How Neutral Was Switzerland in WW2?

[cronus]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/how-s ... 74447.html

How the Swiss oiled Hitler's killing machine

In May 1943, Hitler's war machine was showing signs of weakening. In North Africa, German and Italian troops were in retreat. In the East, Germany was suffering appalling casualties. At home, nightly RAF bombing raids were exacting a heavy toll.
The German economy was wilting under the demand for "total war". Production of arms had quadrupled since 1939 and this was set to rise still further as the Wehrmacht struggled to replace the losses of equipment on the Eastern Front.

Civilian morale, already wilting, was driven even lower by chronic shortages of consumer goods.

Against this background of deepening gloom, an unlikely saviour came to Germany's rescue, according to Professor Jean Ziegler of Geneva and the Sorbonne universities.

Supposedly neutral, Switzerland was happy to take German gold in return for hard currency and weapons, enabling the Nazis to continue their war effort. The effect of this, asserts Professor Ziegler, was that his country extended the Second World War.

"I consider it proven that the Swiss contributed significantly to the prolonging of the Second World War," he writes. The war, he maintains, should have ended after the German defeats at Stalingrad and in North Africa.

(continued)

[Brian Peacock]

So the answer to the question is: Not very.

[cronus]

So the answer to the question is: Not very.

Should be able to cut a deal with them, in the backroom, after Brexit then?

[JimC]

The Swiss airforce flew Messerschmitts...

[cronus]

The Swiss airforce flew Messerschmitts...

Germans still fly in the mountains these days...

[laklak]

The Swiss are just Germans with a pot of melted cheese.

[Scot Dutchy]

Look the same went for every so called "neutral" country. Sweden did very nicely thank you much. The Nazi base at the Shannon estuary was never shunned by the Irish who hated the English at the time.