Non Neutral

Everyone believes that Switzerland was Neutral during World War 2, but in reality they tended to side with Nazi Germany (the same way Franco’s Spain did.)

(This is a picture of Henry Lowenstein’s (born Heinrich Loewenstein in 1925 in Berlin, Germany) German International Passport issued on March 31, 1939 when he was 13 years old with both “Israel” in his signature and the “J.”

He used this Passport to leave Nazi Germany and go to the United Kingdom on the Kindertransport a few months before World War 2 started. He emigrated to the United States in 1947, went to the Yale School of Drama in the 1950s and founded the Denver Civic Theatre. He died in Denver, Colorado on October 7, 2014.)

 

The Swiss Demand Jewish Identification

In 1938 the Swiss Government told the Nazi German Government that unless they identified who was a Jew and who was a German on the Nazi-Issued German Passport then everyone coming from Germany and Austria would be denied entry into Switzerland.

The Germans took that Swiss recommendation identification seriously. It was also a way for ordinary Germans inside Germany to recognize who was and was not Jewish.

On August 17, 1938 the Germans forced Jews with non-traditional Jewish names to add either “Israel” (for Men) or “Sara” (for Women) as their official middle name. Refusing or forgetting to use this enforced new name was punishable by imprisonment.

There are cases where German Jews who received an American Visa (or any Visa) to leave Nazi Germany were either refused a German Exit Visa (required to leave Nazi Germany) or refused entry into the United States (or any country) because their American Visa didn’t have the required legal name of “Israel” or “Sara” on it.

Sometimes that was because when the Visa Application was first made it was before August 1938 when the law was announced and the only way to make the name change was to reapply for a Visa and get a new Quota Number that was years-out in being called (someone who applied for an American Visa in November 1938 could expect to get a high Quota Number meaning they could expect to get their American Visa in 1943 – of course no one in 1938 knew that in 1943 World War 2 would be raging and the Jews would be murdered in German Gas Chambers.)

Sometimes it was because the Visa Application and all the other Documents had the mandatory name of “Israel” or “Sara” on it, but the signature didn’t.

On October 5, 1938 the Germans forced all Jewish Internal Identification Booklets (that everyone had to carry at all times) and all Jewish International Passports to have a large “J” (for “Jude” or “Jew”) on the booklet’s cover as well as throughout the booklet’s pages.

Failure to get or use these new documents was punishable by imprisonment and even death. Inside the Internal Identification Booklet and the International Passport also had to have either “Israel” or “Sara” in the signature.

In September 1939 the Germans then made the Jews in German-Occupied Poland wear a Blue Star of David on a White Armband on their outer shirt or coat.

 

The Jews had to use their Clothing Ration Coupons and their own money to buy these Armbands. It had to be a certain size, be clean and visible at all times.

Refusing or Forgetting to use this enforced Armband was punishable by imprisonment or death on sight.

On September 1, 1941 the Germans required all Jews living in Germany or in German-occupied territory wear a Yellow Star of David (with a “J” for “Jude” or “Jew” – sometimes instead of “Jude” written on the Star it used the local name “Juif” in Occupied-France or “Jood” in Occupied-the Netherlands) on their outer shirt or coat.

The Jews had to use their Clothing Ration Coupons and their own money to buy these Stars. It had to be permanently sewed on (not pinned), be a certain size and be clean and visible at all times. Refusing or forgetting to wear this enforced Star was punishable by imprisonment or death on sight.

The new law didn’t change the 1939 Identification Law in occupied-Poland. For example in German-Occupied Warsaw, Poland the Jews had to wear the Blue Star of David on a White Armband, but in German-Annexed Krakow, Poland the Jews had to wear the Yellow Star of David.

What started in 1938 because of the Swiss continued into 1941 and was even extended to the Death Camps and the Concentration Camps with the “J” and Star or David symbols denoting the Jewish Prisoners.

 

Swiss Visit Theresienstadt

Not only did the “J” become mandatory on Jewish Germans and Austrians Kennkarte and International Passports because of the Swiss desire to not allow Jews into Switzerland, but the Swiss also visited the Theresienstadt Ghetto in German-Occupied Czechoslovakia.

The International Red Cross then decided to visit Theresienstadt in the Summer of 1944 due to pressure from the Danish King Christian X who wanted to know what happened to the Danish Jews deported from German-Occupied Denmark.

Beforehand the Germans embarked on a "Beautification" (German: Verschönerung) Campaign to prepare the Ghetto for the Red Cross visit.

Many "Prominent" Prisoners and Danish Jews were re-housed in private, superior quarters. The streets were renamed and cleaned; sham shops and a school were set up; the SS encouraged the Prisoners to perform an increasing number of cultural activities, which exceeded that of an ordinary town in peacetime.

 As part of the preparations, transports increased to the Death Camps -  targeting the Sick, the Elderly, and Disabled People who had no place in the German Ghetto Propaganda.

On June 23, 1944 the International Red Cross toured the Theresienstadt Ghetto in a limo for 8 hours and watched a soccer game and performance of the Children's opera “Brundibár.”

The Red Cross Swiss Representative, Maurice Rossel, noted, wrongly, that the Theresienstadt Ghetto was a model and clean place.

After the International Red Cross visited the Theresienstadt Ghetto most of the people they saw there were deported to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland.

They were kept in the Theresienstadt Family Camp (Czech: Terezínský rodinný tábor, German: Theresienstädter Familienlager) from September 1943-July 1944.

The Germans hoped to use these Prisoners in case the International Red Cross decided to visit Auschwitz too.

Only the Nazi German Red Cross visited Auschwitz in February 1944.

Unlike the other Prisoners of Auschwitz those in the Family Camp, Men Women and Children, were not selected for the Gas Chambers or Forced Labor, they kept their own clothes and were given regular Red Cross Food Packages.

600 Children were held the in the Family Camp and were given underground education to keep them busy by the German Jew, Fredy Hirsch, who had done the same for the Children in the Theresienstadt Ghetto.

Those in the Family Camp were made to send letters and post cards to their Friends and Relatives across Europe telling how they were healthy and happy at Auschwitz.

On March 8, 1944 the 1st Liquidation of the Family Camp occurred. 3,792 Men, Women and Children (including Freddy Hirsch) were murdered in the Gas Chambers that night.

On July 18, 1944 the 2nd Liquidation of the Family Camp occurred. 6,5000 Men, Women and Children were murdered in the Gas Chambers.

Of the 17,517 Czechoslovak Jews deported to the Family Camp, only 1,294 survived the war.

 

The Swiss Profit from Jewish Victims

The Swiss also profited from gold, hard currency, artworks, etc. that the Germans stole from the Jews and sent or sold to the Swiss.

This includes ripping out the Gold Teeth of Jewish Concentration and Death Camp Inmates (whether they were alive or dead), melting it down and molding them into gold bars which were then sent to Switzerland to help fund the German War Effort – including the Holocaust.

The Swiss were fully aware of where these valuables were coming from and didn’t care.

Decades after World War 2 ended the Swiss continue to outwardly act innocent about all those this while doing everything they can to prevent the valuables from being returned to the Victims or their Survivors.

The Swiss can not claim to be Neutral when they fully participated in the discrimination and looting of the Jews during the Holocaust.