ABSTRACT
Printed images representing Switzerland have often played on the small country's peculiar situation in Europe. Both in spite and because of its neutrality, there was enormous sensitivity during the war to these and many other kinds of printed text and image. This chapter analyses how and why printed texts and images were regulated in Switzerland. It focuses on the problems that arose under the conditions of war and the uneasy alliance of neutrality, asylum and press freedom in Switzerland. The chapter examines how material that transgressed official regulations could have serious implications for Switzerland's domestic and foreign relations during war. It also focuses on cases of the French-language and German-language Swiss press. Switzerland's neutrality and the accompanying principles of asylum and press freedom were the rigorously debated issues before the outbreak of war. The press in Switzerland has a symbolic significance.
