National Resistance Action

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Declaration of membership ANW
«Landi 39»: manifestation of the will to resist

The National Resistance Campaign (ANW) was a secret resistance organization in Switzerland during the Second World War . Its members fought against defeatism in the army leadership, government and people in order to strengthen the militia army's common resistance and will to defend itself, so that the country could defend itself against propaganda pressure and a possible military attack by National Socialist Germany .

prehistory

From 1933 onwards, Switzerland was mentally and politically "worked on" and threatened by National Socialist Germany. Against ingress National Socialist ideas and against the subversive activities of the Nazis was under spiritual defense called to political self-determination and vigilance.

After the annexation of Austria , in which the people were overwhelmed by National Socialist propaganda with an unprecedented degree , well-informed Swiss intelligence officers , historians and journalists feared that the will of the Swiss population and the militia army to resist could be broken by means of political propaganda as psychological warfare , which the National Socialists did would allow to march in without resistance.

Nazi Germany spread its state propaganda via the press , radio , film newsreels and the fifth column , which often ostensibly linked to actual events, then distorted and exaggerated in order to sow suspicion against the steadfastness of the Swiss authorities. Such allegations, allegations or threats related, among other things, to transit to Italy , commercial transactions with Germany, the "invincible Wehrmacht", accusations of "violation of neutrality" by the press, authorities and cultural institutions ( Cabaret Cornichon , Swiss film , Swiss national exhibition 1939 , Zurich theater etc.) and the “war guilt of the Swiss press” for the deterioration in the relationship between Switzerland and Nazi Germany.

The Swiss press was powerless against this because the Federal Council believed that insufficient press censorship could give Nazi Germany a reason for military intervention. Nazi Germany played a double game: official announcements were intended to lull the Federal Council into security, while at the same time the more than 300 Swiss Nazi organizations ( Bund loyal Swiss National Socialist Weltanschauung , Federal Collection , Federal Social Workers Party , Kampfbund Speer, National Movement of Switzerland , National Front , National Community Schaffhausen , National Socialist Workers' Party, Maag Sports School, Volksbund etc.) were mobilized against Switzerland with money and propaganda missions.

National Resistance Action

The Gotthard Federation had appealed with large advertisements on the will to resist and sacrifice of the Swiss people, taken against the defeatist position and therefore causes a sedative in the population. However, the Swiss, who campaigned for the unconditional resistance, lacked an organization that would pool the various resistance forces in Switzerland and carry out a comprehensive investigation on a broad basis, as a civilian counterpart to the officers' union .

After the occupation of France by the Wehrmacht , when democratic Switzerland found itself surrounded by the fascist Axis powers , the National Socialists believed that Switzerland was ready to adapt to the New Europe . When reports arrived in August 1940 that the soldiers had shaken confidence in our authorities' unconditional will to resist, Hans Hausamann and August R. Lindt came to the same conclusion, but independently of one another, that an organization was needed to strengthen the national will to resist. Both had been members of the officers' union and subsequently made contact with personalities from different political camps.

On September 7, 1940, the National Resistance Action was founded. The 21 founding members included Walther Allgöwer , Karl Barth , Walther Bringolf , Alfred Ernst , Max Gafner (1892–1957), Hans Hausamann , Emil Klöti , August R. Lindt , Karl Meyer , Jean Mussard (1888–1967), Albert Oeri , Hans Oprecht , William Rappard , Ernst von Schenck (1903–1973) and Max Weber . Oscar Frey and Robert Frick (1902–1980) later joined . They called on all important exponents of the resistance in German-speaking Switzerland to cooperate. On November 23, the French-speaking group Action de résistance nationale was founded.

The ANW was not an association that anyone could join. The future members were carefully selected because, thanks to their position in work and politics, they had the opportunity to work in the interests of the ANW and to pass on the knowledge they acquired to a large circle of fellow citizens and authorities, as well as because of their previously proven willingness to make sacrifices and steadfastness for the spiritual national defense and unconditional resistance. They had to sign a declaration that also showed the ethical goals of the association:

“ I am determined and ready, I vow to fight with everything and everyone: for the freedom, honor and independence of the Swiss Confederation, made on a Christian basis; for freedom of person and conscience; for freedom of community on a federal basis; for the rule of the people on the basis of personal responsibility; for the security of work and bread of every confederate; against every defeatist, he stand where he will. "

This created a non-partisan organization that worked in secret and was only obliged to serve the independence of the homeland. Among the more than 400 members were leading newspaper editors, parliamentarians from all parties, officers, representatives of the workers, members of the group for intellectual work of the civil women's service, the Zurich university group for liberal-democratic politics, the Res Publica, the Forum Helveticum, heads of the regional churches, Teachers and university professors.

In order not to expose the members to the danger of persecution, strict confidentiality was applied. Only a few knew the individual resistance actions. Three tasks of the ANW served the goal of ensuring favorable political and intellectual conditions for the army in order to strengthen its resistance to enemy pressure: They intervened where enemies of the state were active in order to support authorities or citizens in defending themselves. The population was informed in writing and in lectures what the press could not do because of the censorship. In the event of war, underground resistance was prepared.

The ANW was mainly shaped by Hans Oprecht, August R. Lindt and their secretary Ernst von Schenck . The latter was responsible for editing “Information der Woche” from 1940 to 1945, with which the ANW distributed critical reports and analyzes on the situation in Germany and the associated attitude of Switzerland by mail, bypassing press censorship.

After the war, different opinions emerged within the ANW, for example regarding the relationship between Switzerland and the Soviet Union. The central committee therefore decided in 1945 to dissolve the organization, but to keep the confidentiality of the membership upright.

The hidden resistance was carried on by various organizations: Territorial Service from 1948 to 1967, Special Service (UNA) from 1968 to 1979, P-26 from 1980 to 1990.

literature

  • Alice Meyer : Adaptation or Resistance. Switzerland at the time of German National Socialism. Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 1965. New edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-719315429 .
  • Philipp Wanner: Colonel Oscar Frey and the Swiss will to resist. Münsingen 1974.
  • Philipp Wanner: Oscar Frey . In: Schaffhauser Contributions to History. Biographies Volume III . 46th year 1969, pp. 73–82 ( PDF; 192 kB )
  • Hans von Schenck: Action National Resistance . In: On the way to social democracy. Festschrift for the 75th birthday of Hans Oprecht. Zurich 1969.
  • Anne Markwalder: L'Aktion national resistance et ses journaux (1940-1945) . Licentiate thesis University of Freiburg 1994.
  • August R. Lindt: Switzerland, the porcupine: memories (1939 to 1945). Zytglogge Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-7296-0424-4 .
  • Stephen P. Halbrook: Switzerland in sight. The armed neutrality of Switzerland in World War II . Novalis Verlag, Schaffhausen 2000, ISBN 3-907160-61-4 .
  • Jakob Tanner : Events are marching quickly , in: A. Suter / M. Hettling: Structure and Event , 2001
  • Ruedi Brassel -Moser: Writing against silence. Ernst von Schenck - Resistance and Censorship during the Second World War. In: Printed matter. Writing, setting, printing, reading and archiving in the Basel area. Baselbieter Heimatbuch 24. Liestal 2003.
  • Jean-Pierre Richardot: The other Switzerland. Federal Resistance 1940-1944. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2005.
  • Eberhard Busch (ed.): The Karl Barth files. Censorship and surveillance in the name of Swiss neutrality 1938–1945 . Theological Publishing House, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-290-17458-3 .
  • Titus J. Meier : Preparations for resistance in the event of occupation. Switzerland in the Cold War. Dissertation University of Zurich , Verlag NZZ Libro 2018, ISBN 978-3-03810-332-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tagesanzeiger of March 22, 2017: Why a Trump was expelled from Switzerland. In the summer of 1940, a relative of Donald Trump wanted to align the Swiss media.
  2. ↑ Eberhard Busch (ed.): The Karl Barth files. Censorship and surveillance in the name of Swiss neutrality 1938–1945. Theological Publishing House, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-290-17458-3
  3. ↑ Meier: Resistance in the Case of Occupation 2018, p. 139.
  4. ↑ Web.archive: www.acipss.org: Action National Resistance
  5. ↑ August R. Lindt: Switzerland, the porcupine: memories (1939 to 1945). Zytglogge Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-7296-0424-4
  6. ↑ Personal Lexicon Basel-Landschaft: Ernst von Schenck
  7. ↑ Meier: Resistance in the case of occupation 2018, p. 146.
  8. ^ Fortress Oberland: Swiss Resistance Measures
  9. ↑ Unyielding Resistance - Humanitarian Aid. In: Schweizerzeit of December 18, 1998
  10. ↑ NZZ of July 17, 2005: Switzerland in the Resistance