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Die Schweiz im Krieg: Teil 9   [Original Title]

Die Bedrohung, die Erschütterung, die Selbstbehauptung eines Kleinstaates   [Other Title]
Country of Origin: Switzerland
Year of origin: 1973
Genre: Documentary Film
Locations of shooting: Basel, Zürich
Keywords: Basel, Drittes Reich, Frontisten, Kollaborateure
This film is the 9th part of the school-educational series "Die Schweiz im Krieg" ("Switzerland in War").
It follows the threatening of a possible overtake through Germany during WW II and the part of Swiss fascists as well as German spyactivities and infiltration.

We meet a variety of contemporary witnesses.
Albert Frei, former detective superintendant with Zurich citypolice introduces us to the topic of infiltration, even in the police.
An off-voice explains the strategic importance of Badischer Bahnhof in Basel for german and swiss fascists.
Karl Biffinger and Friedrich Roth talk about difficulties to protect this area and both say it was an impossible task. Unprotected crossings at Badischer Bahnhof were used by fascists and spys to cross the border in both directions, even though protection was raised during time.

This crossing made a german colonie in Basel St. Alban-Vorstadt possible. The former superintendent of the colonie, Otto Zimmer, remembers up to 4000 inhabitants and a lot of german associations in Basel during wartime. He himself had support by the German Sportclub Basel, an association with about 150 members, 20 of them were later charged for espionage.

In the same time gave a German Gymnastics Club in Zurich full of young, healthy Germans, which were for no obviuos reasons not accepted for German military, reason to believe that they were infiltrators or even spys.
Albert Wiesendanger, former chief of Political Division with the citypolice of Zurich, talks about their system to get hold of suspicious or dangerous people, in case of a german overtake.

Connections between swiss fascists and the german government are documented.
A doctor from Lucerne was, for instance, the organizer of the so called European Army. Fascists from all over Europe volunteered to fight in this army.

260 raids in 1942 led to 131 arrests of swiss fascists. It is believed that this raid-era stopped an important ring of infiltrators. Many swiss fascists fled to Germany.
In the aftereffect did a Doctor from Zurich take over the so called "Referat Schweiz". This means he organized plenty of Sportclubs and -associations all over Switzerland, which were in fact a ring of fascists with the order to overtake and or destroy the swiss system in case Hitler decides to do so.

Towards the end of this film we are shown a garden in Mauerstrasse, Basel, close by the german railtracks. It functioned as an illegal parcel- and letterbox for fascist propaganda and mail in both directions.

Swiss fascists had an intern powerproblem, which Max Keller, leader since 1940, could not solve.

Swiss law made death penalty for espionage possible. On this law was first acted in 1942.
Walther Bringolf talks about the moralic difficities this brought to him.

The public was not very well informed about ongoings. The politic trusted their authorities to handle all spy- and infiltrationactivities.


There are no credits.

Version 1
Language: n/a
Sound: 2-Doppelzacken (Lichtton)
Aspect: 1:1,33
Duration: 22 min

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