61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

Forced labourers and prisoners of war who fled to Switzerland
The inhuman living and working conditions in many camps and factories drove
numerous forced labourers and prisoners of war to flee. Swiss subsidiary
companies in southern Baden were particularly affected by these escape
attempts of course, due to their proximity to the border: Aluminium GmbH in
Rheinfelden and Lonza-Werke in Waldshut, for example, were right next to the
Rhine and therefore on the Swiss border. Escapees often risked their lives: the
Rhine current dragged several to their deaths. Furthermore, an order was given
in March/April 1942 that escaping Western European prisoners of war and
forced labourers were to be shot after a warning cry, whereas Soviets were to be
shot immediately. But even if the fleeing forced labourers were able to reach
Switzerland, they were still not safe. They too were subject to the rulings
contained in the restrictive Swiss policy on refugees, and Polish and Soviet
forced labourers in particular were turned back until as late as mid 1944. 35 It
was not until August 1944 that Heinrich Rothmund, head of the Police
Division at the Federal Department of Justice and Police (Chef der
Polizeiabteilung des Eidgenössischen Justiz- und Polizeidepartements, EJPD), gave
instructions that «those fleeing work in Germany» were also to be treated as
being in «serious physical danger» and should therefore be admitted. 36 Shortly
before the entry of the French forces, forced labourers and prisoners of war at a
few companies near the border were even deported to Switzerland deliberately
by the local German authorities.
1 On the German side, there is in particular regional and local historical research into the southern
Baden region, with its particularly high number of Swiss branches. Here, work on the history of the
use of forced labour in Swiss companies began earlier than in Switzerland itself. For Singen see:
Waibel, Schatten, 1997; Zang, Gesichter, 1995; Meier, Singen, 1992; for Rheinfelden/Baden:
Bocks/Bosch, Fremd und nicht freiwillig, 1992; for Baden generally: Peter, Rüstungspolitik, 1995,
for Aluminium-Walzwerke Singen: Rauh-Kühne, Paulssen, 1999; for Maggi GmbH: Buschak,
Maggi-Arbeiterschaft, 1989; for the Schiesser textiles company: Ludwig-Bühler, Höchstleistung,
1984, and NS-Musterbetrieb, 1985; for Aluminium GmbH Rheinfelden and Lonza-Werke
Waldshut: Ruch, Schweizer Industriebetriebe, 2000.
2 Quoted from the text of the judgement at the Nuremberg Trials, 1989, Vol. 1, p. 272.
3 AS, 1931, 30.
4 Randelzofer/Dörr, Entschädigung, 1994, p. 22.
5 See Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 30 June 1999.
6 Wallach, Probleme, 1977, p. 479.
7 BA-MA, RW 20-5/5, History of the inspection of armaments V, booklet 2: 1 October 1940 −
31 May 1942, p. 13 of the 2nd report.
8 Herbert, Fremdarbeiter, 1985, p. 67.
9 Herbert, Fremdarbeiter, 1985, pp. 88f.
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