SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY.
The Editor,
"The Listener." Sir,-In your issue of June 21 you have an article entitled "Threat via Switzerland." May I reply on behalf of the many Swiss residents in New Zealand? That article has a paragraph about the nationality of three million Swiss that requires a strong contradiction, more especially in these times of stress.Three million Swiss are not of German origin. Most emphatically not. There can be no greater insult levelled against the Swiss people than to say they are German. They never have been-never will be. To the last man they will fight to retain their Swiss nationality. There are many hundred Swiss (or people of Swiss descent) in this country — mostly in Taranaki and the Waikato. In fairness to them all, will you please print this protest. Those who do not personally know any Swiss are led to believe that we ate in sympathy with the Germans. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many Swiss have enlisted in the New Zealand Forces, In the team of footballers who beat the R.A.F. in Egypt at Easter the two Arnolds are sons of a Swiss who settled here nearly 40 years ago. Would Switzerland spend millions on defence every year if she had no fear of Germany? Certainly the French are not feared-nor were the Austrians. In August, 1291, three Swiss swore to gain freedom for their people from Austrian rule. Sixteen years later that freedom was won in battle, and by 1481 Fribourg and Neuchatel cantons were added to the eight already in the union. These are French-speak-ing districts. Only in 1803 was Ticino added to Switzerland as we know it to-day. In Ticino (Tessin) the language is Italian. We speak a language like the German, but the dialect is so marked that it is hard to understand the German speech. My father left Switzerland 37 years ago and became naturalised in 1908. To his death, like all true Swiss, he remained a loyal subject of the Empire. Our own family history can be traced back several hundred years, and there is no German blood in our line. I ask again to print what I have written in fairness to the Swiss who live here. : Yours etc..
(Miss)
JOSEPHINE
WERDER
fiawera, June 21, 1940.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 56, 19 July 1940, Page 5
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380SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY. New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 56, 19 July 1940, Page 5
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