Neutral Europe and Nazi Germany

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European countries was fairly modest, each country made at least one vital contribution to the German war economy. This essay examines the various ways in which Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Spain and Portugal provided Germany with economical aid during the Second World War.
The first neutral state under examination is Switzerland. Throughout the war it provided three main economic and financial services to The Third Reich, including the provision of credit facilities, the supply of vital goods and most importantly, the receipt of large quantities of gold. iii
Beginning in the early stages of the war, Switzerland granted Nazi Germany bilateral clearing credits with which German buyers were able to purchase goods that were strategically beneficial to the war effort. By the end of the conflict the credits amounted in total to about SFr 1,119 billion. vi Switzerland also agreed to handle a portion of its clearing obligations by paying with Swiss francs. This provided the Third ...

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by Switzerland are valued at around SFr 1.7 billion. iii The money exchanged for these shipments allowed the Nazi regime to pay for vital war supplies in both neutral and allied countries. The gold transactions were indispensable not only in acquiring raw war materials but also in paying for "its foreign intelligence service, its worldwide use of agents, for the purchase of radio programs and press notices, for financing overseas operations of the Kriegsmarine and much more." (iii, Page 29)
In June of 1943, the minister of economics and president of Reichbank, Walther Funk, commented that Germany's war efforts would not be able to survive for even two months without Swiss help in ...

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