Swiss neutrality during the Second World War

Peter Küpfer deserves credit for drawing attention to a very important exhibition at Château de Morges (Current Concerns No. 3 of 10 February 2026). The exhibition sheds light on the activities of international secret services in Switzerland, particularly during the Second World War. Switzerland’s existence was under serious threat, especially after 1940 with the occupation of France by German troops. Immediately after the outbreak of war in 1939, the Federal Council declared Switzerland’s integral neutrality along with general mobilisation.
    Even more than during the First World War, Switzerland had to strike a balance between conformity and resistance, particularly with regard to neutrality. Switzerland had to make concessions that pushed the limits of what was acceptable to both sides, i.e. the Allies (primarily Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union) and the Axis powers (Italy and Germany). On the Allied side, as the exhibition in Morges clearly shows, this meant tolerating the activities of the Allied secret services operating from Switzerland. At the time, Switzerland could be described as a “hub” for the secret services. However, Switzerland itself benefited greatly from these contacts, learning details of German attack plans and being able to adjust its defences accordingly. On the other hand, Switzerland had to accept particularly sensitive procedures, especially with regard to Hitler’s Germany. Here, too, Switzerland violated the principles of neutrality by granting state loans to Germany and Italy for war material deliveries and by insufficiently controlling transit traffic between Germany and Italy. However, this has nothing to do with the “flexible handling of neutrality” demanded by the Federal Council today, but was due to the specific, extremely difficult historical situation. Switzerland had to give something to both sides in order to survive!
    This balancing act, together with General Guisan’s Réduit strategy, met with broad approval among the population, in contrast to the hesitation of the Federal Council at the time (especially Pilet-Golaz). Under the banner of “spiritual national defence”, the Swiss population gained unprecedented strength, which deterred potential enemies. Our confederation needs precisely this kind of anti-totalitarian consensus again today. This will be possible with broad support for the neutrality initiative!

Dr. phil. René Roca,
Research Institute for Direct Democracy