Front movement

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Article on trial (1934)

The front movement (also frontism , frontists , Fröntler ) was the parallel movement of Switzerland to National Socialism in the German Reich and to fascism in Italy . Since 1930 tendencies in the Confederation that called for a renewal of the country on a national basis have intensified . Liberal and individual rights should be curtailed in favor of a stronger emphasis on the community spirit. Overall, however, the front movement - in contrast to German National Socialism or Italian fascism - was always only a marginal phenomenon. The most influential group within the fragmented and very diverse front movement was the National Front . The name front movement comes from the fact that most of these groups had the word front in their name. The front movement knew with « Harus! »Your own Führer greeting .

history

In 1919, as a result of the national strike in Switzerland, anti-communist and anti- socialist vigilante groups were formed . These vigilante groups were forerunners of the later front line organizations. In 1925, the national conservative and anti-Semitic Heimatwehr was founded in Zurich . When Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor on January 30, 1933 , this led to the so-called Spring Front in Switzerland . In 1933, the frontists succeeded in achieving a 27% share of the vote in the Council of States replacement election in Schaffhausen . In the same year they won 10 of the 125 municipal council seats in Zurich . In November 1933, the Frontists won at the Grand Conseil election in Geneva 9% of the vote.

In January 1934 a group of frontists carried out a bomb attack on the apartment of an employee of the Zurich daily newspaper Volksrecht . In November of the same year there were several frontist demonstrations against the cabaret Pfeffermühle and the Zurich theater . In the National Council elections in 1935, the fronts won one seat each in Zurich and Geneva. In the same year, the initiative launched by the fronts to implement a total revision of the federal constitution ( fronts initiative ) failed .

In May 1935 the Mayor of Schaffhausen, Walther Bringolf, was severely disturbed by a group of frontists during an event. After the event, there was a mass brawl with socialists. In 1937 the fronts made the unsuccessful attempt to ban the Masonic lodges . In July 1940, after the defeat of France, hope arose for a second spring on the front , and Federal President Marcel Pilet-Golaz received the frontists Ernst Hofmann and Max Leo Keller for an official meeting. On November 15, 1940, the two hundred were entered . Thereupon the Federal Council banned the Swiss National Movement (NBS) on November 19, 1940 . In 1943 the last front organization disappeared from the public.

ideology

Movement Leaflet (1942)

In general, the frontist groups were nationalistic , ethnic , anti-communist , anti- liberal and mostly anti-Semitic .

Communism was to be stripped of its soil by uniting the nation under strong leadership. Parts of right-wing and Catholic-conservative Switzerland saw in the fronts, due to their anti-Bolshevik and anti-liberal attitude, a helper in the fight against communist activities and liberalism in Switzerland. Occasionally socialists also sympathized with the front movement. The Helvetic democracy should be restricted and replaced by an authoritarian unitary state and the market economy by a corporate order.

Propaganda means

Newspapers and magazines:

There were also mass marches with flags and uniforms, street battles and various forms of intimidation of political opponents, following examples from abroad.

Official handling of the fronts

As can be seen from the individual contributions, the Federal Council and cantonal governments have banned some of the organizations (or sections thereof). This was made easier by the fact that the bans in Nazi Germany only aroused muted displeasure. The reason for this: the neighbors did not have much left for the extremely fragmented Swiss Fröntler, who were given no long-term chances of seizing power due to their party-political weakness.

The various front organizations

Swiss in Nazi service

There were about 150 exiled Swiss who belonged to the SS , the most famous of them probably the Lucerne Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Franz Riedweg and Benno Schaeppi .

literature

  • Beat Glaus: The National Front. A Swiss fascist movement 1930–1940. Benziger, Zurich / Einsiedeln / Cologne 1969 DNB 456760989 ( 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, DNB 458694274 (dissertation at the University of Zurich 1969).
  • Klaus-Dieter Zöberlein: The beginnings of German-Swiss frontism: the development of the political association "Neue Front" and "Nationale Front" up to their merger in spring 1933 . Meisenheim a. G .: Hain 1970.
  • Fritz Roth: The Swiss Home Army (1925-1937): A contribution to the history of the Swiss front movement . 2 volumes. (Dissertation University of Bern 1973).
  • Jürg Fink: Switzerland from the perspective of the Third Reich 1933–1945: Assessment and judgment of Switzerland by the top German leadership since Hitler came to power - the significance of the small state of Switzerland in the calculations of the National Socialist exponents in the state, diplomacy, armed forces, SS, intelligence services and Press. Schulthess, Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-7255-2430-0 (dissertation University of Zurich 1985).
  • Konrad Zollinger: A breath of fresh air or a fascist reaction? The attitude of the Swiss press to frontism 1933. Chronos, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-905278-75-8 (dissertation University of Zurich 1990).
  • Hans Stutz: Frontists and National Socialists in Lucerne 1933–1945. (= Lucerne through the ages. Issue 9). Lucerne 1997, ISBN 3-7239-0094-1 .
  • Matthias Wipf: Frontism in a border town - Schaffhausen in the Second World War 1933–1945. Bern 1998, OCLC 612144305 ( seminar paper at the University of Bern , Historical Institute, 1998, 90 pages, location: Schaffhausen City Archives).
  • Daniel Gut: Neidkopf: on the natural history of the Swiss frontist Hans Kläui - a literary research. Elfundzehn, Eglisau 2015, ISBN 978-3-905769-38-8 .
  • Christian Koller : Neither censorship nor propaganda: How the Swiss Social Archives deal with right-wing extremist material . In: LIBREAS. Library Ideas. 35, 2019.
  • Yves Schumacher: Nazis! Fascistes! Fascisti !: Fascism in Switzerland 1918–1945. Orell Füssli, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-280-05689-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürg Fink: Switzerland from the perspective of the Third Reich. 1985, p. 130 ff.