Eugen Bircher

Eugen Bircher (February 17, 1882 in Aarau-October 20, 1956) was a Swiss military leader who became associated with a pro-Nazi position in the inter-war years.

Military and political career
Bircher came to prominence in the army where he rose to the rank of colonel, the higest used in Switzerland in peacetime. An opponent of immigration he formed the Schweizerischer Vaterländischer Verband in 1918 as a semi-secret society to support his viewpoint. The group became highly influential amongst army officers and was booseted by Bircher's spells as President of the Swiss Officers Society (1931-7) and editor of the official Swiss Army newspaper (1934-42). An influential figure in society, Bircher numbered Marcel Pilet-Golaz, Giuseppe Motta, Eduard von Steiger, Philipp Etter, Walther Stampfli and Ernst Wetter amongst his close political associates.

Bircher sought a close relationship between Switzerland and Nazi Germany and it has even been alleged that he funded Adolf Hitler in his early years (although no conclusive evidence has as yet been provided) He also organized medical corps for the Eastern Front on the pretext of anti-communism.

Medical career
Bircher was a physician by trade and in the 1920s published several ground-breaking papers detailing arthroscopic surgery procedures on the knee.