Editing International Brigades (section)

=== Switzerland ===
[[File:Hommage aux brigadistes-MTorres-2000-4.jpg|thumb|160px|left|Monument to Swiss IB volunteers, [[Geneva]].]]
In Switzerland, public sympathy was high for the Republican cause, but the federal government banned all fundraising and recruiting activities a month after the start of the war as part of the country's long-standing policy of [[Neutral country|neutrality]].<ref name = Swissinfo_2008>{{cite web | title = No pardon for Spanish civil war helpers | date = 27 February 2008 | website = [[Swissinfo]] | first = Daniele | last = Mariani | url = http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/news/social_affairs/No_pardon_for_Spanish_civil_war_helpers.html?siteSect=201&sid=8751871 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113065742/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/archive/No_pardon_for_Spanish_civil_war_helpers.html?cid=6445388 |archive-date=2013-01-13}}</ref> Around 800 Swiss volunteers joined the International Brigades, among them a small number of women.<ref name = Swissinfo_2008 /> Sixty percent of Swiss volunteers identified as communists, while the others included socialists, anarchists and antifascists.<ref name = Swissinfo_2008 />

Some 170 Swiss volunteers were killed in the war.<ref name = Swissinfo_2008 /> The survivors were tried by [[military court]]s upon their return to Switzerland for violating the criminal prohibition on foreign military service.<ref name = Swissinfo_2008 /><ref>{{cite swiss law | link = 321_0 | sr = 321.0 | en = Swiss Military Penal Code | art = 94}}</ref> The courts pronounced 420 sentences which ranged from around 2 weeks to 4 years in prison, and often also stripped the convicts of their [[political rights]] for the period of up to 5 years. In the Swiss society, traditionally highly appreciative of civic virtues, this translated to longtime stigmatization also after the penalty period expired.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Piotr |last=Bednarz |title=Szwajcarscy ochotnicy w Brygadach Międzynarodowych w Hiszpanii (1936–1939) |journal=Acta Universitatis Lodzensis |issue=97 |year=2016 |pages=127–142 |doi=10.18778/0208-6050.97.07 |language=pl|doi-access=free }}</ref> In the judgment of Swiss historian [[Mauro Cerutti (historian)|Mauro Cerutti]], volunteers were punished more harshly in Switzerland than in any other democratic country.<ref name = Swissinfo_2008 />
[[File:Zürich Volkshaus - 2014-04-23.JPG|thumb|Zürich Volkshaus; plaque is visible left to main entrance]]
Motions to [[pardon]] the Swiss brigaders on the account that they fought for a [[Just war theory|just cause]] have been repeatedly introduced in the [[Swiss Federal Assembly|Swiss federal parliament]]. A first such proposal was defeated in 1939 on neutrality grounds.<ref name = Swissinfo_2008 /> In 2002, Parliament again rejected a pardon of the Swiss war volunteers, with a majority arguing that they broke a law that remains in effect to this day.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/ff/2002/7781.pdf |title=Report of the Judicial Committee of the National Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527232109/http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/ff/2002/7781.pdf |archive-date=27 May 2008 |year=2002 |website=admin.ch}}</ref> In March 2009, Parliament adopted the third bill of pardon, retroactively rehabilitating Swiss brigades, only a handful of whom were still alive.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/news_digest/Parliament_pardons_Spanish_Civil_War_fighters.html?siteSect=104&sid=10442150|title=Parliament pardons Spanish Civil War fighters|work=[[Swissinfo]]|date=Mar 12, 2009|access-date=13 March 2009|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914153300/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Parliament_pardons_Spanish_Civil_War_fighters.html?cid=7271328|archive-date=2012-09-14|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 2000 there was a monument honoring Swiss IB combatants unveiled in [[Geneva]]; there are also numerous plaques mounted elsewhere, e.g., at the Volkshaus in [[Zürich]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bednarz|2016|p=140}}</ref> Since 2003 there is "Place des Brigades-internationales" in [[La Chaux-de-Fonds]]. No Swiss IB ex-combatants became widely known personalities, though in the late 20th century some acquired certain public recognition; these were the cases of Ernst Stauffer (local civil servant and author of memoirs) and [[:de:Hans Hutter|Hans Hutter]] (author and activist for rehabilitation). IG Spanienfreiwillige, an organisation set up to cultivate the memory of Swiss volunteers, built up a database of around 800 individuals, more than a half of them listed with some biographical details.<ref>''[https://spanienfreiwillige.ch/die-freiwilligen/ Die Schweizer Freiwilligen von A – Z]''</ref>