SET-BACK FOR NAZIS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 4459, 19 October 1933, Page 4

SET-BACK FOR NAZIS

FAILURE IN SWITZERLAND. Nazi demonstrations near the Swiss frontier and frontier incidents caused some uneasiness a few weeks ago in Switzerland, where the people wish to live peacefully and freely under a democratic regime which has so far resisted all crises and proved its soundness for almost six and a half centuries.

Hitlerism at one time seemed to be favoured by certain classes of the Swiss. It is now unquestionably on the decline, says the Geneva correspondent of the Times. Every week there are meetings at which big crowds enthusiastically proclaim their attachment to the old democratic institutions and to the army. On the other hand, the meetings of the Swiss “Grey Shirts,” though numerous and well advertised, do not rouse the same interest and do npt bring the same audiences as before.

The decline of Hitlerism can be ascribed to two main causes. In the first place, there is a reviyal of Swiss patriotism in consequence of the pyschological errors of Nazi propaganda. The Swiss also have a feeling that the Nazi movement might at any moment threaten their independence. Recently the Nazis declared themselves ready to “free” the 2,800,000 Germans living “under the Swiss yoke.” The German-speaking Swiss, who are in a majority in Switzerland, are Swiss before all, are not suffering from any oppression, and resented this offer. The second cause of the decline of Hitlerism in Switzerland is the Nazi demonstrations already mentioned. To these they try to attract Swiss citizens. About the middle of August some 12,000 Nazis paraded at Constance, and afterwards annouced that several Swiss Nazis had taken partin the procession. In fact, some German Nazis residing in Switzerland paraded in Constance, but there was no Swiss in the procession. The Nazi bands played the German National Anthem, and then the Swiss. Speeches followed, and finally German actors recited the scene of the Rutli Oath from Schiller’s “William Tell.” It was intended to please the Swiss, but most of them left at once, as the Rutli Oath—which prepared the overthrow of Austrian oppression, and the foundation of the Swiss Confederation —is regarded as almost sacred by the Swiss people.