The Swiss and the Nazis
The Swiss and the Nazis

Author: Stephen Halbrook

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2006-05-19

Total Pages: 547

ISBN-13: 1612000290

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The award-winning author of Target Switzerland uses “a wide breadth of research to attempt to answer why Switzerland escaped the Nazi onslaught” (Daly History Blog). While surrounded by the Axis powers in World War II, Switzerland remained democratic and, unlike most of Europe, never succumbed to the siren songs and threats of the Nazi goliath. This book tells the story with emphasis on two voices rarely heard. One voice is that of scores of Swiss who lived in those dark years, told through oral history. They mobilized to defend the country, labored on the farms, and helped refugees. The other voice is that of Nazi Intelligence, those who spied on the Swiss and planned subversion and invasion. Exhaustive documents from the German military archives reveals a chilling rendition of attack plans which would be dissuaded in part by Switzerland’s armed populace and Alpine defenses. Laced with unique maps and photos, the book reveals how the Swiss mobilized an active “spiritual defense” of their country—including the use of the press and cabaret as weapons against totalitarianism—and explores the role of women in the military and economy, the role of Jewish officers in the highest levels of the Swiss army, and the role of Switzerland itself as America’s window on the Reich. “Halbrook succeeds not only in achieving a thorough analysis of Switzerland’s armed neutrality, but also in revealing through their own voices the willingness of ordinary citizens to accept total war in order to preserve their freedom.”—Swiss American Historical Society Review

Schweiz und Der Zweite Weltkrieg
Schweiz und Der Zweite Weltkrieg

Author: Georg Kreis

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 0714650293

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This collection of essays sheds light on the history of Switzerland during World War II, covering such topics as: trade; financial relations; gold; refugees; defence; and foreign relations. It also touches on official post-war measures to suppress Switzerland's involvement in the war.

The Contemporary International Committee of the Red Cross
The Contemporary International Committee of the Red Cross

Author: David P. Forsythe

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-02

Total Pages: 487

ISBN-13: 1009386964

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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was founded in 1863 and is often considered the gold standard in humanitarian action. Despite its many positive achievements over more than 150 years, some former ICRC officials believe that the organization is now in decline because of a series of recent policy choices. Their view is that the organization has undermined its reputation for independent and neutral humanitarian action, while growing too fast and too large, which has weakened its reputation for quick, tightly focused, and effective action in the field. David P. Forsythe revisits the ICRC policy decisions of recent decades and suggests that the organization is not in fatal decline, but that it does need to reconsider some of its policies at the margins. Though some errors have been made and some corrections are in order, Forsythe argues that its obituary is premature.

Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

Author: Carla Ferstman

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 9004174494

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This book provides detailed analyses of systems that have been established to provide reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the way in which these systems have worked and are working in practice. Many of these systems are described and assessed for the first time in an academic publication. The publication draws upon a groundbreaking Conference organised by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre (CNRC) and REDRESS at the Peace Palace in The Hague, with the support of the Dutch Carnegie Foundation. Both CNRC and REDRESS had become very concerned about the extreme difficulty encountered by most victims of serious international crimes in attempting to access effective and enforceable remedies and reparation for harm suffered. In discussions between the Conference organisers and Judges and officials of the International Criminal Court, it became ever more apparent that there was a great need for frank and open exchanges on the question of effective reparation, between the representatives of victims, of NGOs and IGOs, and other experts. It was clear to all that the many current initiatives of governments and regional and international institutions to afford reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes could benefit greatly by taking into full account the wide and varied practice that had been built up over several decades. In particular, the Hague Conference sought to consider in detail the long experience of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (the Claims Conference) in respect of Holocaust restitution programmes, as well as the practice of truth commissions, arbitral proceedings and a variety of national processes to identify common trends, best practices and lessons. This book thus explores the actions of governments, as well as of national and international courts and commissions in applying, processing, implementing and enforcing a variety of reparations schemes and awards. Crucially, it considers the entire complex of issues from the perspective of the beneficiaries - survivors and their communities - and from the perspective of the policy-makers and implementers tasked with resolving technical and procedural challenges in bringing to fruition adequate, effective and meaningful reparations in the context of mass victimisation.

The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe
The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe

Author: Richard Ned Lebow

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2006-09-20

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780822338178

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Comparative case studies of how memories of World War II have been constructed and revised in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, and the USSR (Russia).

Searching for Justice After the Holocaust
Searching for Justice After the Holocaust

Author: Michael J. Bazyler

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-12-11

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 0190923075

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The Nazis and their state-sponsored cohorts stole mercilessly from the Jews of Europe. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, returning survivors had to navigate a frequently unclear path to recover their property from governments and neighbors who had failed to protect them and who often had been complicit in their persecution. While the return of Nazi-looted art has garnered the most media attention, and there have been well-publicized settlements involving stolen Swiss bank deposits and unpaid insurance policies, there is a larger piece of Holocaust injustice that has not been adequately dealt with: stolen land and buildings, much of which today still remain unrestituted. This book is about the less publicized area of post-Holocaust restitution involving immovable (real) property confiscated from European Jews and others during World War II. In 2009, 47 countries convened in Prague to deal with the lingering problem of restitution of pre-war private, communal and heirless property stolen in the Holocaust. The outcome was the issuance by 47 states of the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues, which aimed, among other things, to "rectify the consequences" of the wrongful property seizures. This book sets forth the legal history of Holocaust immovable property restitution in each of the Terezin Declaration signatory states. It also analyses how each of the 47 countries has fulfilled the standards of the Guidelines and Best Practices of the Terezin Declaration, issued in 2010 in conjunction with the establishment of the European Shoah Legacy Institute (ESLI) to monitor compliance. The book is based on the Holocaust (Shoah) Immovable Property Restitution Study commissioned by ESLI, written by the authors and issued in Brussels in 2017 before the European Parliament.