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During both World War I and World War II, Switzerland managed to keep a stance of armed neutrality, and was not involved militarily. It was, however, precisely because of its neutral status, of considerable interest to all parties involved, as the scene for diplomacy, espionage, commerce, and as safe haven for refugees.
World War I
The 1917 Dada movement of Zürich was essentially a cultural reaction to the war, initiated by exiles. Lenin was also exiled in Zürich, from where he travelled directly to Petrograd to lead the Russian Revolution.
Intra-War Years
One potential result of World War I was an expansion of Switzerland itself. In a referendum held in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg on 11 May 1919 over 80% of those voting supported a proposal that the state should join the Swiss Confederation. However, this was prevented by the opposition of the Austrian Government, the Allies, Swiss liberals, the Swiss-Italians and the Swiss-French.
In 1920, Switzerland joined the League of Nations.
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Switzerland immediately began to mobilize for a possible invasion. The entire country was fully mobilized in only 3 days. The Swiss goverment began to fortify positions throughout the country. The army and mobilized militias total strength grew to over 500,000.
Nazi Germany drew up plans to invade Switzerland, most notably 'Operation Tannenbaum', but the invasions were never carried out. The Swiss Army under Henri Guisan for the event of an invasion had the plan of yielding parts of the Swiss plateau to the Germans, retreating to fortresses (the réduit) in the Alps, from there offering continued armed resistance, while the population in the occupied territory would have been instructed to resist passively and through acts of sabotage.
Nazi Germany never did attack Switzerland although they repeatedly violated Swiss airspace. During the Invasion of France German aircraft violated Swiss airspace no less then 197 times. In several air incidents the Swiss (using 10 Bf-109 D, 80 Bf-109 E fighters bought from Germany and some Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 built under license in Switzerland) shot down 11 Luftwaffe planes between 10 May 1940 and 17 June 1940. Germany intervened diplomatically on 5 June 1940 and with a second note on 19 June 1940 which contained clear threats. On 20 June 1940 the Swiss air force was ordered no longer to intercept planes violating Swiss airspace. Swiss fighters began to back down; instead choosing to force intruding aircraft to land at Swiss airfields. Antiaircraft units still operated. Later Hitler unsuccessfully sent saboteurs to destroy airfields.
Allied aircraft also interfered with Swiss airspace during the war, mostly Allied bombers returning from raids over Italy and Germany. Over a hundred Allied aircraft and their crews were interned in Switzerland during the war. Switzerland, surrounded by Axis controlled territory, also suffered from Allied bombings during the war; most notabely the accidental bombing of Schaffhausen by American planes on April 1 1944. The Swiss town was mistaken for a nearby German town and over 50 buildings were destroyed.
Controversy over financial relationships with Nazi Germany
The commercial involvement of some Swiss banks with the Nazi regime, particularly the gold trade of the Swiss National Bank was the object of public attention between 1995 and 2000. The Bergier Commission estimated that roughly half of the 890 million USD transactions in gold by the German Reichsbank were effectuated with the involvement of Swiss banks. Switzerland was accused of violation of neutrality and prolongation of the war because of these transactions, with US Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato and attorney Edward Fagan providing particularly vigorous criticism. Stuart Eizenstat officially investigated the charges on behalf of the US administration. Dealings in gold with Nazi Germany were seen as particularly immoral because much of the gold in question had been looted from Jews killed in the Holocaust. Switzerland had already paid reparations to the Allies in 1952, but accusations in the 1990s were to the effect that these had been insufficient. In 1997, information released by whistleblower Christoph Meili revealed that the UBS AG destroyed records of assets belonging to Holocaust victims, which the Swiss banks were ordered to return to their lawful owners. After a Swiss-Jewish organization filed a complaint against the bank, the Swiss authorities reacted with an arrest warrant against the whistleblower. Meili managed to escape to the United States where he was granted political asylum. In 1999, the Swiss banks settled for the payment of 1.25 billon USD in additional reparations to a special Holocaust Fund.