Federation of the Swiss in Greater Germany
The Federation of Swiss in Greater Germany (BSG) was an organization of Swiss abroad and is part of the front movement .
history
The organization was founded in 1940 by Franz Burri in Stuttgart . The BSG maintained connections to the National Front , to the Confederation of Loyal Confederates of National Socialist Weltanschauung , to the Federal Social Workers' Party , to the Swiss National Movement , to Klaus Hügel and to Hans Georg Ashton in the German consulate in Zurich.
The organization was financed by funds from the Volksbund for Germanness Abroad , the SS Main Office and the Nazi Propaganda Ministry in Berlin. The BSG sent monthly reports to the SS main office.
The aim of the BSG was to form a Nazi leadership group of Swiss abroad who would take over certain functions in Switzerland if Switzerland were to join the National Socialist German Reich . Alfred Zander , Wechlin, Max Leo Keller and Gustav Däniker were on a list as future ministers of Nazi Switzerland .
The BSG ran an espionage center (Panoramaheim) in Stuttgart under the direction of Benno Schaeppi and Klaus Hügel. This was used for military espionage in Switzerland and as the first point of contact for National Socialist Swiss. The BSG also prepared “Aktion S”. This envisaged preparing a military attack against Switzerland and arresting people after the occupation, according to the list provided.
In 1946 legal proceedings began in Switzerland against 54 former BSG members from Switzerland, which ended with sentences ranging from six months in prison to six years in prison .
Political orientation
The BSG based itself strongly on the model of the NSDAP . The swastika was to be found on the emblem of the BSG and on all publications. The Hitler salute was a must. The BSG actively worked on an invasion of Switzerland by the German Empire. The aim was to create a Swiss Nazi vassal state.
literature
- Catherine Arber: Frontism and National Socialism in the City of Bern. Much ado, but little success . (PDF; 342 kB) Univ. Bern, Historical Institute, Licentiate thesis [Prof. Brigitte Studer], 2002; Slightly abridged in: Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte , 01/03, ISSN 0005-9420 , pp. 3–55
- Beat Glaus: The National Front. A Swiss fascist movement 1930–1940 . Benziger, Zurich / Einsiedeln / Cologne 1969 (also dissertation at the University of Basel ).
- Walter Wolf: Fascism in Switzerland. The history of the front movements in German-speaking Switzerland 1930–1945 . Flamberg / Zurich 1969 (also dissertation at the University of Zurich ).