PTT censorship during World War II

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The PTT's censorship measures during World War II were a form of state control of the flow of information, some of which was carried out by the Swiss Post, Telephone and Telegraph Companies (PTT). In addition, the Press and Radio Message Department (APF) played an important role in censorship in Switzerland during the Second World War.

history

After the end of the First World War , Articles 6 and 25 of the Postal Act passed in 1910 were incorporated into the new Postal Traffic Act. Article 6 of the Postal Traffic Act regulates the exemptions from postal secrecy and Article 25 the exclusion of mail of an abusive or immoral nature, as well as mail whose content could be understood as a call to commit a crime. After the beginning of the Second World War , the Federal Council issued the authorization ordinances and instructions necessary to organize censorship in Switzerland, based on the power of attorney resolution of August 30, 1939. On September 8, 1939, the Federal Council decided on the protection of the country's security in the area of ​​the intelligence service and instructed the army command to monitor the publications and transmission of messages and statements by the post and to take the necessary measures. In contrast to the First World War, the possibility of extensive censorship measures and thus the partial or complete suppression of postal traffic was now provided. While the military staff's press and radio communications department was responsible for the censorship, the PTT were involved as the executive body in the seizure process. The postal workers were commissioned to subject the postal traffic and the foreign press to an initial preliminary check and to monitor the telephone connections and telegrams. All of these ordinances and provisions were repealed after the Second World War.

Organization of censorship

The press and radio communications department was subordinate to the Army staff until January 31, 1942, and from February 1, 1942 to the Swiss Federal Justice and Police Department . The federal judge Eugen Hasler was appointed head of the press and radio communication department. The inspectorate and its head occupied the central position of the department. From the beginning, representatives of the press were called in as freelance consultants to deal with questions from the domestic press, who, under the designation "press advisory office", discussed all fundamental problems, but also individual important cases in the area of ​​the domestic press. There was also cooperation with civil bodies in other areas, such as postal control. In the case of the postal control, this was the PTT. The PTT were further charged with the control of foreign press products and the monitoring of telegrams and telephone connections. The PTT were not involved in the censorship process in the areas of film, radio, domestic press, telephony and telegraphy.

Post censorship

Even if there was no general post censorship during the Second World War, both domestic and international mail were subject to controls.

Domestic mail

During the Second World War, free postal traffic was basically guaranteed for the Swiss population. However, if a person or an organization in Germany or abroad was identified as potentially dangerous, the political police could initiate a so-called post block. Such a mail block meant that mail from and to the person or organization could be intercepted and checked. So it was not a question of a block, but rather a control of the mail traffic that could at least delay mail. In order to enforce the mail bans, monitoring lists with the names of the people and organizations were sent to the respective district post offices. With these watch lists, the county post offices were commissioned to collect letters and parcels from and to the persons and organizations on the list and to forward them to the political police for monitoring and control. As a rule, after being checked by the political police, the mail was forwarded to the recipient as normal, which often led to delays, but only in exceptional cases to a restriction of the mail traffic. The Post itself could neither initiate a mail block, nor was the postal staff allowed to seize or open mail from and to Swiss organizations on suspicion. In the process of censoring domestic mail, it always only assumed the role of an executive body, which ensured postal secrecy even during the Second World War. The political police were responsible for opening letters and parcels.

International mail

Based on an instruction from the press and radio communication department, Swiss Post was commissioned to randomly inspect locked mail from abroad or abroad. Although postal traffic with foreign countries was generally permitted, according to the instructions and instructions of the Press and Radiocommunication Department, all postal traffic from Switzerland to other countries and from abroad to Switzerland was subject to controls and could be censored if necessary. Excluded from these regulations were consignments from and to authorities of the Confederation, the cantons, districts and municipalities, unless they were personally addressed to certain members of authorities, as well as consignments from and to foreign embassies in Switzerland , the League of Nations , the international labor office , the bank for international settlement, the permanent representations at the League of Nations and the international labor office, as well as the international Red Cross .

However, suspicious mail items were not allowed to be opened by the postal staff; it had to be determined on the basis of external characteristics whether it could be a potentially dangerous item. If a mail item was classified as potentially dangerous, it had to be sent to the Federal Prosecutor's Office for inspection. Every day, around 40 mail items were checked by the District Post Office in Berne, which were detected due to the sender, recipient or the large number of similar letters. Around 30 additional mail items could be identified as propaganda material every day due to their weight, their mass or some other special feature. Without opening the mail, the postal staff had to evaluate whether a mail should be confiscated or not, based on the Federal Council decision on measures against propaganda material dangerous to the state of May 27, 1938. The federal prosecutor's office was finally allowed to open the broadcasts and evaluate them according to content criteria. Mail with conspicuous greetings and closing remarks such as " Heil Hitler " or " Proletarians of all countries unite " were classified as foreign propaganda and confiscated. The aim of the censorship process was to be able to take action against foreign espionage, foreign propaganda and the moral weakening of the armed forces. The control opened several military and civil criminal investigations during the war.

Foreign press censorship

The PTT in Switzerland were only involved in the censorship process of the foreign press, but not the domestic press. Between the beginning of the war and February 1940, the foreign press products were censored via the postal organs and in controls set up for this purpose, which were subordinate to the General Directorate PTT. Press products that appeared to violate the censorship regulations were forwarded by the postal staff to the PTT General Directorate for final inspection and any censorship measures. At the end of February 1940, the final inspection of foreign press products was transferred to the "Foreign Press Section" of the Army Staff's Press and Radio Communication Department. After this restructuring of the censorship process, the PTT only took on an executive role. In order to control foreign press products, lists of potentially dangerous propaganda material were sent to the respective county post offices. These lists served the postal staff as a basis for identifying newspapers, magazines and brochures which were not permitted for distribution in Switzerland and therefore had to be confiscated. The "Foreign Press Section" therefore always worked closely with the organs of the PTT, in particular the legal service of the General Directorate PTT, so that the censorship regulations could be complied with.

Telephone and telegraph censorship

In various criminal offenses such as murder or fraud, the PTT were authorized to monitor telephone connections and telegrams. At the beginning of the war, the PTT were also responsible for telephone and telegraph censorship, as they had the necessary infrastructure, trained personnel and the necessary experience. Communication between the embassies, for example, was monitored. The telephone traffic of the German, French, Italian and British legations was particularly monitored. The PTT trained the necessary personnel for the telephone and telegram section of the APF and also made the premises and technical equipment available to them. The costs incurred were borne by the military administration. “Unwanted conversations” should not be interrupted, but rather the content should be recorded. This made it possible to identify suspicious people and messages. Telephone calls abroad were only connected if the caller was listed in the telephone directory. As a result, international calls in public telephone booths were not possible. Some employees of the PTT and the Telegraph and Telephone Section of the Press and Radiocommunication Department were responsible for ensuring that no weather and weather reports were transmitted by telegram for military-strategic reasons. Switzerland was divided into different telephone network areas. These could not all be controlled by a military censorship agency. Therefore, in regions where there was no military censorship agency, the PTT was hired to carry out telephone surveillance. From a technical point of view, however, it was not possible to check each conversation individually and to interrupt it if necessary. Because around 60% of the telephone connections could be made by yourself and did not require a connection by a telephone operator .

languages

A peculiarity of the censorship measures carried out by the PTT were the languages ​​allowed in telephone and telegraph traffic. While originally only the four national languages ​​were allowed in domestic traffic and English in foreign traffic from September 2, 1939, these control measures were later slightly changed. Before the measures were relaxed, Rhaeto-Romanic was excluded from international traffic on the basis of an instruction from the APF. From December 31, 1939, at the end of the hotel lobby, English was also released for domestic traffic. At the request of the Zurich Chamber of Commerce on April 20, 1940, the Spanish language was allowed for telegrams. Although these languages ​​were no longer forbidden in telecommunications, there can be no question of free disposal, especially since the population had not been informed that these languages ​​were now allowed.

Rhaeto-Romanic was a specialty among the four national languages , as it was not included in the federal constitution until 1938, but not yet as an official language . This was done with the intention of preventing irredentist currents from fascist Italy and of binding the Rhaeto-Romanic population more closely to the nation-state of Switzerland.

Legal basis

  • Federal Constitution, Ar. 102, especially 8-10
  • Federal Council resolution of March 26, 1934 regarding measures against the abuse of freedom of the press
  • Federal Council resolution of May 27, 1938 on measures against propaganda material dangerous to the state
  • Federal Council resolution of 05.12.1938 on measures against activities that are dangerous to the state and for the protection of democracy
  • Ordinance of April 14, 1939 and September 2, 1939 on the handling of neutrality
  • Federal Council decision of August 30, 1939 on measures to protect the country and maintain neutrality (power of attorney decision)
  • Declaration of neutrality by the Federal Council dated August 31, 1939
  • Federal Council resolution of September 8, 1939 on the protection of the security of the country in the area of ​​the intelligence service
  • Federal Council resolution of September 8, 1939 on the organization of the press
  • Basic decree of the APF of September 8th, 1939 and principles of press control of the APF of January 6th, 1940 (both were declared to be binding as emergency law by the BRB of May 31st, 1940.)
  • Ordinance of 09/22/1939 on safeguarding the security of the country
  • Federal Council resolution of October 3rd, 1939 on the export and sale of maps, plans and other depictions of terrain and their production material
  • Rules of procedure dated December 9, 1939 for the Federal Appeals Commission for the press and radio messages
  • Federal Council resolution of March 26, 1940 regarding publications on espionage cases
  • Federal Council resolution of May 31, 1940 on the surveillance of the Swiss press
  • Federal Council resolution of November 15, 1940 on the prosecution of rumors and breaches of confidentiality in the war economy
  • Federal Council resolution of December 30, 1941 on the monitoring of political, military and economic writings
  • Federal Council resolution of December 30, 1941 on the establishment of new newspapers, magazines and press and news agencies
  • Federal Council resolution of December 30, 1941 on the subordination of the APF to the BR on the army staff
  • Federal Council resolution of 04.08.1942 on criminal and procedural provisions for the protection of national defense and the security of the Confederation
  • Federal Council resolution of June 18, 1945 on the repeal of the BRB of May 31, 1940 concerning the surveillance of the Swiss press
  • Federal Council resolution of June 29, 1945 on the repeal of the BRB of December 30, 1941 concerning the monitoring of political, military or economic writings
  • Federal Council resolution of July 31, 1945 and March 18, 1946 and the following regarding the establishment of new newspapers and magazines as well as press and news agencies
  • Federal Council resolution of 07.09.1945 on the repeal of the BRB of 30.12.1941 on the subordination of the press and radio communications department in the army staff to the BR
  • Federal Council resolution of December 13, 1946 regarding the repeal of the BRB of September 8, 1939 on the protection of the security of the country in the area of ​​the intelligence service

See also

Sources and literature

  • Köniz, PTT archive : P-00-C-0094-07: Information on postal traffic, delivery, confiscation.
  • Köniz, PTT archive: P-00-C-0162-05: Information on postal traffic, delivery, confiscation.
  • Köniz, PTT archive: PAA-00541: Post block 1944 Basel.
  • Köniz, PTT archive: PB-106-1d-1980, Vol. 1: Documents post censorship.
  • Köniz, PTT Archive: PB-106-1d-1980, Vol. 2: Documents Post Censorship.
  • Köniz, PTT archive: Vers-057-A-0006: Directories.
  • Köniz, PTT archive: Vers-057-A-0008-2: Confiscated shipments Second World War.
  • Christoph Graf : Censorship files from the time of the Second World War. An analysis of the inventory E 4450, press and radio message 1939-1945. Bern 1979 ( PDF , 67 MB).
  • Erland Herkenrath: The freedom of the word. Conflicts between representatives of Swiss Protestantism and the censorship authorities during World War II. Zurich 1972.
  • Andreas Keller: The political police as part of the Swiss state security. In: Basel studies of law. Row B: Public Law (Vol. 50). Basel 1996.
  • Stefan A. Keller: In the realm of the non-neutral. Swiss book censorship in the Second World War between National Socialism and intellectual national defense. Zurich 2009.
  • Marc Kistler: The book censorship of the Swiss federal authorities in the Second World War. The Buchhnadel section of the Press and Radio Message Department (APF). Bern 1996.
  • Georg circle : censorship and self-censorship. Huber, Frauenfeld 1973.
  • Thomas Schmidlin: The pre-censorship of the press as a punitive measure against Swiss newspapers and magazines during the Second World War. Zurich 1993.
  • Jürg Schoch: 'With eyes and ears for the fatherland!'. Heer & Haus's Swiss reconnaissance service in World War II. Zurich 2015.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Köniz, PTT archive: PB-106-1d-1980, Vol. 1: Subject lecture on the occasion of a training course in 1980.
  2. ↑ Köniz, PTT archive: PB-106-1d-1980, Vol. 1: Subject lecture on the occasion of a training course in 1980.
  3. ^ Graf, Christoph: Censorship files from the time of the Second World War. An analysis of the inventory E 4450, press and radio message 1939–1945. Bern 1979. p. 116.
  4. ↑ Markus Bürgi: Eugen Hasler. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 28, 2007 , accessed June 6, 2017 .
  5. ^ The press control in Switzerland during World War II . In: Historischer Verein des Kantons Solothurn (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Solothurn history. tape 75 . Solothurn 2002.
  6. ↑ Köniz, PTT archive: PAA-00541: Post blockage 1944 Basel.
  7. ↑ Andreas Keller: The Political Police as part of the Swiss state security . In: Basel studies of law . Row B: Public Law, No. 50 . Basel 1992, p. 22 .
  8. ↑ Bern, Federal Archives: E4320 (B), order regarding the organization and service of the military post censorship. P. 2.
  9. ↑ Bern, Federal Archives: E4320 (B), To the Army Staff - Group Front News Section.
  10. ↑ Bern, Federal Archives: E4320 (B), To the legal service of the General Directorate PTT.
  11. ↑ Bern, Federal Archives: E4320 (B), To the legal service of the General Directorate PTT.
  12. ↑ Bern, Federal Archives: E4320 (B), Press and Radio Message Department in the Army Staff, Colonel Hegetschweiler.
  13. ↑ Köniz, PTT archive: PB-106-1d-1980, Vol. 1: Subject lecture on the occasion of a training course in 1980.
  14. ↑ Köniz, PTT archive: PB-106-1d-1980, Vol. 1: Propaganda material dangerous to the state 07.03.1940.
  15. ^ Schmidlin, Thomas: The pre-censorship of the press as a punitive measure against Swiss newspapers and magazines during the Second World War. Zurich 1993. p. 50.
  16. ↑ Federal Council Protocol : Telegram and Telephone Monitoring in the Transitional Period, No. 1881. August 7, 1945, accessed on May 23, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Holdings: Press and Radio Message Department. Dossier: Various regarding handling of telegram and telephone censorship, etc. a. Language questions in TT traffic, complaints from foreign embassies and journalists. Document: Letter from Wittmer to Eduard Von Steiger. Swiss Federal Archives. September 6, 1943. Signature: E4450 # 1000/864 # 7057 *. link
  18. ↑ Holdings: Press and Radio Message Department. Dossier: Various regarding handling of telegram and telephone censorship, etc. a. Language questions in TT traffic, complaints from foreign embassies and journalists. Document: Letter from Wittmer to Eduard von Steiger. Swiss Federal Archives. September 6, 1943. Signature: E4450 # 1000/864 # 7057 *. link
  19. ↑ Holdings: Press and Radio Message Department. Dossier: Orders, directives, instructions on the implementation and organization of telegram and telephone censorship. Document: Letter from Wittmer to General Directorate PTT. Swiss Federal Archives. February 28, 1940. Signature: E4450 # 1000/864 # 6069 *. link
  20. ↑ Monitoring of telephone traffic . Federal archive E4450 # 1000/864 # 6069 *. Bern February 28, 1940.
  21. ↑ dodis Link: Writing . Federal archive E4450 # 1000/864 # 7057 *. Bern October 22, 1943.
  22. ↑ dodis link: BAR directive E4450 # 1000/864 # 6069 * .
  23. ↑ Federal Gazette No. 14 of April 6, 1938, pp. 533-534. Retrieved May 23, 2017 .
  24. ↑ Oscar Alig: Irredentism and the Rhaeto-Romanic . In: Eduard Fueter, Paul Flückiger, Leza Uffer (eds.): Swiss university newspaper . tape 6 . AG. Gebr. Leemann & Co., Zurich February 1938, p. 341-349 .