International Brigade members in front of the Eintracht restaurant in Zurich after their return to Switzerland in 1939

This photograph shows a group of International Brigade members in front of the Eintracht restaurant in the Neumarkt área of  Zurich after their return to Switzerland in 1939 where a jail sentence awaited them. 

Switzerland was the only democracy that systematically persecuted its nationals who served in the International Brigades. The Federal Constitution of 1848 prohibited the signing of new contracts to send Swiss to serve as mercenaries, although it left exisiting contracts in place. Then, in 1859, a federal law of 1859 forbade individuals from enlisting in “non-national foreign military units” although during many years the ban was applied generally. Only in 1927 did the Military Code of Justice include a prohibition on enlisting in foreign military units. Shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the Federal Council toughened the ban with two decrees forbidding the export of military equipment to Spain, travelling to Spain to participate in the conflicto, and even encouraging it from Switzerland. A total of 550 volunteers were prosecuted and 420 sentenced to prison terms ranging from fifteen days to four years. 81 per cent got sentences of one to six months. In most cases those convicted also had their civil rights suspended for between one year and five. 

Today, there is plaque on the facade of the restaurant commemorating this gathering. It reads: “880 Swiss women and men fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as volunteers against Fascism, for Democracy and Freedom.  200 of them lost their lives.  Those who returned home have in this building passed on to us descendants the culture of international solidarity.”