The Swiss Account by Paul Erdman

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03 April 2007

Book Report : The Swiss Account by Paul Erdman

In The Swiss Account Paul Erdman takes his readers to Switzerland during World War II . He uses both fictional characters and actual participants in the events to provide intrigue , excitement , feelings of frustration , and sometimes anger . Unlike other books by Erdman The Swiss Account does not center on finance as it does on government espionage that takes place in and near Switzerland during World War II

The story centers

on the acts of three people , the fictional Nancy Reichman who serves as the vice-consul in Basel , Switzerland , Peter Burckhardt scion of a long-established banking family in Basel , and Allen Dulles brother to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles during the Eisenhower Administration and Eleanor Lansing Dulles , economist and diplomat . Allen Dulles is named in charge of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS ) operations in Central Europe while based in Berne Switzerland (Erdman 10 , 12 , 28 . Although Erdman writes fiction in the third person , he provides an usually large number of footnotes to document many of the acts that occur in the novel (Erdman

The Swiss Account is clearly a thriller , but it has less financial complexity than his other books and focuses instead on a history of World War II from the point of view of Switzerland . It is much more of a spy novel than a financial one . Once Germany defeated and occupied France , Switzerland found itself surrounded by the Axis powers of Germany and Italy . Consequently Switzerland 's bs were largely closed to commerce except from foods imported from abroad and shipped through Italy . Although they were officially neutral , since they found themselves dependent on the Axis powers for their foodstuffs , they were obliged to make allowances for the Nazis . Erdman makes it clear that , in his opinion , Switzerland is neutral , but decidedly biased against anyone who does not directly affect Switzerland

Since The Swiss Account emphasizes the war against Nazi Germany during World War II there fewer financial terms , instruments , and organizations than in some of Erdman 's later novels . In additions these institutions and instruments are more primitive and complicate . Erdman makes considerable use of the "Bank of International Settlements (BSI ) in his novel . The BSI was established in the early 1930s to provide a method for Germany to pay the reparations imposed on Germany after World War I Due to runaway inflation in Germany during the 1920s and the world wide Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s Germany had not been able to keep up with its reparation payments "Inflation " is an increase in the cost of products in relation to the currency and salaries Consequently it takes more money to buy the same products than it did before the inflation occurred . In Post-World War I Germany inflation at extremely high rates called "hyperinflation " In addition to helping Germany pay its reparations the BSI has enlarged its role throughout the years and...