid compensation but there have been suspicions that the largest of these incidents may have been deliberate warning: From [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dublin_in_World_War_II): > [@](#): > > Irish neutrality in the Second World War was stretched. In April 1941, Germany had launched the Belfast blitz. Belfast, in Northern Ireland and therefore part of the United Kingdom was bombed severely during April. In response, Ireland had sent rescue, fire, and emergency personnel to Belfast to assist the city, and De Valera formally protested the bombing to the German government and made his famous “they are our people” speech. Ireland’s response must have seemed unexpected from a neutral state, and some have contended that the raid served as a warning to Ireland to keep out of the war. This contention was expanded upon by Colonel Edward Flynn, second cousin of Ireland’s Minister for Coordination of Defensive Measures, who recalled to the press that Lord Haw Haw warned Ireland that Dublin’s Amiens Street Railway Station, where a stream of refugees from Belfast was arriving, would be bombed. The station, now called Connolly Station, stands a few hundred meters from North Strand Road, where the bombing damage was heaviest. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/48 "2007-09-28T16:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] First off, you’re making a mistake in equating the army with the antions’s defense. Every male in the country could have immediately gone active as guerrillas. And while the army standards were one thing, shooting was effectively the national sport, and virtually everybody practiced it. Aside from which, all that German armor would have been very nearly useless outside of the Lowlands. The idea it was not a serious threat to an invading force is ridiculous. You don’t hold ground with armor and air power. You hold it with men, and Germany would have been seriously bloodied int he attempt. Would they have succeeded? probably. The sheer body count would have favored them in the long run. But it would have been a disaster for the German military. [/QUOTE] Now you’re speaking in hypotheticals. The male population of any country _could_ immediately go active as guerillas. The Swiss military defense plan, as it was explained by a Swiss citizen on a gun board I frequent, is that each male has a rifle and a rather small amount of ammunition in his home. The expectation is that in event of an invasion the reservists rendezvous, with their rifles, at predetermined spots where heavier arms, ammunition, and other equipment are stored. The minimal amount of state-issued ammo kept in the home is to allow the reservist to “fight his way” to the rendezvous point if necessary. Once they have assembled, each unit has a pre-determined part to play in the national defensive plan. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/49 "2007-09-28T21:51:25Z")
Which is why the Nazis never seriously considered invading it. It was a listening post for allied spies, and it sold aluminum and electricity to the Germans. It was also a handy place for top Nazis to stash stolen paintings, cash, gold, and other stuff they plundered. Were theSwiss concerned about what they knew was going on (like the internment and mass killings of Jews and other minorities)? Probably-but they had no power to do anything about it. The Swiss rendered good service to they Allies-the Swiss Red Cross were allowed to inspect POW camps in Germany-and (at least) made the lives of Allied POWS easier (they coveyed mail and personal items).Face it, the Swiss were no worse than Spain, Sweden, or Portugal. They had absolutely no power over external events, and survived as best they could. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589/50 "2007-09-29T03:16:18Z")
From what I’ve heard Hitler hated Switzerland. He apparently regarded it as a mongrel nation that had sapped the racial superiority of its ethnic German population. Occupying Switzerland and “fixing” it were definitely on his to-do list. But he had a lot of other plans that were a more immediate priority and he never got around to it. As others have written, the Swiss did work with Germany during the war. They did not want a German victory because they realized that would be followed by an invasion. But they also didn’t want to get invaded during the war. So they tried to follow a middle path of appeasing Germany to keep it from invading them (or cutting off their access to outside food and fuel) while trying to give them as little as possible. One thing the Swiss did was make themselves as unattractive a target as possible. Part of this was preparing to fight any invader and wage guerilla warfare if necessary. Another part was to mine all of the economic and transportation facilities in the country and make it clear they would blow up everything of value before it could be captured and used by any invader. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wwii-how-did-switzerland-remain-out-of-it/420589.md?page=2)