Storming the Eagle's Nest (46 page)

INSPIRATION
: Hitler was enchanted by the Alps, settled in Bavaria in 1928, conceived and directed much of the war from the Berghof, his headquarters at Berchtesgaden. Here he is pictured in contemplative mood enjoying Bergfried, the ‘peace of the mountains’.

SKIING AND THE SWASTIKA
: the Nazis began the politicisation of mountain sports no sooner had they come to power. In February 1936, Christl Cranz put herself in the Führer’s good books by winning gold in the winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

THE HEIGHT OF POWER
: the political set pieces that led to the outbreak of war in 1939 were frequently staged by Hitler at the Berghof. British PM Neville Chamberlain, champion of appeasement, arrives in Berchtesgaden for a summit on 15 September 1938.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER
: the Alps were the most convenient trysting-place for Hitler and Mussolini. Here the dictators duet at Kufstein in the Austrian Tyrol, en route to the pivotal meeting with Chamberlain and Daladier at Munich on 29 September 1938.

PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS
: the unique demands of
high-altitude
warfare saw resorts like Chamonix and Zermatt turned into military training camps; others, in Switzerland – Wengen, Adelboden and Davos – were transformed into internment camps for downed Allied airmen; still others – Megève and St Gervais – became havens for Jewish refugees.

SWITZERLAND’S CHURCHILL
: while Swiss politicians wavered in the face of the Nazi threat to their country, General Henri Guisan stood so firm that his countrymen likened him to the British leader. In August 1940 he visited Davos on a morale-boosting tour of what would have been the front line, should the Wehrmacht have invaded.

ON HITLER’S DOORSTEP
: despite Swiss neutrality, Hitler and Mussolini both made plans to invade continental Europe’s oasis of democracy. The Swiss response was to create an Alpine redoubt in the southern sector of the country, and to maintain troops on the borders at the highest state of alert throughout the war.

AMERICA’S MAN IN BERNE
: Allen Dulles of the OSS vied with his British colleagues for the position of Europe’s chief Allied spymaster.

WILHELM GUSTLOFF
: leader of the Nazi party in Switzerland. He was assassinated in Davos on 4 February 1936 by a prescient Croatian Jew, David Frankfurter.

ALAIN LE RAY
was the first man to escape from the legendary POW camp at Colditz and became the most dashing of the leaders of the French resistance in the Rhône Alps.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD
: Matteus Guidon, the seven-year-old son of a pastor in Samedan in eastern Switzerland, was employed by his father to escort Jewish refugees fleeing to the safety of the country’s interior. He is seen in 1946 on the Fuorcla Pischa, over which he guided the persecuted.

TWO OF THE JEWISH REFUGEES
escorted by Matteus Guidon. One of them, Hilde (
above left
), lived to enjoy a career in the Israeli army; the other, Michelle, was shot dead by the Germans on the French border.