61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

on 7 March 1945: «after the ‹Russian bomb› of November 1944, the ‹American
bomb› exploded on 4 January 1945. The American press has accused us of
supporting their deadly enemy and acting as a fence by receiving looted goods
from important Germans. Switzerland is being accused of being a country which
is not only non-neutral, but pro-German.» This propaganda was said to have
been «joyfully» accepted by the Russians, and the accusations also met with
some response in South America, and the Middle and Far East. «A perhaps
unprecedented isolation was threatening our country. It was clear that we had to
take action in this situation.» 125 The so-called Currie Negotiations between an
Allied and a Swiss delegation, which took place in Bern between 12 February
and 8 March 1945, began with a hard confrontation of conflicting views. In his
opening speech, Walter Stucki, the leader of the Swiss delegation, portrayed a
Switzerland which had protected itself throughout the «terrible war» courageously
as a democracy and irreproachably as a state under rule of law. 126 Laughlin
Currie’s response, however, gave a completely different impression. He made the
point that the Allies could not permit the financial operations of the Axis powers
to thwart the objectives of a costly war and wreck the hopes for future peace and
security. «Our enemies have chosen Switzerland as a country through which to
conduct their financial operations not only because of its geographical position,
but also because of certain Swiss banking laws and practices which are designed
to permit persons wishing to do so to hide their identity and to operate in secrecy
(…)» 127 Currie finally expressed the demand of the three Western Allied Powers
that the fulfilment of the demands of Resolution VI of the Bretton Woods
Conference of July 1944 should be «conditio sine qua non of the trade agreement
under discussion». In view of the inflexible stance of the Currie delegation,
Switzerland was left with no alternative but to give way. On 5 March, the
American ambassador in Bern reported that the Swiss delegation had today
«capitulated» after three weeks of dogged resistance. 128 The Federal Council then
caused German assets to be frozen in Switzerland, the transit of goods and foreign
trade with Germany to be significantly reduced, and gold purchases to be ceased.
Walter Stucki described the objectives of these concessions as follows: «there is
too great a danger of being too late. [...] We must be concerned with opening
the door to the West today. [...] We must seek to join up with the Allied powers.
This issue is the heart of the problem.» 129 However, from a Swiss point of view,
the situation remained extremely tense. In a report by the Federal Political
Department (FPD) of 23 March 1945 on the Currie Negotiations, the following
statement was made about the programme of the Allies: «This programme
pursues aims which are, without doubt, incompatible with our neutrality. This
is actually a plan of economic warfare.» 130
After the war ended the Swiss often advanced the argument that Switzerland
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