Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2017
The recent sudden upsurge of interest in Swiss behavior during and after World War II seems to call for a brief review of the international law issues that were relevant to that country’s decisions. Many of them, in particular the law of neutrals, have become obsolete and are obviously not understood by many commentators. Of course, to reach a judgment that the behavior of Switzerland was compatible with the rules of international law then in effect does not dispose of issues of humanity and morality. But it does contribute to explaining Swiss behavior, particularly since the Government in Bern was quite legalistic in its approach to the questions of the time.
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18 This rule is, curiously, to be found in the Hague Convention concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War, Oct. 18, 1907, 36 Stat. 2415, 1 Bevans 723, to which landlocked Switzerland was a party. Article 6 says: “The supply, in any manner, directly or indirectly, by a neutral Power to a belligerent Power, of war-ships, ammunition, or war material of any kind whatever, is forbidden.”
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42 There was a later agreement of Aug. 28, 1952, Liquidation of German Property in Switzerland, 13 UST 1131, which involved transfers among Germany, Switzerland and the Allied powers to settle the German property claims. The Swiss Government asserted that there were no assets of “heirless Nazi victims” but stated that it would give sympathetic consideration to their dedication to a charitable cause if any were found thereafter. See the letter related to the agreement, Aug. 28, 1952, id. at 1143.
43 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mar. 14, 1997, at 58-59.
44 Opened far signature May 23, 1969, 1155 UNTS 331.
45 [1946] 5 Foreign Relations of The United States 216. 46
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47 N.Y. Times, May 8, 1997, at Al.