Can anyone recommend a factual book about Switzerland in the second world war. Just interested to see what went on in everyday life.

what language?? German or english?

My dad was/is keen to learn a lot about this terrible aera and has got a big collection of books, I can ask him for recommendations

German or English - doesn't matter!

forgive me asking a dumb question: does it have to be in English?

I believe the English ones would mainly be translations of academic research or specific subjects like banks' involvement in WWII. Mr. Bartholemew just finished what he said was an excellent memoir about growing up in Switzerland in the shadow of WWII. It's in German though.

I'll ask him about others if German is OK with you and get back to you.

just saw your response saying either German or English is OK. The one I was referring to is "Das Mindere Leid. Eine Zuercher Kindheit im Schatten des Holocaust," by Henri R. Paucker:

http://www.kirchenfeld.net/dasmindereleid.php

I haven't read this one yet, but Mr. B said it was surprisingly well written. Let me ask him for others about everday life and get back to you.

I found some interesting sites with references to books not long ago, it was reported in a thread on this forum, a bit of searching ought to yield some results.

I did do a search but nothing came up. I tried words like war etc - Can any one help?

I think this thread was meant. There are no book recommendations, but links to some external websites and PDFs.

"Swiss and the Nazis: How the Alpine Republic Survived in the Shadow of the Third Reich"

key this title into Amazon - useful book for correcting endless arguments about this subject

Mr. Bartholemew recommends "Es War Halt Krieg," a collection of portraits of Swiss men and women during the war:

http://www.chronos-verlag.ch/php/boo...&type=Kurztext

Quite a good article on wikipedia including about 30 links to various books:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Sch...iten_Weltkrieg

I thought this one was done well:

Between the Alps and a Hard Place, Switzerland in World War II and the remaking of History (2000) - Angelo M. Codevilla

http://www.amazon.com/Between-Alps-H...2178195&sr=8-1

This is not a book but a relic of the fortifications that the Swiss built. You can visit them and guided tours are in French (or German by request). There are two forts and the visits takes 2½ and 4 hours.

http://www.forteresse-st-maurice.ch/...ch/fhome_e.htm

I did three weeks of national service at that place Blonaybear, luckily, being a para-medic, I was staying in the infirmary house rather than inside the fortification which was quite grim according to the soldiers doing their service at the time.

Hi,

A good book I have read (and reread) is Target Switzerland - Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II by Stephen P. Halbrook
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_...Go.x=15&Go.y=9

Another good resource is a DVD in French called La Suisse pendant la guerre - I have part 1 1940-1942 so there must be a part two. Its a collection ofshort newsreels that were shown weekly in Swiss cinemas from 1940 through to 1975.

Chester