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Klaus Urner has discovered proof that Hitler wanted to "rub out" Switzerland. The planned occupation of the country was, however, postponed for a short time and in the end did not materialize. Switzerland was the only country in Western Europe that did not suffer military invasion in World War II. It made itself indispensable to both sides and survived in the eye of the hurricane that was Nazi aggression. "Let's Swallow Switzerland", including archival photographs, original color maps, and reprints of secret documents, sets new standards for the investigation of this important chapter of twentieth-century history.
This new study brings together leading experts to show how the modern world began with the coming of the railway. They clearly explain why it had a greater impact than any other technical or industrial innovation before and completely redefined the limits of the civilized world. While the effect of railways on economic development is self-evident, little attention has been paid to their impact on international relations. This is unfortunate, for in the period from 1848 to 1945, railways were an important element in the struggle between the Great Powers. This took many forms. Often, as in East Asia, the competition for railway concessions reflected the clash of rival imperial interests. The s...
Using accessible archival sources, a team of historians reveal how much the USA, Britain, Switzerland and Sweden knew about the Nazi attempt to murder all the Jews of Europe during World War II.
The essays in this volume consider the involvement of business corporations and of individual businessmen in the politics of the 1930s and 1940s: in the move away from the market and also from democracy, towards state control and authoritarianism, including the massive intervention of the state in property rights. How far did businesses attempt to guide this intervention for their own purposes, and to what extent did they succeed? This debate deals, centrally, with the role of German business, of banks, of industrial corporations, and of small tradesmen in the Nazi regime. An older discussion of how they may have facilitated the Nazi takeover has been supplemented here by an investigation in...
This is a study of British policy towards Switzerland during World War II.
This collection of essays sheds light on the history of Switzerland during World War II, covering such topics as: trade; financial relations; gold; refugees; defence; and foreign relations. It also touches on official post-war measures to suppress Switzerland's involvement in the war.
Prominent historian and former President of the Swiss Confederation Georges-Andr Chevallaz begins his study of Swiss neutrality during World War II with two essential questions: Why, in the face of German imperialism ”with its authoritarian, totalitarian, and racist ideology ”did Switzerland declare neutrality? Why did it not join the "camp of democracies," or the other European nations who resolved to hold firm against the Germans? Chevallaz's provocative and insightful book, presented here for the first time in English, attempts to answer these questions. Chevallaz further offers an even-handed reevaluation of the role of the principal actors in Swiss politics of the time, notably Marcel Pilet-Golaz, head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and General Henri Guisan.
Traces the career of the widely read cultural historian Johannes Scherr and his development of a new kind of historical writing for the increasingly globalized 19th-century world.
A revealing account of Swiss intelligence operations during WWII, including a secret backchannel between Switzerland and Nazi Germany. During World War II, Col. Roger Masson, the head of Swiss Intelligence, maintained a secret link to the German Chief of Espionage, SS Gen. Walter Schellenberg. With access to previously inaccessible documents, including newly discovered material in American archives, historian Pierre Braunschweig fully illuminates this connection for the first time, along with surprising new details about the military threats Switzerland faced in March 1943. During World War II, Switzerland was famous as a center of espionage fielded by Allies and Axis alike. Less has been known, however, about Switzerland’s own intelligence activities, including its secret sources in Hitler’s councils and its counterespionage program at home. In Secret Channel to Berlin, Braunschweig details the functions of Swiss Intelligence during World War II and sheds new light on conflicts between Swiss Intelligence and the federal government in Bern, as well as within the intelligence service itself.