Hitler or High-ranking Nazis Flee to Switzerland

Pretty much what it says. What would have happened if the leadership of the NSDAP had fled to Switzerland during the final days of World War Two in Europe? Would they have been allowed to cower, or would Switzerland have been forced to hand them over?
 

maverick

Banned
, or would Switzerland have been forced to hand them over?

Yes, and no threats or force are even necessary.

Money will keep the Swiss in their place. They've already been dealing with the Nazis and now the economic resources of the world are on the hands of the people that blew the Nazis to bits, so the Swiss either negotiate or go through a really cold winter.
 
Switzerland would have wrapped them in paper with a nice ribbon and sent them to the Allies, and the card attached would say "from your friend Switzerland -I supported you from the very beginning".

The Neutrals were extremely pressured in 1945, especially Sweden and Switzerland, and I'm sure the Swiss government would not have let escape such an occasion to make up with the Allies.
 
Yes, but I think all the world would enjoy uniting behind a war against the Swiss.

You mean that the Swiss, either government or public, would even consider harboring a guy who just 5 years earlier publically said that the world will remember him as "the Butcher of the Swiss"?

Somehow the board seems to think that, just because the Swiss had the opportunity of refusing to commit national suicide (1940-44) - contrary to many others - they had to LIKE the Nazis.

Well, their overwhelming majority didn't, even if it seems to be a big surprise to Ameriteens.

Hitler is more likely to get asylum in USA than in Switzerland.
 

MacCaulay

Banned
If I'm not mistaken, the Swiss air force actually had some kills against Messerchmitts and Focke-Wulfs that strayed into it's airspace during WWII.

People can say what they want about their banking, but they sure as heck knew money wasn't being flown to Zurich in Me-109s.
 
If I'm not mistaken, the Swiss air force actually had some kills against Messerchmitts and Focke-Wulfs that strayed into it's airspace during WWII.

People can say what they want about their banking, but they sure as heck knew money wasn't being flown to Zurich in Me-109s.

The swiss shot down six Heinkel bombers in 1940 following an accidental border violantion during the battle for france (I am not aware of any other incidents

If Hitler and his crew where going to go somewhere it would only be two or three places (if the alpine fortress or norway dont count)

Spain
Japan
Argentina

the butterflies are interesting at all three locals... honestly the russians and british wanted blood whoever had him would experience diplomatic pressure on a scale that couldn't be imagined
 
I couldn't see Spain and Japan as options for Hitler to flee. Especially Japan, as the war is still raging on at this time in the Pacific theater, and the Japanese facing fire-bombing on an unbelievable scale. That would have almost guaranteed an extension of the war with a full-scale invasion of the Japanese islands to not only take Tokyo but to catch Der Fuhrer.

I'd be interested in what a scenario would have led to when it came time to settle on how to run Japan. There'd be little doubt of the Soviets joining in the invasion rather than to hem and haw and wait like they did IOTL. Would we have had to partition the islands up the way we did with Germany? If so, a partially Communist Japan could create an interesting situation 5 years down the road with Korea.
 
This depends when Hitler decides to flee Berlin. In my opinion this must happen by early April and must decide either flee south (Switzerland) or to the nearest U-boat. (Spain, Argentina, Japan) I can't see anything other than a quick trip to Nuremburg for trial he flees to Switzerland as long as the Allies surround the Swiss. Spain although sympathic to the Nazis won't shelter him for the same reason (otl stalin wanted to invade anyway) I think Japan is to far to reach leaving only Argentina as a safehaven. If Hitler can reach it in secret he may be able to hide for some time
 
Nazis flee to CH

The Swiss will do anything for money.

I remember a joke from one of the late night talk shows, right after Steven Spielberg had made Schindler's List. The host (can't remember if it was Letterman or "that other one") said something like, "Spielberg is now second only to Swiss banks as having made the most money off of WWII" :eek: Funny, but pretty darn true.

But if the high ranking Nazis fled to Switzerland, I don't think even the Swiss would require one Franc to hand them all over to the Allies. It would probably be c.o.d., when the allies received their package though.
 
Money, money, money, must be honey.

The Swiss will do anything for money.
But if the high ranking Nazis fled to Switzerland, I don't think even the Swiss would require one Franc to hand them all over to the Allies. It would probably be c.o.d., when the allies received their package though.
Oh I dunno, the Swiss are pretty pathological about their neutrality.:rolleyes:If Hitler were to bring Germany's remaining gold supplies as a sweetener?:DAnd tactically at least, Switzerland is a VERY hard nut to crack. On the other hand, the regions of Switzerland that are fortified so heavily are above/outside their main population centers, so how long would the Swiss fight with all their families under Allied occupation? Not long I suspect. Especially if the Allies bribed the Swiss troops into surrendering en masse!:D:cool:
 
There was actualy a discussion about this in the federal council, when the war endend. The swiss law stated that the asylum could be denied if there were crimes commited by the person and the expected punshment was not disproportionate (e.g. death sentence for a theft).
The main point of the discussion was if persons who just odered crimes (but not commited them themselves) should also be denied asylum, or rather wether the expected punishment (death sentence) was apropriate, for this. The conclusion was, that if the crimes ordered were inhuman against the civil population (unmenschlich gegen die Zivilbevölkerung) they were so grave, that even the command to commit them was so bad, that death sentence was appropriate and thus the persons would be handed over.
 
Yes, but I think all the world would enjoy uniting behind a war against the Swiss.
You mean that the Swiss, either government or public, would even consider harboring a guy who just 5 years earlier publically said that the world will remember him as "the Butcher of the Swiss"?

Somehow the board seems to think that, just because the Swiss had the opportunity of refusing to commit national suicide (1940-44) - contrary to many others - they had to LIKE the Nazis.

Well, their overwhelming majority didn't, even if it seems to be a big surprise to Ameriteens.

Hitler is more likely to get asylum in USA than in Switzerland.
No, I don't mean that.

My statement was that the world unite if given an opportunity to invade Switzerland if Hitler were to be given asylum. My post was intended to be a humorous comment that played on the stereotype that the Swiss are disliked by many for, among other reason, being financial mercenaries and humorless. I sought to be humorous by exaggeration--that is implying that other nations dislike of the Swiss is so great and universal that they would leap at any opportunity to make war on Swiss.

This is obviously not true. Other nations do not dislike the Swiss so much that they are not looking for (relatively minor) reasons to wage war on the Swiss. Were this so, all the many nations that over the years that have been robbed of billions of tax revenues by the self-serving Swiss banking laws would have turned Switzerland in smoldering wasteland to repay the Swiss for encouraging tax fraud. :D (Again, an over the top statement, using sarcasm and exaggeration to make to make a point.)

The next time I attempt to make a humorous post, I shall use an emoticon smilie if it will lessen your confusion and help you understand the implied attempt at humor as I did above. :) BTW, you aren't Swiss, are you? :) (My ancestors of Swiss extraction generally tended to have a good sense of humor, so that stereotype apparently isn't universal.)

Anyway, if you don't think that Switzerland would have taken in Hitler and that is the basis of your complaint, then you should lodge your complaint with the individual who posed the question rather than sith me for being a smart-ass. Explain in depth about how Hitler finding asuylum among the cantons of Helvetia is ASB. I add, I think that the Swiss would have not taken in Hitler, though for different reasons than you briefly put forth.

If your complaint with my post is that you don't like nationalistic stereotypes, then I suggest you don't use terms such as "Ameriteens." It undercuts your argument against such stereotypes.:D Besides, it's no skin off my nose, as the term doesn't apply to me.

If you object to my post because you don't like smart-asses, de gustibus non disputandum est.

Now, back to speculating about the Swiss national character.

There was actualy a discussion about this in the federal council, when the war endend. The swiss law stated that the asylum could be denied if there were crimes commited by the person and the expected punshment was not disproportionate (e.g. death sentence for a theft).
The main point of the discussion was if persons who just odered crimes (but not commited them themselves) should also be denied asylum, or rather wether the expected punishment (death sentence) was apropriate, for this. The conclusion was, that if the crimes ordered were inhuman against the civil population (unmenschlich gegen die Zivilbevölkerung) they were so grave, that even the command to commit them was so bad, that death sentence was appropriate and thus the persons would be handed over.
Kalan, thank you for bringing this discussion to light. This seems to be a very reasonable decision. Was the discussion based on the case at hand, the possibility of Hitler seeking asylum, or did the discussion arise from an actual situaton, such another war criminal seeking asylum? Or was it the federal council discussing the law as a general principle, as the possibility of the war criminals seeking asylum was very at the end of the war, rather than because of specific example of a war criminal seeking asylum?
 
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Kalan, thank you for bringing this discussion to light. This seems to be a very reasonable decision. Was the discussion based on the case at hand, the possibility of Hitler seeking asylum, or did the discussion arise from an actual situaton, such another war criminal seeking asylum? Or was it the federal council discussing the law as a general principle, as the possibility of the war criminals seeking asylum was very at the end of the war, rather than because of specific example of a war criminal seeking asylum?

It was just based on the general possibility of a war criminal seeking asylum. There were some Swiss people in the Waffen-SS and their return when the war went poorly for them might have highlightend the problem.
 
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