In 1936, the Liechtenstein Homeland Service merged with the more moderate Christian Social People’s Party to form the Fatherland Union (Vaterländische Union, VU), bringing pro‐Nazi views into the political mainstream.⁵ The VU’s party paper, Liechtensteiner Vaterland, joined with German newspapers to publish personal attacks on Jewish individuals living in Liechtenstein.⁶ Despite this disreputable activity, its leader, Alois Vogt, later became Deputy Head of Government in a coalition of national unity with the Progressive Citizen’s Party in 1938.

Another important [Fascist] organisation was founded in March 1938 — the National German Movement in Liechtenstein (Volksdeutsche Bewegung in Liechtenstein, VDBL).⁷ Membership of this group peaked at just below 500. Under the leadership of a local composer and carpenter, Rudolf Schädler,⁸ the party passed sensitive information about Liechtenstein to the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, a […] body responsible for promoting [Fascism] to ‘ethnic Germans’ outside the Reich. The newspaper of the VDBL, Der Umbruch (The Upheaval) published overtly pro[fascist] and anti‐Semitic messages in support of its primary objective — union with Germany.⁹ Some VDBL members even joined the […] SS.¹⁰

[…]

The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle made some contingency plans for an Austria‐style Anschluss, and lower‐level officials in the bordering Austrian towns conspired with Liechtenstein [Fascists] to plan the 1939 coup, but the [Fascist] leadership, including Foreign Minister Ribbentrop and Hitler himself, saw no real benefit in gobbling up their tiny neighbour.¹⁴ What’s more, many [Fascist] business leaders based in Liechtenstein actively opposed Anschluss because they enjoyed the country’s low tax rates and its usefulness as a neutral business hub.¹⁵

With no diplomatic pretense or widespread popular support to justify annexation, Hitler contented himself with the hope that Liechtenstein would one day willingly apply to join his empire.

[…]

As the [Third Reich] collapsed between the rapidly converging Eastern and Western fronts, 462 soldiers of the First Russian National Army, a collaborationist unit of the […] Wehrmacht, forced their way through a closed border post and into Liechtenstein. Their objective was not conquest, but shelter. Rather than being compelled to return to the Soviet Union, where they would certainly be punished, they were granted asylum in Liechtenstein by the ‘staunchly anti‐communist’ Prince Franz Josef II.²⁴

Liechtenstein’s sudden outburst of munificence on behalf of these soldiers of the Reich contrasts sharply with its reluctance to shelter Jewish refugees fleeing from the Holocaust. Only 230 Jewish refugees were allowed to settle in Liechtenstein in the twelve years from 1933 to 1945.²⁵ The barrier to entry was gradually ratcheted up amid fears that the presence of too many Jews would bring down the ire of the Third Reich and stoke anti‐Semitic discontent among the people (i.e., outbursts of [Fascist] violence).

In addition to its reticent approach to Jewish refugees, Liechtenstein actually partook in some [Fascist] atrocities. An international commission of historians formed in 2001 found that forced labour had been used on the Liechtenstein royal family’s estates in [Fascist] Austria and that the family had made purchases of stolen Jewish land and property.²⁶ Liechtensteiner companies, meanwhile, sold important automotive components and anti‐air shells to the Wehrmacht.²⁷

(Emphasis added.)

Events that happened today (September 20):

1880: Ildebrando Pizzetti, Fascist composer, was born.
1925: After a long delay, Rome finally opened its first underground rail line: the Villa Literno–Napoli Gianturco railway.
1935: Berlin newspapers published photos of five new U‐boats, the Reich’s first public admission to having any.
1941: Lithuanian fascists and local police commenced a mass execution of 403 Jews in Nemenčinė.
1945: Eduard Wirths, chief SS doctor who performed experiments on prisoners, committed suicide in captivity… I have no comment.
1993: Erich Alfred Hartmann, Axis pilot, dropped dead.