Secret Channel to Berlin by PierreTh Braunschweig

Author:PierreTh Braunschweig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027100
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781612000220
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2004-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 1: The “Masson Affair”

1. Der Bund, 26 September 1945, no. 449 (morning edition). At that time, major newspapers were published and delivered to subscribers twice a day, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung even three times a day in the form of a morning edition, a midday edition, and an evening edition.

2. Der Bund, 26 September 1945 (morning edition).

3. Statement by National Councillor Eugen Dietschi (Basel) as recorded in National Council 1945 shorthand bulletin, 641.

4. Der Bund, 28 September 1945, no. 454 (evening edition). Eggen is misspelled “Egger” in the agency report.

5. Der Bund, 29 September 1945, no. 455.

6. Name of the Swiss government. The Federal Council consists of a team of seven members who all have the same status; parliament elects one of them to the annually rotating presidency according to the principle of seniority.

7. Der Bund, 29 September 1945, no. 455.

8. See the indictment by Albert Züblin at the Zürich district court concerning Hans Hausamann vs. Die Tat/Dr. G. Kummer, correspondent for domestic affairs, 7 July 1947. BAr J.I.121/63.

9. Hans Rudolf Kurz, Nachrichtenzentrum Schweiz (Frauenfeld, 1972), 122, note 88.

10. Georg Kreis, Zensur und Selbstzensur (Frauenfeld, 1973), 292.

11. Concerning Masson’s attitude in press-related matters, see diary entries on June 15 and 21, 1940, in Bernard Barbey, P.C. du Général (Neuchâtel, 1948), 18, 22.

12. In a decree dated September 8, 1939, the Federal Council asked the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to monitor publications as well as information and statements transmitted especially by mail, telephone and telegraph, the press and news agencies, on the radio, and in films and photographs. The Commander-in-Chief ordered the Press and Radio Section (PRS) to carry out the monitoring activities. On February 1, 1942, the PRS was put under the supervision of the Federal Justice and Police Department. On that matter, see “Tätigkeitsbericht der Abteilung Presse und Rundfunk,” Bericht des Generalstabschefs, 433–462, and Christoph Graf, Zensurakten aus der Zeit des Zweiten Weltkrieges: Eine Analyse des Bestandes E 4450, Presse und Rundspruch 1939–1945 (Bern, 1979).

13. Kreis, Zensur und Selbstzensur, 292.

14. Kreis, Zensur und Selbstzensur, 292. For example, in a cover letter for a report dated March 20, 1940, Masson remarked, “I continue to believe that certain Swiss newspapers lack objectivity, which our neutrality imposes on us. With their attitude, they risk seriously compromising our relations and creating political tensions with Germany that might have incalculable consequences.” (A copy of that letter is at BAr EPD 2001 [E] 1, vol. 8. Quoted in Kreis, Zensur und Selbstzensur, 292–293.) Masson’s opinion was a determining factor in his establishing and obstinately maintaining the connection with Schellenberg through the intermediaries Meyer and Eggen. On that matter, see for example Masson’s explanation to the Military Attorney General, La ligne Masson-Schellenberg, 14 June 1945. BAr E 5330 1982/1, vol. 205.

15. Indictment Hausamann vs. Die Tat. Reprinted without naming any source in Hans Rudolf Fuhrer, Spionage gegen die Schweiz (Frauenfeld, 1982), 78. Even though Masson enthusiastically and successfully edited the Revue militaire suisse, his relations with the press were very ambiguous. The bitter experience

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