ABSTRACT
Switzerland did not have to suffer through an occupation, did not have a Vichy regime. But it also had to enter into a fairly tight cooperation with the Axis powers; it had to make concessions that were necessary for the survival of the nation, for the preservation of its sovereignty, to secure the vital supplies of their inhabitants and the social peace. Switzerland did experience a washed out anti-Semitism that often appeared unconsciously yet all the more treacherously. It also sensed the widespread urge for more authoritarianism in the thirties. All these circumstances were repressed after the war because - compared to the catastrophic results of the war - they had to be categorized as morally innocuous. The experiences of First World War and its immediate consequences in Switzerland and the anxieties of the period shaped the entire generation that would later be the decision-makers during Second World War.
