Why did Switzerland say out of the war?

My Grandad wants to know this, he has been pestering me for ages ad i have finally got round to asking. Please no daft answers like ‘they can only fight with Swiss Army KNIVES‘. Thanks

Most nations in World War II were thrust into the war by enemy aggression. Since Switzerland was never attacked, it would have been a terrible strategic decision to go to war with Germany considering Switzerland was a small country in the middle of Nazi-occupied Europe. Any Swiss advantages would have just helped to fight a delaying action. Switzerland would not have been able to defend itself for long.

Switzerland had little to gain from going to war, while a lot to gain economically by remaining neutral. They prospered from doing business with both sides. And its geography and special relationships with both the Axis and Allies made neutrality easy to maintain.

Not that Germany didn’t have plans to invade Switzerland; The plan codenamed Operation Tannenbaum was approved but never given the go-ahead by Hitler. The plans may have even been implemented later on if the war had remained in the Axis’ favor for longer. But for the time being it was easier to just bypass Switzerland. The German-speaking regions (about 2/3 of the country) would likely have been annexed into the Third Reich.

Plus if you look at European nations that were neutral in the war, you can see that they all had unique arrangements with the Nazis (Spain, Switzerland, Sweden…) But unlike Sweden and Spain, the Swiss were not necessarily Axis-sympathetic and did not give volunteer divisions, resources, or use of land or military bases to the Axis. They handled Nazi money and loot and they came out of the war with great profit. There is a lot of controversy over this financial relationship.

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