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Switzerland, International Law and World War II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Detlev F. Vagts
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The recent sudden upsurge of interest in Swiss behavior during and after World War II seems to call for a brief review of the international law issues that were relevant to that country’s decisions. Many of them, in particular the law of neutrals, have become obsolete and are obviously not understood by many commentators. Of course, to reach a judgment that the behavior of Switzerland was compatible with the rules of international law then in effect does not dispose of issues of humanity and morality. But it does contribute to explaining Swiss behavior, particularly since the Government in Bern was quite legalistic in its approach to the questions of the time.

Type
Editorial Comment
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , July 1997 , pp. 466 - 475
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1997

References

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6 1 Edgar, Bonjour, Geschichte der Schweizerischen Neutralität, ch. 9 (2d ed. 1965)Google Scholar. Bonjour discusses the difficult problems of establishing an authentic text of the declaration.

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8 See, e.g., Hans Senn, Schweizerische Dissuasionsstrategie im Zweiten Weltkrieg, in id. at 197.

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12 Richard Ochsner, Transit von Truppen, Einzelpersonen, Kriegsmaterial und zivilen Gebrauchsgütern zugunsten einer Kriegspartei durch das neutrale Land, in Neutralität, supra note 7, at 216. Such humanitarian transit is recognized in Article 14 of the Hague Convention on neutrality, see note 17 infra.

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18 This rule is, curiously, to be found in the Hague Convention concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War, Oct. 18, 1907, 36 Stat. 2415, 1 Bevans 723, to which landlocked Switzerland was a party. Article 6 says: “The supply, in any manner, directly or indirectly, by a neutral Power to a belligerent Power, of war-ships, ammunition, or war material of any kind whatever, is forbidden.”

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42 There was a later agreement of Aug. 28, 1952, Liquidation of German Property in Switzerland, 13 UST 1131, which involved transfers among Germany, Switzerland and the Allied powers to settle the German property claims. The Swiss Government asserted that there were no assets of “heirless Nazi victims” but stated that it would give sympathetic consideration to their dedication to a charitable cause if any were found thereafter. See the letter related to the agreement, Aug. 28, 1952, id. at 1143.

43 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mar. 14, 1997, at 58-59.

44 Opened far signature May 23, 1969, 1155 UNTS 331.

45 [1946] 5 Foreign Relations of The United States 216. 46

6 Winston, Churchill, The Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy 712 (1953)Google Scholar, quoted in Homberger, supra note 23, at 131, and Bucher, supra note 31, at 589. The context of the quotation was advice to Anthony Eden about the position the Allies should take regarding Switzerland vis-à-vis Stalin.

47 N.Y. Times, May 8, 1997, at Al.