Homeland Guard

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The Heimatwehr was a Swiss party that is part of the front movement .

history

The Heimatwehr was founded in Zurich in 1925. At first she represented the interests of small farmers and was able to achieve some successes in the Bernese Oberland and Emmental after the agricultural crisis . The main topics were a reduction in interest rates, stable purchase prices and an import regulation. From 1930 local groups were also formed in the district of Thun , in Frutigland and in the Simmental . In Schwarzenburgerland although events took place, but did not succeed the party there to win votes. The number of members never seems to have exceeded about 1,000 people.

In 1933, the fascist forces took over the leadership of the home army. She joined forces with the Swiss Fascist Movement for various actions. On October 17, 1933, two senior homeland army functionaries and the founder of the Swiss Fascist Movement, Colonel Arthur Fonjallaz from Vaud , traveled to Rome and presented a carved bear to Benito Mussolini .

During the Grand Council elections in 1934, the Heimatwehr in the districts of Frutigen , Obersimmen- , Niedersimmental , Thun , Seftigen , Konolfingen and Signau stood for election. She won three seats. All elected representatives were farmers. In the district of Frutigen, around 40 percent and in the communities of Kandergrund and Krattigen even more than 50 percent of all voters elected the representatives of the Heimatwehr. In February 1934 the Heimatwehr and the Swiss Fascist Movement joined forces to form the Helvetic Action . At the end of 1934, however, the Helvetic Action split up again because they could not agree on how to work with the fascists. The Heimatwehr gave itself new party statutes and committed itself to the Swiss constitution and democracy . However, parliamentarianism continued to be fought.

In the National Council elections in 1935 , the Heimatwehr ran on a joint list with the National Front (National Renewal). However, it did not succeed in winning a seat. In 1936 the party newspaper stopped selling. In the 1938 Grand Council elections, the Heimatwehr was still running in the districts of Frutigen and Thun. The only one elected was Ludwig Lengacher . Lengacher died in 1942 and the Home Guard finally disbanded in 1946.

Ideological orientation

The relationship of the Heimatwehr to fascism was ambivalent. Certain sympathies for fascist Italy seem to have existed. There was also a certain degree of anti-Semitism among the peasants, which was primarily directed against Jewish cattle and property dealers and department store owners.

literature

  • Beat Glaus: The National Front. A Swiss fascist movement 1930–1940 . Benziger, Zurich / Einsiedeln / Cologne 1969 (also dissertation at the University of Basel ).
  • 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)
  • 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 ).

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