61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

approaches to a critical debate about Swiss foreign trade policy towards Nazi
Germany, and will discuss the reasons why politics and business focused their
relationships unilaterally on the Axis powers during the Second World War.
The war economy and the priority of national economic supply
On 1 September 1939, the unleashing of hostilities by the Nazi regime changed
not only the political and military situation but also foreign trade conditions,
initially within Europe and then throughout the world. Switzerland was no
exception. Preparations for a wartime «command economy» had been taking
place since 1936, 4 resulting in repeated conflicts of interest. The Swiss Federation
of Commerce and Industry (Vorort) in particular feared the increasing
power of the State, and effectively linked its determination to put a stop to the
«centralist tendencies of the Federal authorities» to a portrayal of the enemy
abroad and to the semantics of dictatorship. «We must establish provisos to
ensure that we do not come under the spell of Fascism or National Socialism»,
commented Hans Sulzer at a meeting of the Vorort in November 1937. 5 This
criticism would eventually give rise to the characteristic mixed economy
structure which contained many elements from the private business sector.
A few days after the beginning of the war, on 4 September, the Federal Council
launched the war economy under its emergency plenary powers. A whole
machinery of administration and organised interests took up the running of the
system, and by the end of the year this wartime economic apparatus had been
perfected in terms of both personnel and organisation. The aim was to prevent
«a fragmented structure [...], such as was inevitable in 1914/18 due to a lack of
experience and preparation», and to avoid a delayed and largely ineffective
improvisational approach. 6 With the concept of «national economic supply»
foreign trade could be used to serve the nation’s collective survival and defence
community. However, the reverse side of an economy subordinated to state
interests was expressed in the way the nation was used as a tool to serve corporate
interests. When the Federal Council declared that ensuring «national economic
supply» was the first priority and also – in accordance with the motto «work
before capital» – sought to stabilise the employment situation, it also worked
in favour of the interests of the profit-oriented private companies. The fact that
Swiss export activities were a necessary precondition for the continued supply
of raw materials, semi-finished products and foodstuffs from abroad was a
central argument for maintaining trade links with the warring powers even in
extremely difficult conditions. «Doing business with the enemy» could be
justified by pointing out that neutral Switzerland had many complex economic
links with the warring powers and remained heavily dependent on this
exchange if it was to achieve its domestic political objectives, in particular to
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