Swiss and the Nazis

by Stephen Halbrook

  The pamphlet’s conclusion was “Anti-Semitism is an invasion of foreign propaganda.”28

  Braunschweig describes his own reflections about Die Judenfrage as follows: “i thought it was not bad. I never had any problem. There were group discussions about such military publications, but they were really not necessary. All in all, people behaved well. They did what they had to do.” in short, no significant anti-Semitism existed in the Swiss military, the members of which engaged in voluntary dialogues and did their duty to defend the homeland.

  For many, this duty included guarding the border and escorting civilian and military refugees into Switzerland. “My father and grandfather knew French internees from the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. Those memories fade, but some things repeat again and again. My parents hosted Viennese refugees in World War i. In fact, there were always refugees around in my family, from Vienna, Paris, and Germany.”

  Braunschweig made a life-long career in military transport. He participated in mountain auto races and contributed to safer race car designs. In 1965, he was a colonel in the Transportation Service29 and later wrote about his experiences.30 After retiring, he became president of the Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund, or SIG) for 1980–88.

  The experiences of this one man were in their way typical of Swiss Jews in arms during World War ii. He stood side by side with his compatriots ready to fight. He did not face significant anti-Semitism, and in fact advanced through the ranks through his abilities. He remained a stalwart defender of his country and its role in the Second World War.

  Braunschweig’s wife worked at one point for Korpskommandant (lieutenant General) Herbert Constam, the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the Swiss Army—and perhaps at that time in any army. Her recollection that “he was loved by the soldiers and hated by his officers” expressed his democratic tendencies so atypical in a military force. Constam’s leadership position was an affront to the Nazis and a symbol of Switzerland’s refusal to submit to Germany’s anti-Semitic policy.

  Herbert Constam (1885–1973) was born in Switzerland and received his law degree in 1909. His grandfather, Joseph Kohnstamm, had immigrated to America and fought in the American Civil War. Herbert’s father, Emil Joseph Constam, was born in New York in 1858,31 but returned to Switzerland and became a professor at a Swiss technical high school. Herbert first practiced law in Zurich, then entered the army, rising through the ranks to colonel and serving as the Commander of the Walenstadt Shooting School from 1934 to 1937. He then was named Commander of the 6th division (1938–43) and afterward Commander of Mountain Army Corps 3 (1944–50).32 His 1944 wartime promotion made Constam one of only four corps commanders, the highest rank next to the Commander-in-Chief.

  Constam remains a legend today. He is portrayed during the war years in the historical fiction series The Frey Family by Sigmund Widmer, a historian, journalist, and former mayor of zurich.33 Considered by General Guisan to be his best corps commander, Constam was notorious for insisting on the very best shooting skills. If a soldier did not shoot well, Constam would stand between two targets and order the shooting to continue. When soldiers were ill treated, he punished their officers.34 This kind of interaction within the Swiss militia was the polar opposite of what was so often practiced within the German Wehrmacht.

  The late Georges-André Chevallaz, who would become president of the Swiss Confederation, went through basic training in 1935 in Walenstadt, Constam’s shooting school, and served 2,000 days in the military during the war. He recalled: “i had Jewish friends, and there was no anti-Semitism. Jews in the army were fellow soldiers.”35

  He further said, “Officers were afraid of Constam. Once one of his officers asked to be promoted to the General Staff. His company consisted of reservists who had not yet completed their training and had problems with discipline. Constam shot back sarcastically: ‘I congratulate you. You just mocked me!’ The officer was not promoted.”36

  Constam stood with the hardest of the hard core in a military force determined to defend Switzerland. At the command level, he had significant influence on plans for resistance. In January1941, Constam presented a series of innovative operations, based on what he had learned from studying German campaigns, to Commander-in-Chief Guisan to enhance defenses within the Réduit.37 Bernard Barbey, chief of Guisan’s personal staff, wrote that Constam’s “instructions on Combat Tactics” were well received. Guisan incorporated Constam’s proposals in his plan of operations, including the following:

  A people who had to fight to become independent must not relinquish this independence without fighting. Those who are cowards and renounce their freedom will not find the strength to gain it back under more favorable circumstances. Those who are brave never think that a war is hopeless. Being brave is not only a matter of an individual’s courage when he faces danger but to the same extent a matter of the expertise that he has gained through hard work, pain, and sacrifices that boost his self-confidence. We must acquire this expertise by working constantly and consistently. We lack combat experience. Hence, we shall hold our own against a battle-tried opponent only if we learn what is relevant from developments [in the war abroad] and then apply our insights with intensive training.

  Referring to the Réduit, Constam noted that we must “do everything to defend the central area…. The Gotthard, Grimsel, and Lötschberg are the most important routes across the Alps, and the pawns that have been entrusted to us, the last refuges that we shall protect and never surrender. In our mountains tenacious and well-trained troops, even if they are outnumbered, are able to hold their own even against an enemy who uses modern weapons and combat methods.” The Swiss could not wait for assaults from behind their fixed fortifications but had to counterattack aggressively at close range, denying the enemy the use of heavy guns and opportunities for dive bomber attacks.

  Constam’s tactics were put on display in maneuvers by the 3rd and 6th divisions in october 1941 before unit commanders and their chiefs of staff, chief engineers, and chief instructors. Military department Head and Federal Councilor Karl Kobelt attended. As recorded by Barbey, General Guisan turned the program over to Constam, who lectured from a map. Barbey described parts of the action:

  During one exercise pitting one unit against another, everyone could see how the sector was turned into a zone with an aggressive defense; the attacker was granted only enough freedom of movement so that counterattacks could be launched against him from multiple points. In the afternoon, we attended exercises involving sharpshooters and tanks in a demonstration of aggressive battle tactics within the Morgarten sector.

  Morgarten was the narrow mountain defile where in 1315 a small number of Swiss peasant warriors swept down from the heights in a surprise attack on thousands of Austrian knights, killing many and routing the rest. During World War ii, the Swiss military reached back to legendary victories like these—victories against what seemed then to be hopeless odds—to keep spirits high.

  There were, however, naysayers. In mid-1941, Colonel Gustav Däniker, then commander of the Shooting School of Walenstadt, was overheard criticizing army tactics and training orders which had been issued by General Guisan himself.38 Däniker had long advocated accommodation with the “New Europe,” i.e., Germany, and opposed Guisan’s anti-German initiatives. Guisan’s—and Constam’s—battle tactics made it clear that resistance, not negotiation or accommodation, was to be the heart of Swiss strategy. Guisan consulted Constam and then called Däniker on the carpet for insubordination and abruptly expelled him from the Swiss military. Berlin considered Däniker’s dismissal yet another Swiss affront to good relations with Germany. Nazi propagandists would view this incident as another indication of “Jewish influence.” In fact, it was a clear example of how the Swiss military, which consisted of both Christian and Jewish citizens, succeeded in maintaining a uniform front against the monolithic Nazi state.

  Constam continued to play a major role in Swiss tactical planni
ng as the war progressed. In the second half of 1942, German-Italian forces, including the panzers of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, suffered crushing defeats in the desert war in North Africa. Anti-tank troops engaging the enemy in close combat in coordination with mine specialists and infantry played a decisive role in the British victory at El Alamein. Since a Wehrmacht attack on Switzerland would include major tank strikes, the Swiss studied these encounters carefully.39

  General Guisan put Constam in charge of anti-tank strategy. His recommendations, based in part on the lessons of El Alamein, were to integrate special grenadier forces into the infantry. In the spring of 1943 Guisan ordered Constam’s plan to be implemented. Barbey reflected: “it was without a doubt a good omen that this matter was put in the hands of a strong personality such as Constam instead of the bureaucracy. That is why we could take lessons learned on desert sands and adapt them so quickly and effectively to the heart of the Alps.”

  Constam was also very conscious of the contribution of women to the Swiss military. He recognized how useful the Woman’s Auxiliary Service (FHD) could be in releasing men for active duty. FHD member Alice Renold-Asper remembers: “I was Constam’s secretary from 1943 to 1945. He was considered to be severe. Indeed, some of my officer friends asked, ‘Will she come out alive?’ once i put flowers on my desk even though an officer warned me Constam would throw them out. He did not, but he was a stickler. A member of his staff used to follow me to the WC to make sure i did not take any secret documents.” Security was tight because the stakes were high, and some of her work involved Swiss intelligence.40

  After the end of the war, Herbert Constam played an important role in military strategy, becoming an influential member of the National defense Commission.41 The Federal Council named him the head of the new office of Army inspector. Reflecting traditional Swiss egalitarianism, Constam thought generals were not necessary in times of peace.42

  An intelligence report of the German Army’s General Staff entitled Kleines Orientierungsheft Schweiz (Concise Reference Work Switzerland), which was issued in September 1942 and revised in December 1944, included an analysis of the top 34 members of the Swiss military leadership.43 it described General Guisan as “intelligent, very cautious. Behind his overt correctness stands his sympathy with the Western powers.”

  The German report described several of the top Swiss officers as friends of France and enemies of Germany. Corps Commander Constam was described as “Sehr tüchtig. Nicht-Arier. Deutschfeindlich” (Very capable. Non-Aryan. Enemy of Germany). It is noteworthy that several other high officers were described as “Tüchtig” (capable), but only Constam—the “non-Aryan”—was “sehr tüchtig” (very capable).

  If General Guisan assigned some of the most critical military tasks to Corps Commander Constam, he also confided in and strongly relied on Major Albert R. Mayer, another Jewish citizen-soldier. Mayer was the commander-in-chief’s adjutant during 1939–41. Anticipating a Nazi invasion, Mayer sent his wife to New York while there was still time to get out. Mayer himself remained in Switzerland.

  Although Mayer retired in 1941 for health reasons, he continued to serve General Guisan, who oddly enough remained the official Swiss delegate for the international Olympic Committee, receiving mailings from an organization that somehow continued to function, at least nominally, during the war. Guisan did not want the duty and delegated it to Mayer. An envelope dated January 30, 1942, remains in the Swiss Federal Military library. It was mailed from Germany and bore the Nazi swastika.44 on it, Guisan scribbled a note assigning the reply to Mayer as follows: “Would you please inform them that you have replaced me at the international Olympic Committee, and that they should then send La Revue Olympique [the Olympic magazine] directly to you. Best regards.”

  Henri Guisan and his wife Mary were personal friends of the Mayers, and a volume has been published of the letters of General and Madam Guisan to Albert Mayer and his wife. They corresponded regularly during and after the war.45 The most moving parts of these letters are the Guisans’ constant expressions of concern about the well-being of Frau Mayer and their obvious efforts to keep Albert’s spirits up while his wife was across the Atlantic. In view of the situation in Europe, neither the Guisans nor Albert Mayer knew if they would survive a Nazi invasion.

  On New Year’s day 1943, Guisan wrote to Mayer regretting that the latter could communicate with his wife only by telegraph. The war had disrupted postal communications between Nazi-surrounded Switzerland and the free world. The General added: “let’s hope that 1943 will bring us the end of this horrible war and that God protects us here in our small homeland, as He so clearly has done thus far. When the Axis powers are expelled from North Africa and the second campaign comes closer to us, the dangers will increase, because our Alpine rails will be tempting to the Axis! it is necessary therefore that we are all in the Réduit in time!… So long as i have a drop of blood in my veins, i will carry on according to my convictions and will not give up.”46

  The general’s last comment reflected the attitude of most Swiss. When the war broke out in 1939, young David Kirchgraber was training as a cadet. “As the times demanded, cadet training was dominated by a military esprit de corps and athletic prowess…. We learned sharpshooting. They told us to ‘imagine that you are aiming at a SS man, and then you will hit your target.’”47

  Target practice was a family affair. “Pistol shooting took place at the Roggenhausen quarry near Solothurn. I still have the weapon. My sister, born in 1927, was the best shooter.”

  David came from a family that had originally been Jewish but had later converted to Christianity. To the Germans, people like David were still “non-Aryans.”

  While he and countless other Swiss practiced shooting at SS men, Switzerland by necessity had to trade with Germany. His father, a businessman, once received a request from the German Consul to meet to discuss his company. “My father went with a heavy heart…. With unspeakable fear, we waited in an old restaurant for two hours. ‘What will we do, if they keep dad!’ cried my young sister.” His father eventually returned rather shaken and recounted the following conversation:

  “Behind the Consul’s desk, under a picture of the Führer, sat a seemingly polite man. He introduced himself in a sharp tone of voice and declared ‘You are not our friend.’

  “‘No,’ said my father. ‘What do you want from us?’…

  “‘In addition, you are not of Aryan descent, and several Jews are part of the management,’ the Consul continued in a menacing manner.

  “Father regained his composure and became assertive: ‘The Consul might be interested in knowing that, first, we are in Switzerland where such categories do not apply and, second, we have been protestants for a long time.’ Father wanted to know where the Consul had obtained his information. There was a stack of folders on the desk. As a Swiss, Father became angry and defiant. He mentioned a relative from Württemberg, Germany, whose family history was investigated when she married. We had been shocked that such an investigation would take place.”

  The Consul was taken aback and changed the subject to trade agreements, but he issued instructions, “as if we were already living in a Gau.” He added: “Sir, after the final victory, Germany will know how to distinguish between its friends and enemies!”

  David’s father immediately went to the commander of the cantonal police, who said that “this was not the first known case of denunciation, intimidation and coercion. He reassuringly explained that the authorities were keeping a close eye on most agitators and potential traitors and at the relevant moment would suppress them relentlessly.” As it turned out, the Consul was on the long list of Germans who would be expelled from Switzerland at the end of the war.

  Many Swiss worked to help refugees. Hans Köfer-Richner, whose experiences are noted elsewhere in this book, had Jewish relatives and worked with his father to assist in the escape of Jews from Germany and Austria. His father hated the Nazis: “We are surrounded by mass murderers, crimin
als, pigs!… What will happen to us when these criminals march into Switzerland? Hitler has his mercenaries even here. They are already planning a concentration camp on Swiss soil and have appointed people who will execute their orders. We even know the name of the Gauleiter-to-be. The worst is, however, that many of those whose names have become known are Swiss!”

  Köfer’s father remained adamant: “We will not capitulate without resistance, the way the Frontists want us to. We will fight, even if we have to do so from the underground!” documents found after the war revealed that, had a German invasion occurred, he was on a list to be captured “dead or alive.”48

  The message of resistance was also delivered from the pulpits of Swiss churches. Köfer recalled a Catholic mass during the fourth Christmas of the war. Referring to Nazi antipathy toward traditional Christianity and Judaism and to the deportations of Jews from the occupied countries, the priest intoned: “May our heartfelt prayers save us from this war of Satan. Millions of our fellow men have already been killed, thousands of Jews have been expelled, delivered to their German henchmen and killed. Thousands of Jews who are living with us and our neighbors would face the same fate, if the Germans invaded our country. The deportations from the occupied territories in Europe have clearly shown it. Rise and pray.”49

  PART III

  STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL:

  Food, Fuel, and Fear

  CHAPTER 7

  THE SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE1

  “Tell me what you and your closest friends actually said about Hitler and the Nazis…”

  Oral histories have become common today, but huge gaps remain in the systematic recording of cultural memories. Standard histories seldom dwell on the attitudes or offhand speech of ordinary men and women. But ordinary people are the actual players in the drama of history, and they remember their parts vividly. The worker, the farmer, the housewife, the journalist all live through and react viscerally to the history that swirls around them. They respond to and argue about issues. They contribute their “two bits”—often with considerable wit and a trenchant humor that gives more insight into actual human predicaments than many a telescopic account that emerges years later.