Triangle stories

The gradual dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1938/39 by the Third Reich reveals the challenge that Switzerland had to face in order to safeguard its own interests in the Bohemian lands. The Federal Council and Parliament adeptly adjusted to the overall European situation with diplomatic pragmatism. At the same time, the national government and economic representatives made every effort to maintain trade with the Reichsgau Sudetenland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Furthermore, Swiss diplomacy played a significant role in the inter-state relations of the enemy states: through the Allied mandate for foreign Jews, there was particularly a high level of awareness regarding the Nazi extermination process. Based on numerous new sources from foreign archives, the author concludes that incorporating a multinational perspective allows for new aspects in the assessment of the Nazi occupation regime. Indeed, the reports of Swiss diplomats demonstrate that Nazi protection in Bohemia and Moravia was all-encompassing, from which the occupied Czech population could not escape on their own.