Switzerland and Gold Transactions in the Second World War

Interim Report on Gold
14
Introduction
become accessible to the general public until 1973, and there was little research into
Switzerland’s economic and financial co-operation with Nazi Germany. In 1962, the Federal
Council commissioned Edgar Bonjour to prepare a study concerning Switzerland’s neutrality.
He was given full access to relevant sources, and focused on gold received from the Allies.
Indeed, the so-called «Bonjour Report», which appeared in 1970, 17 does not discuss looted
gold shipped from Germany.
The 1970s, however, witnessed a renewed interest in historical aspects of Swiss-German
interaction. Daniel Frei’s 1969 study 18 examined the 1946 Washington Agreement, and was
followed by Daniel Bourgeois’s 1974 dissertation «Le Troisième Reich et la Suisse», 19 which
drew on German archival sources and, for the first time, discussed the main issues which
concern us. Peter Utz’s article concerning the scope and extent of the SNB’s gold transactions
with Nazi Germany, published in April 1980, 20 proved a springboard for later discussion. In
1983, Hans-Ulrich Jost integrated his interpretation of Swiss gold operations into the chapter
«Bedrohung und Enge» [Threats and Difficult Circumstances] in his «Geschichte der Schweiz
– und der Schweizer» [History of Switzerland and the Swiss], 21 which included a discussion of
the war years. In his 1984 dissertation on Swiss-American financial relations, Marco Durrer 22
focused on gold received by Switzerland from the Allies, and Marc Perrenoud’s study
concerning the geographic distribution of Switzerland’s foreign assets 23 made an important
contribution. The publicist and film writer Werner Rings also discussed gold stolen by
Germany in his book about Switzerland’s role as a market place for gold. 24 Rings makes
certain counter-arguments concerning the SNB Governing Board’s level of knowledge, but he
made it clear that from the start the parties involved swung wildly between profit-driven
expediency and more morally informed positions. Jakob Tanner’s 1986 dissertation focused on
the extent to which flows of gold and capital into Switzerland were macroeconomically
interconnected, and on how the Federal government intervened in the SNB’s monetary and
currency policies via so-called «gold sterilization». Tanner’s study also shows how important
Switzerland was to the Third Reich: since Germany had been cut off by the Allied blockade,
Switzerland provided it with access to world markets and allowed it to obtain strategically
important materials such as tungsten, manganese, high grade iron-ore, and crude oil. 25
17
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19
20
21
22
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24
25
The «Bonjour Report» is generally considered to be volumes 3–6 of «Geschichte der schweizerischen Neutralität» [A
History of Swiss Neutrality], published in 1970, by Professor Edgar Bonjour, University of Basel, covering the period
from 1933–1945. Three further volumes which included sources appeared between 1970 and 1976. See Bonjour 1970–
1976.
Frei 1969.
Bourgeois 1974; Bourgeois 1981.
Utz 1980.
Jost 1986.
Durrer 1984.
Perrenoud 1987/1988.
Rings 1996.
Tanner 1986; Tanner 1990b. See also Heiniger 1989.