Pro Libertate is an anti-communist, right-wing political association in Switzerland. Pro Libertate was founded in 1956 in response to the crushing of the

Hungarian Uprising of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

. The association wrote letters to newspaper and made a series of publications, and organized

traveling exhibition A travelling exhibition, also referred to as a "travelling exhibit" or a "touring exhibition", is a type of exhibition that is presented at more than one venue. Temporary exhibitions can bring together objects that might be dispersed among sever ...

s to draw attention to the danger of communism. The longtime president of the association was Max Mössinger; currently, Thomas Fuchs is the president. Due to the

détente ''Détente'' ( , ; for, fr, , relaxation, paren=left, ) is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The diplomacy term originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsucces ...

between the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the West, followed by the collapse of European communist regimes and end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Pro Libertate lost some of its purpose. It shifted toward advocating for a strong

Swiss Army The Swiss Armed Forces (; ; ; ; ) are the military and security force of Switzerland, consisting of land and air service branches. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are ...

, and opposing efforts to abolish the Army or end conscription. In 1989 it fought the first ballot initiative to abolish the Army, by the Group for a Switzerland Without an Army, and it has organised opposition to every such initiative since. In connection with the critical reappraisal of the role of Switzerland during the Second World War in the 1990s, Pro Libertate supported the traditional, positive view of Switzerland's active duty servicemembers and of the government's choices, in a submission to the

Bergier commission The Bergier commission in Bern was formed by the Swiss government on 12 December 1996 in the wake of the then ongoing World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks accused of withholding valuables belonging to Holocaust victims. It is also kn ...

References

External links

*
Official website
Politics of Switzerland Conservatism in Switzerland Political organisations based in Switzerland Anti-communist organizations Organizations established in 1956 {{Switzerland-poli-stub