Over eighty years later, sanctions imposed on 466 Swiss, who fought alongside the French Resistance in World War II, were cancelled by the Swiss parliament.
Under Swiss law, any Swiss providing services to a foreign army commits an offence, punishable by military law.
Due to this law, many volunteers who fought alongside the French or Italian resistance were sentenced when they returned to their country (or absent) in prison sentences or were deprived of their political rights.
Résistence-Kämpfer: Ständerat stimmt schon für Rehabilitation https://t.co/Lgm1n8vSxK— Dirk Helbing (@DirkHelbing) June 15, 2026
The restoration of these people, not accompanied by financial compensation, is considered to be a symbolic and historical decision, which the Federal Council, the government of the country, had already approved since January.
"The restoration bill honors volunteers' commitment to freedom and democracy," the government said, but does not question the principle of no enlistment in foreign forces.
As had been done with federal law on the restoration of volunteers of the Spanish Civil War, passed in 2009, the bill does not provide for the financial compensation of convicted resistance.
So far 466 people have been identified, following intensive investigations, mainly by historian Peter Huber. These are Swiss and Swiss who had joined the Internal Resistance (FFI) or the Free French Forces (FFL) of General De Gaulle.