The Swiss and the Nazis: How the Alpine Republic Survived in the Shadow of the Third Reich

✍ Scribed by Halbrook, Stephen

• Book ID: 108644187
• Publisher: Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors, LLC
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 6 MB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 1932033424

✦ Synopsis

This book tells the long misunderstood story of Switzerland in World War II with emphasis on two voices rarely heard. One is that of scores of Swiss who lived in those dark years, as they repeatedly mobilized to defend the country and helped refugees. The other voice is that of Nazi Intelligence, which spied on the Swiss and planned subversion and invasion. Exhaustive documents from the German military archives reveal a chilling rendition of attack plans.

When Switzerland became surrounded by the Axis Powers, it first mobilized a "spiritual defense," using the press, cabarets, and newsreels as weapons against totalitarianism, even at the risk of provoking the Nazis. Swiss soldiers recall an epoch when every day could have been "the day" when all hell would break loose and they would meet the enemy. Blitzkrieg plans against Switzerland devised by the Wehrmacht in 1940 are described, as is how Switzerland became an armed camp with countless fortifications, against which the...