Survival First: The Role of Switzerland in the Second World War

The storied survival of Switzerland in the face of fascism during the Second World War has long been an inspiring topic to historians. But with the reemergence of issues surrounding Swiss banking and economic practices during the war, the question of how a nation with an overwhelming ethnic German population surrounded by the Axis Powers could maintain its independence has become highly contentious. Oftentimes the most simplistic of explanations are offered to explain this paradox, but these analyses are very one-sided and tend to overlook the broad scope of strategy employed by the Swiss to guarantee their continued autonomy. The true reasons for Germany's failure to invade Switzerland are complex and entail aspects of political and racial ideology, military defense, foreign trade and economic self-reliance. The Swiss were aware of the German threat and took, meticulously, necessary steps in all of these arenas to minimize the threat of invasion. They did so in the ways that best fitted the national ideology of neutrality and the discouraging realities they faced.