61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

were much more diverse: before 1940, 80% of the volume was consumer goods
(agricultural products, especially corn and rice, as well as silk, cotton, rope,
shoes, vehicles, and machinery, plus a few mineral products and colonial goods
from the Middle East). From the time when Italy entered the war in June 1940
to the summer of 1943, these consumer goods were joined by a considerable
amount of chemical products, especially sulphur and mercury (Italy was the
main supplier of these products to its alliance partner), and later metals
(especially pig iron). The proportion of goods important to the war effort subsequently
rose to about 36%.
With the fall of Mussolini, the landing of the Western powers in southern Italy,
and the occupation of central and northern Italy by German troops, there was a
fundamental change in conditions, since the Germans now dominated on both
sides of the Alpine crossings. Despite attempts to camouflage it, the traffic lost
its commercial appearance and now consisted largely of confiscated or
plundered goods. With total disregard for international law, all available
reserves of raw materials were transported to Germany. Italian factories were
dismantled and their machinery and tools were removed and put to work for the
German war effort. The plundering even extended to some of the already scarce
food supplies.
The single-track Brenner rail-line was overloaded because of the troops and coal
deliveries coming from the north, and was insufficient to carry the plundered
goods in the opposite direction so that the transport options through
Switzerland also had to be used. Between autumn 1943 and autumn 1944, these
consignments made up approximately half of all goods moving northwards
through Switzerland. The proportion would have been even higher if the
authorities had not reacted across a broad spectrum (from the EPD to the
Federal Customs Administration) in October 1943, when these movements
began. The consignments were designated as contrary to international law, and
allowing them to be shipped through Switzerland was seen as placing a great
strain on relations with the Allies. Obviously, it proved difficult to distinguish
between authorised and unauthorised consignments at the border control
points. Still, a complete transit prohibition would, in the view of the authorities
at the time, have gone against national interests just as much as an
unlimited licence to transport goods would have. In November 1943, a
somewhat arbitrary criterion was introduced, but one which could be implemented
easily and without delay: all goods which had already been used were
sent back, but new goods were allowed through. As Pierre Bonna wrote to the
customs authorities, it would hardly be possible to arrive at any other solution
without bringing «normal traffic» to a standstill. 8 This solution could not of
course be applied to consignments of raw materials: in this case, care was taken
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