SWISS VIGILANCE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21222, 19 September 1940, Page 13

SWISS VIGILANCE

BARRIERS ACROSS ROADS Vigilance predominates in Swiss life today. It is apparent in every citizen, says the Christian Science Monitor. Around the interior canton of Schwyz, scene of several battles in the Swiss wars of freedom, the peasants have a wary and suspicious demeanour when foreigners are around.

The Swiss indeed have learned their lesson from the experience of fifth columnists in Norway, Netherlands and Belgium. They have already increased the guard on bridges and important buildings and made the check up on foreigners more thorough. At the beginning of hostilities it was possible to ride by bicycle or auto from one end of Switzerland to the other without being questioned. Now barriers are placed across the roads before cities and large towns at which one must show one’s papers. From Geneva to Zurich there are four check-ups on the highway. If one is in a restaurant near a concentration of troops and looks foreign or speaks a high German instead of the Swiss dialect, military police are soon at hand to inquire about one’s business. The officials seem particularly concerned lest the directions for attacking parachute jumpers fall into the hands of spies. One official remarked that there are Swiss Quislings who have to be watched.