61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

defence sector. The consumer price index increased by almost 50% between the
beginning of the war and 1942. Wage development lagged behind, causing real
wages and purchasing power to drop by one-sixth on average. Social issues
therefore moved increasingly to the foreground from 1942 onwards. The main
single advances introduced in 1942/43 included the popular initiatives on
family protection, pension insurance, the right to work, the prevention of speculation,
and finally a general economic reform. 92 These reform proposals were
determined by the post-war debate which began in 1942. A similar debate was
held once in the summer of 1940 when the Swiss thought they would have to
live under National Socialist hegemony for a long period. With the defeat of
Germany at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43 and further allied victories, the
focus shifted to a peace framework organised by the Allies which, however, had
no clear timescale at this stage. In the autumn of 1942, a special section was
established in the Federal Political Department (Eidgenössisches Politisches
Departement, EPD) which was to deal with foreign post-war plans. 93 In the
«election year» of 1943, the post-war framework was obviously an important
subject.
The military situation and the awareness of threat
For a long time the illusion of the threat of war was shaped to a great extent by
the recollections of the First World War. The view was that the mistakes «of the
last time» should not be repeated, but hopes were also again focused on the
success of neutrality and the military defence of the country. In 1939/40, the
overriding desire must have been for the war to be over quickly. After the first
successes of the Wehrmacht, this desire was probably superseded by the hope in
the minds of most of the population that military preparations should continue
and that the war should not end with the establishment of a «new order»
dominated by the Third Reich. There was a widespread view that such an end
to the war would put an end to Switzerland’s neutrality. According to contemporary
reports of the mood at the time, the Swiss people had never really
identified with any one of the warring parties; however, they were always pro-
British due to a marked and profound aversion to both National Socialism and,
to a great extent, to a powerful Germany, and also, surprisingly, increasingly
pro-Russian as early as 1942.
A description of the course of events must take into account the difference
between the inevitably varied and subjective assessments of the situation and
the operational, military course of the war. An acute fear of invasion need not
mean that a direct, planned attack by the military forces of the enemy power is
imminent. Conversely, it is also possible for a country to exist in relative security
in times when there is a direct threat of attack. The question as to when
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