Hitler, the frontists and Switzerland
Zurich, Davos, Bern
Key figures: Rolf Henne, Wilhelm Gustloff, Marcel Pilet-Golaz, Max Leo Keller
HLS (German): Frontism, Gustloff affair
The “spring of the fronts” (1933). In 1933, as Hitler takes power in Germany, movements calling themselves “fronts” multiply in Switzerland. They want to replace parliamentary democracy with an authoritarian state led by a strong man, class struggle with the “national community”, the market with corporations; they are antisemitic and partly racist. The most important is Rolf Henne’s National Front, which reaches about 9,000 members. Frontists march in uniform, salute with an outstretched arm and the cry “Harus”, and beat up opponents with clubs: in 1934 they repeatedly attack the antifascist cabaret Pfeffermühle in Zurich.
Few votes, a lot of noise. After a few early successes (in 1933, 27% in Schaffhausen and ten seats on the Zurich city council, thanks to alliances with bourgeois parties), the fronts lose steam: in the 1935 federal elections they win two of 187 seats in the National Council. In the same year the people reject their proposal for a total revision of the Constitution, and in 1937 their proposal to ban Masonic lodges.
The Gustloff affair (1936). On 4 February 1936 in Davos the Jewish student David Frankfurter kills Wilhelm Gustloff, head of the Swiss section of the Nazi party. Germany makes him a martyr and uses the killing for antisemitic propaganda. The Federal Council rejects German accusations against the Swiss press, but applies the press rules more strictly and bans the national and regional leadership of the Nazi party in Switzerland.
The summer of 1940. The Wehrmacht’s victories in France give the frontists new momentum, and they call for alignment with the Axis “new Europe”. In his radio speech of 25 June 1940 the President of the Confederation Marcel Pilet-Golaz speaks of adapting to the new times, and he receives the frontist leaders Max Leo Keller and Ernst Hofmann in Bern, drawing strong criticism. On 15 November 1940 the “Petition of the 200” asks for curbs on the press hostile to Germany; the Federal Council does not act on it. Resistance movements such as the Gotthard League are formed against accommodation, and General Guisan gathers his officers on the Rütli (see the 1291 stage).
The end of the fronts (1940–1943). The most radical wing of the fronts, funded by Germany, goes as far as treason and accepts the idea of Switzerland as a satellite of the Reich. The Federal Council dissolves Keller’s National Movement of Switzerland on 19 November 1940; some frontists flee to Germany. The last frontist organisations disappear in the summer of 1943.
“The principles of the Swiss renewal movement”, a frontist leaflet of 1942 reprinted from the newspaper Die Front: its aims include “purity of blood”, parliaments reduced to advisory bodies, a ban on Jewish immigration and special laws for Jews already living in the country
Photo Bunkerfunker, Festungsmuseum Reuenthal, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
“Arbeiter!” (Workers!), National Front leaflet for May Day, ending with “Long live Confederate socialism!”
Photo Bunkerfunker, Festungsmuseum Reuenthal, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Federal Councillor Marcel Pilet-Golaz in the 1943 yearbook of the federal authorities
Scan René Hourdry, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 17 June 1934 reports the sentencing of the former frontist Brunner for the explosion of two firecracker bombs at the building of the socialist newspaper Volksrecht on the night of 18–19 August 1933
Wikimedia Commons, public domain