During the Second World War some danger on the German side ran him. But she continued to play her role as protector of refugees and the interests of citizens of various countries. Another important task was the one carried out by the Red Cross for the forwarding of family correspondence to prisoners of war and vice versa.
According to Abbreviationfinder, an acronym site which also features history of Switzerland, many Italians took refuge in Switzerland and there they could also take advantage of university education courses, taught by leading figures of Italian culture, there residents, such as Luigi Einaudi and G. Colonnetti. At the end of the war he took care of his childhood with a great work of assistance that went down in history with the name of “Swiss Gift”.
In terms of foreign policy, on March 29, 1944, Switzerland tried to restore diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, which were interrupted after the 1917 revolution. The Soviet Union rejected the request accusing Switzerland of having for years applied hostile actions to it. This resulted in the resignation of the head of the Swiss political department, M. Pilet-Golaz, in November 1944, replaced in January 1945 by Max Petitpierre.
However, on 18 March 1946 relations were restored and this was also the first useful step for Switzerland for its future entry to the United Nations, FAO, the International Court of Justice and in 1947 to the Marshall Plan.
But the concept of neutrality so strict began to be reconsidered by Switzerland because, as Petitpierre stated in a speech to Sion on August 1, 1959, one could not remain so isolated from other countries if one wanted to follow the course of history by living it and using the new forces that came to the fore in the fields of science, technology, culture and more. So neutrality yes, but also active participation in world problems, especially with the birth of the European Economic Community and the creation of the free trade area.
In addition, the major media outlets also showed support for Switzerland’s wider participation in the problems of the West.
Although it was industrious and calm, Switzerland also faced some difficult situations within the country in the 1950s. In fact, just in 1950, in the Francophone country of the Jura, included in the canton of Bern, there was a separatist movement which, however, was settled with the granting of some modifications, such as the recognition of French as the second official language in the canton of Bern. Then, in 1953 the Social Democrats withdrew from the government creating a crisis, which recomposed on the occasion of the elections of 1955 and 1959. The Social Democrats who previously had the highest number of seats, in the elections of 1959 had to divide the first place with the radicals.
Two referendums were held: one in 1958, which went to port, to reduce working hours from 48 to 44 hours per week; and one in 1959, failed, however, to extend the vote to women (which was obtained in the following years).
In the same year 1959 she returned to worry about the separatist activity of the Jura, determined to obtain independence from the canton of Bern, from which she felt far from language and traditions. But last but certainly not least, it was the religious motive that drove the two different ethnic groups from the north and south, the former as Catholic and the latter as Protestant. These aspirations were finally accepted between 1978 and 1979, when the Jura became the 23rd Swiss canton, with the assignment of the northern sector only.
In the 1960s and 1970s the Confederation had to face three major debates for the conclusion of which it was necessary to resort to the referendum system. They were carried out to promote anti-atomic initiatives, to prohibit the export and sale of weapons and the reduction of foreign workers. And despite the emergence of small leftist organizations and an extreme right-wing xenophobic movement, the Confederation never really saw its tranquility and balance wobble. Although some turbulence has been brought about by the new youth political forces, with more complex ideologies.
A problem in continuous growth could be identified above all in the increase of the population of a certain age and in the decrease instead of the economically active one; on the other hand, a problem common in all the countries of the world.
Over the past two decades, the Confederation has certainly been able to demonstrate a very unsuspected political liveliness, with the preparation of various referendums, positive and negative, such as for example abortion, ecology, immigration, political asylum, position of foreigners, the abolition of the armed forces, Switzerland’s position in Europe and worldwide, the protection of Alpine valleys against transit traffic.
But surely, beyond the great drop in voters, given the inflation of the medium, one of the most important and demanding referendums was that of March 16, 1986 relating to membership of the United Nations, which was rejected by an overwhelming majority of voters.
A truly decisive and important turning point in Swiss politics occurred in 1989 when, in the European Economic Community, President J. Delors, the Swiss representative F. Blankart discussed Switzerland’s acceptance of the economic and legal dynamics of community integration. And on May 18, 1992, with a very small majority of votes, the request for membership to the Community was forwarded.
A totally negative referendum took place in 1994 on the participation of the Swiss Confederation in the United Nations peacekeeping missions.
And these anti-European positions were rewarded in the legislative elections of October 1995 because they had the majority of the consensus with the conquest of 162 seats out of 200. The political formations that benefited most from this were the Central Democratic Union and the Socialist Party.
Immigration was also debated until the conclusion that Parliament reached in March 1994. It was decided that harsh repressions would be applied with illegal immigrants and refugees, essentially to prevent the spread of drug trafficking. For this reason, a very strict law was passed against the crime of illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
At the end of 1995, two questions arose that had to be studied and resolved. The first concerned the accounts of the Jews, lying in Swiss banks since the beginning of the Second World War and never returned. In May 1996, a commission was appointed to track down survivors in order to compensate them. And as these works proceeded with maddening slowness, Jewish associations raised vibrant protests against hostile Swiss attitudes, even of the then President of the Confederation for 1996, JP Delamuraz. The result of this dispute was that the first repayments began in late 1997.
The second question, on the other hand, concerned, similarly to what had already happened in Sweden, another neutral state, namely the hoarding by the banks, in wartime, of gold coming from looting by the Nazis. And this was aggravated by the fact that Switzerland had also favored the recognition of the Jews by the Nazis by placing special marks on their documents. Switzerland also recognized its responsibilities and to make amends in 1997 set up solidarity funds, not only for the victims of the Holocaust but also for the victims of all natural disasters. This sparked protests from Jewish associations who claimed this right exclusively for themselves.
Then, in deference to the recent conquest of the female world to gain access to government positions, the Presidency of the Confederation for 1999 was entrusted to Ms. Ruth Dreifuss, the first woman and Jew, a member of the Socialist Party.