Switzerland was not attacked by Hitler, why?

I had always thought it was because of the banking so I never actually looked into it . I will watch this thread with interest, thanks for asking the question!

Too high (the Alpes), too rich (banks).

This is a question that is often ignored because people have a ridiculous notion of what Hitler was planning and why he invaded nations.

Turn the question around - WHY WOULD HITLER INVADE SWITZERLAND. In that is your answer.

Switzerland is a small nation, neutral and actually continued to support the Nazi regime throughout the war. Its mountanous, it has not major resource, it is not politically unstable, nor has a major military threat. It didn't once posture against the Nazi's or threatened them in anyway.

Hitler, however you might look at it, was nor 'really' a maniac. His foreign office was a machine of brilliance, they were brilliant. If anyone is aware of their records, they will understand this. Now obviously, they had a sinister regime behind them, but from a tactical point of view, they were exceptional.

There were many natiosn that Hitler did invade and didn't care to invade. Including countries that ignored Hitler's calls to do things. Hitler didn't invade Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Spain, Portugal etcetc. Why? Becuase he didn't need too. This isn't to say he wouldn't have invaded them, its just to say he had no need to waste resources attacking nations that would, basically, not attack him.

He even, more or less, allowed France to rule itself, in the regions that were of no tactical use to him.

You'd be suprised in many nations that still believe the Red Army was worse than that Nazi's, simply because its the only army they remember, its the army that went around raping women and stealing things.

Hitler was satisfied with the nations around Germany being stable. Quite often, he supported more moderate leaders instead of supporting true extremists - Antonescu in Romania, Tiso in Slovakia and Horthy in Hungary are the best examples. They were stable leaders, not nazi's. They were authoritarian and supportive of Germany, but quite often didn't give troops or didn't buy into Nazi ideology.

Hi Ovidius
Yes Sir. I quite see the point.This is what I was referring to when I mentioned at the end of my post "What then was the German view?". Thanks.
Regards.

The Germans never needed to invade Switzerland, it was surrounded by German puppet regimes.

Edited by Paul - 18-Apr-2007 at 09:11

hE NEEDED SWEDEN IRON ORE, BUT HE DID NOT INVADE  SWEDEN, SINCE THE LATTER PROVIDED HIM WITH THE RESOURCE.

Good answer, Ovidius.

Originally posted by pekau Good answer, Ovidius.   Um.. did Switzerland allowed Jews to flee into their nation? Hitler may have been brilliant, but his hatred towards foreign race often costed more than you may realize. I assumed that they blockaded Jewish immigration, like most of the countries at that time... including United States, Great Britain and even Canada, which appears to the world now as the peacekeepers.

Firstly, i think you need to look at the Jewish policies of Germany first. There are vastly different periods of Germany policies towards the jews, they clearly became increasingly hostile up until 1939/40.

Now as for Switzerland, as i said before, i do not believe it is in anyway relevant that they closed their borders to jews or not. The fact is, they did, but Germany was not specifically interested in going into nations and pulling out all their Jews. Some pressure was placed upon his allies, who did jump when he requested - Romania for example, were very quick to export their Jewish populations. However, to say that Hitler was going to suddenly invade a nation that did give up its Jews is a bit far fetched. As I said - Military policy was more important that the Jewish Question.

One example is Sweden - a neutral nation, who had its sovereignty stepped on by the Nazi's a few times. But during this period it protected Jews and even allowed Denmark to use Sweden to defent its Jews. But Sweden was never formally invaded. There were even people actively helping Jews escape to Sweden in the period.

Hungary is another example, except for the region the gained in Ruthenia, they didn't let their Allies have any of their Jews. It wasn't until they basically switched sides and were invaded by Germany that their Jews were sent to Auschwitz.

So Hitler never, as far as I am aware, invaded a nation to kill Jews.

Like I said that was my own opinion.

Edited by Scorpian - 19-Apr-2007 at 10:44

Originally posted by Ovidius Heh, I'm not saying your opinion is right or wrong, merely expressing that there is little evidence on the matter. You are right that with such questions you have to 'speculate' to some extent. There is no way to prove a counter-factual! We can only suggest the most 'suitable' possibilities and compare it to things Hitler did do. But lets face it, at certain parts of his reign, he did many unexplicable things.

Edited by Scorpian - 19-Apr-2007 at 13:31