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HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY
The Reactivated Swiss American Historical Society at Forty: A Retrospective
Leo Schelbert
While the Society for German-American Studies commemorates its thirty-fifth anniversary, the Swiss American Historical Society (SAHS) looks back on four decades since its reactivation in 1964.[i] It may be worthwhile to briefly trace the path the organization has taken that shows some of the similarities and differences between the SAHS and its larger sister, the Society for German American Studies. Although both focus on a specific immigrant group constituted by national origin, both strive to be neither nationalistic nor filiopietistic in orientation, but aim to feature the complex involvement of German and Swiss newcomers, and of their descendants, in the history and culture of the United States and in relation to events in their previous homelands. First some data shall be given about the origin and development of the SAHS between 1927 and 1960, next about its reactivation in the early 1960’s and, finally, about its activities during the last four decades. An appendix provides some further detail.
From Start to Dormancy
The SAHS was founded on July 4, 1927 in Chicago.[ii] A late-comer among ethnic organizations in the United States[iii], it hoped to add its voice to the chorus of ethnic societies dedicated to presenting their respective groups' historical experience. The SAHS faced an especially challenging task since newcomers from Switzerland have remained, as Swiss, nearly invisible. Depending on a family name such as Ammann, Chevrolet, or Delmonico or on the German, French, Italian, or Romansh native tongue, Swiss were (and are being) viewed as being either of German, French, or Italian origin. The initiators of the SAHS named Ernest A. Kübler, Bruno Bachmann, and August Rüedy were among those who “were annoyed and concerned ‘by the fact that every outstanding person of Swiss origin was claimed by some other nation.’”[iv] On October 27, 1927 they met at the residence of the physician Dr. Jacques Holinger in Chicago, elected officers, and decided to prepare a constitution and bylaws.[v] These were adopted on November 27, and on December 20 the organization was incorporated in the State of Illinois.
The group's goal was scholarly, although no academicians were initially among them, and members went to work right away on a book, titled Prominent Americans of Swiss Origin, which appeared in 1932. It featured seventy-one personalities grouped into these seven categories: Pioneers; Theologians; Soldiers; Statesmen; Physicians and Surgeons; Industrialists, Merchants, Bankers; Scientists, Journalists, and Engineers.[vi] A second volume was soon to follow containing more biographies, yet dissension erupted over the direction the SAHS was to take. Its secretary commented: “I realize more and more how important it is to keep the Swiss American Historical Society from getting to be a Swiss American Eulogistic Society,” instead of “letting the facts speak for themselves.”[vii] The second volume, which was titled The Swiss in the United States and published in 1940, dispensed therefore with biographies in favor of an extended statistical survey based on the U.S. census and some diverse articles on the involvement of some Swiss in the American past. Yet despite a vigorous publicity effort neither publication sold well. “I guess the reading of the newspapers is all they do in reading,” a clergyman in Pittsburgh observed about the Swiss, “and so about history even about our honored late Swiss there is ‘nothing doing’.”[viii]
Also the times were unfavorable to the enterprise. The Great Depression of the 1930’s and the anti-German climate of the 1940’s led to a serious decline in activity and membership numbers. In 1930 the SAHS had 139 members, in 1937 there were only 48 dues-paying ones left. Dissension erupted also over the second book and led to a revolt of members centered in Madison, Wisconsin. At the annual meeting held on January 22, 1940 in Chicago almost all members of the Board of Directors resigned, and headquarters were moved to Madison, yet activities remained minimal after the second title had appeared. In 1949, however, Professor Alfred Senn (1899-1978), an expert of the Lithuanian language who by then had moved from the University of Wisconsin to the University of Pennsylvania, intended to revive the organization. He published a Yearbook in 1949 and 1950, but then abandoned the effort due to lack of time, insufficient money, and minimal interest among members. It was perhaps symptomatic that when in 1958 Heinz K. Meier had joined the group and paid his dues, he “never heard another word.”[ix] By 1961 the only solution left seemed to be to dissolve the society.
Reactivation, 1963-1965
When Alfred Senn resigned in 1961 he suggested that the SAHS member Lukas F. Burckhardt (1908-2003), then serving as Cultural Counselor at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C., be made SAHS president.[x] It was a fortunate suggestion. Dr. Burckhardt was indeed wholly committed either to reorganize the SAHS or to initiate the founding of a new society. He had the support of Alfred Zehnder, the Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States, who sent out an invitation to “Geisteswissenschafter”, that is scholars in the humanities, who were registered with Swiss consulates, to attend an exploratory meeting.[xi] It occurred on October 5, 1963 and was “strangely unreal”, in the words of H. K. Meier (1929-1989) of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia; he also found that “several hours of animated discussion produced few results.”[xii] Yet he became friends with L. F. Burckhardt, and both realized that big plans had to be avoided in favor of small, concrete steps that would have to be implemented by people able and willing to spend time and effort on the task.
In the summer of 1964 L. F. Burckhardt met in Switzerland with Professor Meier, also with Professor Maissen (1921-1992) of Utica College of Syracuse University in Utica, New York, and with Emil Schaefer (1892-1976)[xiii] who due to Professor Senn’s resignation had become unwillingly acting president. It was decided to hold a meeting in New York, to elect H. K. Meier as SAHS president, E. Schaefer as vice president, and A. Maissen as secretary. In the fall of 1964 a second circular was sent out by the Embassy, inviting especially academics of Swiss descent to attend a founding meeting of a new “Swiss American Historical and Literary Society.”[xiv] The meeting, held on December 29, 1964, went according to script: The three were duly elected and the drafting of a revised constitution was decided upon; only the name change had been (and remained) forgotten.
In April 1965 a third circular, issued under the name of Ambassador Zehnder, but probably written by L. F. Burckhardt, was sent out which stressed the private nature of the new or ‘reactivated’ organization: “Its leaders work on their own and in a honorary capacity,” the “Rundschreiben” observed. “They are not only respected in their professional circles, but also maintain ties to their homeland.”[xv] With the circular a first Newsletter was sent out under the name of Augustin Maissen, but produced at the Embassy. It contained a message from the SAHS President Meier who acknowledged the achievements of the ‘old’ organization, asked recipients to join the reactivated society, and announced “plans for the future:”
1. “Several newsletters per year.”
2. “One business meeting per year,” at which also “scholarly papers will be presented.”
3. The resumption of a “program of publication of single manuscripts.”
As before, the Society would have a Board of Directors or officers who would serve three year terms, and a 15-member Board of Advisors who were grouped into five, to be reelected in staggered three year terms. The president could serve for only two consecutive terms and could not simultaneously hold the office of treasurer.[xvi]
This was a modest, but also realistic program that conformed to the available resources of people and money, especially since the newsletter was produced and mailed by the Embassy until 1970. Initially annual meetings were held in conjunction with professional gatherings that were held in the last week of a calendar year, but gradually the SAHS annual meetings were moved to early October and since the mid-1970’s are being held in turn at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, in Philadelphia, and in New York City. At first the Newsletter appeared irregularly two to four times a year, but after 1970 was issued three times a year in February, June, and November. Gradually the February Newsletter would include an annual report on elections, membership numbers, sundry activities, and the financial status of the organization. This solidification process occurred in small steps without grand announcements and in response to the demands of the situation.
From Newsletter to Review
Under the editorship of Lukas F. Burckhardt the publication contained diverse items about books and meetings that he selected on the basis of interest for Swiss Americans. Occasionally a formal scholarly paper or reprints of an article were distributed to the members. After the 1970’s the Newsletter increasingly took the form of a scholarly publication that contained two to three articles, some book reviews, and news items. In 1990 the name was changed to SAHS Review, and in the year 2000 also the format changed from a letter-sized in-house production to a professionally produced journal by Picton Press.[xvii]
In 1994 a Lizentiatsarbeit, comparable to an American MA thesis, was submitted at the University of Basel that analyzed and critically assessed the contents of the SAHS periodical in order to discover “Das Selbstverständnis eines schweizerischen Auswanderervereins in der USA”, that is the self-understanding of a Swiss Emigrant Society.[xviii] With some consternation the author realized that the publication was a mélange: Scholarly treatises appeared besides anecdotal stories, family trees, and the presentation of postal cancellations. She also discovered a series of ‘heroicizing’ biographies and ‘cosmeticized’ autobiographies. Only the book reviews appeared to be consistently scholarly in tone. Although the author of the study acknowledged that the journal contained some “very good contributions and many good reviews”, she found that it could not measure up to periodicals such as the Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte,[xix] nor for that matter to the Yearbook of German American Studies, a refereed scholarly publication with an acknowledged high standard.
The author’s critical appraisal is justified, yet uses perhaps a wrong yardstick. The SAHS Review did not intend to rival scholarly journals. Its goal was more modest as well as more ambitious: It understood itself as a “voice-giving” instrument. A scholar as well as an amateur family historian, an expert editor of primary sources as well as a student of American foodways, a professional as well as a family genealogist, they all should find a place in the periodical and be able to share their findings which otherwise might not see the light of day. The October issue 1976 may serve as an example: It contained a scholarly portrait of the Reformed minister and Revolutionary agitator, but Loyalist, Johann Joachim Züblin (John J. Zubly, 1724-1781); a sociologist’s sketch of recent Swiss immigration to Nebraska; a stamp collector’s (and professional pianist’s and educator’s) “Non-Historic Observations” of “Postal Helvetica” in the United States; reviews of a novel, a genealogical treatise about an Italian-Swiss emigrant family, and of a specialized work on the nature of literary analysis. At times one contribution filled the journal, at others it contained sundry items. The unifying aspect of the periodical’s diversity of content thus rested less in the nature of the article, but in the theme “Swiss American” most broadly defined.
The Book Series
Although at reactivation the publication of books was part of the plan, it was undertaken only in small steps. The years 1927 to 1952 had taught an important lesson: Swiss and Swiss Americans did not buy the books published by the SAHS, and their cost, therefore, could not be recuperated for a next publication project. The effort had only led to dissension about a publication’s form and content and had drained the treasury; most of the books, furthermore, had remained nearly inaccessible and unused in a basement or a garage. Another way had to be found that was tried by Heinz K. Meier. In 1970 he asked the annual gathering to sponsor the translation of the Civil War letters of Rudolf Aschmann (1841-1911) which he then edited, and which were published by Herbert Lang of Bern, Switzerland. Thus the SAHS refrained from publishing books on its own, but rather sponsored publications by guaranteeing a publisher the purchase of a specified number of copies which would then be distributed to the SAHS members free of charge. The list given in the Appendix shows that this approach worked reasonably well. It allowed the assessing of each proposal in relation to its Swiss American interest and to available resources; it also made a publisher an important link in the negotiations and guaranteed that the books reached all members, and that remainders stayed small.
Like the SAHS Review also the book series represents a mix of topics featured. The two titles of the 1970’s are a scholarly primary source edition and a historical essay, those of the 1980’s a genealogical guide, a novel, and an other primary source edition. The 1990’s books include the history of a Swiss settlement, a collection of scholarly essays, a technical literary study, an experiential account of a recent trip on horseback from St. Louis to the West Coast, a primary source edition, a biographical study, and an Index to the SAHS Review. The most recent publications are a novel and an autobiographical account of a twentieth century Swiss immigrant. Forthcoming are a new genealogical guide and the translation and edition of an 1852 memoir by the French-speaking Swiss scientist Leo Lesquereux. This mix has also its critics. Some members value experiential accounts, others prefer works of expert historical scholarship, still others look for literary works. The price of such diversity is only partial satisfaction, yet the diversity approach gives a hearing to different voices and provides them a measure of permanence.
A unique part of the SAHS book series is the trilogy by the novelist Carol Williams of Lexington, South Carolina. Having some ancestral connection to Switzerland, she is intimately familiar with South Carolina’s Congaree region. Based on this familiarity and also on extensive historical study as well as on a creative writer’s talent and impeccable sensibility, she recreates in the first novel the world of the arriving immigrants, in the second events of the 1760’s, in the third those of the 1770’s and 1780’s. Great expectations, devotion to family, strife among neighbors, religious orientation, frontier violence, war against the Cherokee people resisting the settler invasion, slavery, regional and continental political events such as the Revolutionary War, they all find their proper place in the complex web woven by these novels. Thus the story of Swiss immigrants has been immeasurably enriched by a set of fictional, but revealing accounts that rival works such as Ole Rölvaag’s Giants in the Earth which features Norwegians, Willa Cather’s My Ántonia which centers on a Bohemian family, and Thomas Bell’s Out of This Furnace which presents three generations of Slovaks. In Carol William’s works Swiss immigrants are neither special, nor heroic, nor villainous, but people of different age, capability, and moral outlook who try to find their way through life’s vicissitudes within the personal as well as the public context.
Patterns of Activity
Besides giving voice to the story of Swiss immigrants and of their descendants in the history of the United States by the SAHS Review, the book series, and the presentations at annual meetings, the organization has also sponsored a variety of activities. In 1979, for instance, it allocated a small grant, so-called ‘seed’ money, to the excavation of the Swiss settlement of Purrysburg, South Carolina.[xx] It co-sponsored lecture tours like that of the late folklore expert Professor Hans Trümpy of the University of Basel or of the Chameleon Quartet of Zug. Members who took part in study weeks for High School teachers in places such as Keuka College, New York; Bar Harbor, Maine; or Missoula, Montana, received financial support as did travel exhibits such as “Bern, Switzerland, a Medieval City Today” which was shown at many places. Members were speakers or pro bono consultants for events that had a Swiss or Swiss American component. In 1995, for example, the SAHS cooperated financially with the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York in an archival project, with the Swiss Benevolent Society of Washington, D.C. in a book publication, and it gave a grant to the Musée de Venoge in Vevay, Indiana and to the film project “Steinauer, Nebraska: Cycle of Despair & Hope.”
Occasional regional meetings in Switzerland or in the United States derived from the desire of the SAHS to publicize the Swiss American story. At the 1988 SAHS regional meeting in Switzerland, for instance, an ethno-musicologist featured the Amish of Berne, Indiana, a historian the life of the theologian Philip Schaff (1819-1893), and the late Dr. Raymond Probst, former Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States, described his visit to Utah. In 2001 SAHS members participated in the opening of the Dairy Institute in Milbank, South Dakota, built by a Swiss American architect and established by two second-generation Swiss American families engaged in the cheese making business. Members also answered, as far as possible, genealogical inquiries coming from many different people of at least partial Swiss descent who according to the 1990 census counted over one million. In 1980 the SAHS purchased some 250 copies from the Indiana Historical Society that contained the 1804 to 1836 correspondence between John Badollet and Albert Gallatin. Such efforts are all modest in size and varied in nature, yet aim to implement the SAHS goal wherever an opportunity arises.
Two Recent Challenges
The years 1997 to 1999 were overshadowed by the wide-ranging attacks on the people of Switzerland during the Second World War. Swiss banks were accused of having profited from ‘Nazi gold’, of having fraudulently withheld money from persecuted Jews, of having abetted money laundering, and having served criminal elements of fascist regimes. The country was accused, further, of having pursued a xenophobic and heartless refugee policy as well as an immoral stance of a neutrality that had supposedly prolonged the war. Members of the SAHS, many of whom had lived through the war years and personally endured the hardships of rationing, minimal supply of fuel, the threat of invasions, and many months of active military service, intensely discussed the proper response. Most agreed that it was best to let the record speak for itself, to continue with the accustomed tasks, and to cooperate with the effort of the American Swiss Foundation, led by Faith Whittlesey, the former Ambassador of the United States to Switzerland.[xxi] The Foundation published a series of books that challenged the accusations from a variety of perspectives.[xxii] The SAHS was instrumental in publishing not only Switzerland under Siege, a collection of scholarly essays by Swiss as well as American scholars, but also assisted with some of the other titles.
At the same time the SAHS faced an internal problem in connection with plans to establish a Swiss Center of North America. The idea that Swiss Americans deserved to have a museum, library, and central information center in the United States had been discussed repeatedly over the years. In 1998 people in New Glarus committed themselves to such an undertaking; members of the Government of Wisconsin joined in, hoping that such an enterprise might intensify tourism, a significant facet of the State’s economy. In 1999 several planning meetings were held, and the State of Wisconsin pledged a substantial matching grant. Gradually a divergence of opinion emerged in the ranks of the SAHS. Some members, including some New Glarus people, increasingly viewed the project as mainly a business-oriented proposition. They concluded that the SAHS should separate itself from the project for which it had already earmarked financial as well as organizational support. Other SAHS members, however, held that cooperation was fully warranted and that the negative views were not well founded. One leading SAHS member decided to become a major promoter of the undertaking and has given it also substantial financial support.
After presentations by proponents as well as opponents of the project which were made at the 1999 annual meeting, the issue came to a vote: 17 members voted for total disengagement, 13 for cooperation, and 5 abstained. A subsequent polling of the membership resulted in nearly 85 percent requesting disengagement until further developments might recommend reconsideration.[xxiii] At present the SAHS takes a wait-and-see attitude towards the Swiss Center of North America project, but will consider cooperation, especially in regard to the planned library and archive, once conditions are judged to be right.
Outlook
When in 1963 Lukas F. Burckhardt energetically pursued the reactivation of the SAHS, he occasionally commented that it might not survive. Since all work undertaken was voluntary and unpaid, the idealism and expertise needed might not be forthcoming or might not endure. He was happy, however, when he saw that his 1960’s initiative, which had the support of other official representatives of Switzerland as well as of academics like H. K. Meier and Augustin Maissen and of business leaders like Philip R. Gelzer and Imre de Kozininski, had proven worthwhile and had lasted for several decades. Until the end of his life in March 2003 he followed the activities of the SAHS with interest, appraised them, and suggested further steps.
The uncertainty about the future, however, remains. As a small country, Switzerland and the history of its people in the United States receive scant attention. Work done for an organization such as the SAHS, furthermore, barely earns professional recognition, especially in the academy. It remains a serious concern, therefore, to find people with proper expertise and dedication to carry out the tasks. Also membership numbers remain worrisome, especially the recruitment of younger members to replace those who have withdrawn or have died.
Occasionally also dissatisfaction surfaces with the organization’s direction. Since publications have been chosen as the Society’s main activity, work remains largely invisible and is performed by a relatively few. An article may take months to prepare, an exhibition or book years, which is often not understood by those unfamiliar with the process. Thus complaints about supposed inactivity, lacking dynamism, and limited imagination occasionally surface. The mélange, referred to above, in what is being published in the SAHS Review and in the book series further weakens the sense of general satisfaction since a scholar may not appreciate amateur pieces, and general readers may find scholarly items too grey and boring. Perhaps this is simply a small instance of what holds as a general principle: Every path taken has its pitfalls. The choice does not lie between the good and the bad or the right and the wrong way, but between possibilities that all have their strength and value as well as their limitations and drawbacks. It seems that the SAHS has survived the last four decades because it avoided big plans and grand pronouncements and remained focused on its fourfold program that could be implemented by volunteer work: an annual meeting, three annual SAHS Reviews, the publication of books as means permitted, and diverse activities, also in cooperation with other groups, as circumstances allowed.
Yet that path chosen by the SAHS is not the only one possible. The Society for German American Studies, for instance, has opted for selecting officers who are able to serve without interruption for long periods, has concentrated on an extended annual scholarly meeting at which numerous papers are given, and has issued a Yearbook that contains an impressive array of refereed articles as well as a Newsletter that is also rich in academic information. This approach has been successful indeed, especially since the organization involves mainly academics. The Swiss American Historical Society, in contrast, has allowed a president to serve for only six consecutive years, has put most of its financial resources into the publication of the Review and of books which have a mixed content, and has conducted only a one-day annual meeting, a good part of which has been reserved for the conduct of business to be transacted by majority vote by all those attending the meeting. In important matters a mail ballot polls the whole membership. The 15-member Advisory Board, furthermore, simultaneously observes, advises, and critiques actions taken by the executive officers. Four decades of these different ways have also led to success. The SAHS has created a substantial record in the form of diverse papers, articles, and books that feature the Swiss American past in scholarly as well as popular ways and preserve that knowledge for future generations. It has also given support within the limits of its modest means wherever an opportunity arose. At present the SAHS as well as the Society for German American Studies seem to be positioned for continued success in their efforts to chronicle the experience of their respective groups in American history and life.
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2022 NOTE:
These are 2003 revisions of the SAHS Bylaws.
And a 2017 addendum to Article VII.
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Footnotes:
[i] This essay is based mainly on data in the SAHS Newsletter (1965-1989), since then renamed SAHS Review. Reports on the annual business meeting begin in April 1969 as part of the Newsletter. From 1989 to 1999 they were issued separately, since 2000 they are again part of the February issue of the Review. – The SAHS papers were housed for a time at the Balch Institute, Philadelphia.
[ii] The founding of the SAHS is featured by Heinz K. Meier, The Swiss American Historical Society, 1927-1977 (Norfolk, Virginia: Donning, 1977), 11-19. His study was first published in installments in the SAHS Newsletter, 9:1, 2, 3 (1973); 10:2 (1974); 11:2 (1975); henceforth cited as Meier, SAHS.
[iii] See Joseph J. Appel, Immigrant Historical Societies in the United States, 1880-1950. New York: Arno Press, 1980; it is a valuable, if somewhat one-sided study.
[iv] Meier, SAHS, 12-13; Bruno Buchmann (1865-1946) of Chicago, was editor and business manager of the Katholischer Jugendfreund; August Rüedy (d. 1944) of Cleveland was a typesetter and a Marxist. For obituaries see Jacob Krüsi, “Bruno Bachmann,” The Swiss Record, ed. Alfred Senn (Madison, Wisconsin: Swiss-American Historical Society, 1949), 10-13; Alfred Senn, “August Rüedy,” ibid., 14-17.
[v] Alice H. Finkh, “Jacques Hollinger (1866-1934),” ibid., 5-9.
[vi] Prominent Americans of Swiss Origin. A Compilation by the Swiss-American Historical Society. New York: James T. White, 1932. The entries were written by 17 different contributors.
[vii] Letter dated January 21, 1939; quoted by Meier, SAHS, 24.
[viii] Ibid., 18.
[ix] Ibid., 74, endnote 18; H. K. Meier had joined after a visit to Professor Alfred Senn in 1958.
[x] L. F. Burckhardt hailed from the noted Burckhardt family of Basel. After the Gymnasium he studied law and served from 1937 to 1957 as Secretary of the Basel Labor Mediation Board, from 1957 to 1970 as Attaché of the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C., from 1970 to 1975 as Chief of the Cultural Section of the Confederation’s Political, i.e. State, Department. In retirement he remained active in social causes. For an obituary see SAHS Review 40, No. 1 (2004): 40-45.
[xi] Copy of Circular in SAHS Archive. It stated: “Es soll … die Swiss American Historical and Literary Society gegründet werden. Es handelt sich um eine Neugründung der schon seit längerer Zeit bestehenden Swiss American Historical Society.”
[xii] Meier, SAHS, 57.
[xiii] Augustin Maissen’s native tongue was Reto-Romontsch, and he hailed from Laax, Canton Graubünden; he later moved from Utica College to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; see Frederick W. Vogler, “A Swiss-American Family’s Homecoming after Three Hundred Years ,” SAHS Review 30, 2 (June 1994): 30-32. – Emil Schaefer was born in Zurich, Switzerland; at nineteen he emigrated to the United States and pursued varied occupations until he became “a teacher of distributive education for adults” in Madison, Wisconsin at what became the Madison Area Technical College; see Meier, SAHS, 33-34.
[xiv] Copy of Circular in SAHS Archive.
[xv] Quoted from enclosure in first SAHS Newsletter, 1,1 (1965).
[xvi] Ibid., 1-2; see also Meier, SAHS, 76-80 for “Constitution and Bylaws,” March 27, 1970.
[xvii] Complete set of SAHS Newsletter/Review in author’s possession.
[xviii] Riccarda Racine, “Das Selbstverständnis eines schweizerischen Auswanderer-Vereins in den USA: Die Geschichte der Zeitschrift Swiss American Historical Society Review.” Lizentiatsarbeit an der philosophisch-historischen Fakultät der Universität Basel. Referent Professor Hans Rudolf Guggisberg (Basel, December 1994), 89 pp.
[xix] Ibid., 88.
[xx] The data are based on the respective Annual Reports.
[xxi] For a concise and judicious summary see Gregory A. Fossedal, Direct Democracy in Switzerland (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Press, 2002), 213-231: “Switzerland Accused.” See also Switzerland under Siege. A Neutral Nation’s Struggle for Survival. Ed. Leo Schelbert. Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2000; see especially Heinz K. Meier, “Between Hammer and Anvil: Neutrality and the Necessities of Trade,” 31-152; Stephen P. Halbrook, “The Spirit of Resistance: The Swiss ‘Wochenschau’ and ‘Armeefilmdienst’,” 183-206. The book was co-sponsored by the American Swiss Foundation and the Swiss American Historical Society.
[xxii] The following titles of the works sponsored shall be mentioned: Stephen Halbrook, Target Switzerland. Swiss Neutrality in World War II. Rockeville Centre, New York: Sarpedon, 1998; Theo Tschuy, Dangerous Diplomacy: The Story of Carl Lutz, Rescuer of 62,000 Hungarian Jews. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William E. Eerdmans, 2000; David Kranzler, The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwitz. Georg Mantello, El Salvador, and Switzerland’s Finest Hour. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
[xxiii] The SAHS Review 35,1 (February 2000): 1-71, contains the main documents relating to the issues; pp. 70-71 give a “Synopsis of the Divergent Concepts.”