A quote from Dan Mitchell at the Market Center Blog, 21 February 2008

In a remarkable display of fiscal imperialism, the German government sent spies into Liechtenstein and bribed a bank employee to provide confidential records about German account holders. […] This story is troubling on many levels, particularly given Germany's ugly history of oppression. In the 1930s, Germany had draconian laws to deter citizens from having money outside the country and - like today - it trampled on the sovereignty of its neighbors to get information (see
http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/banking/secrecy/nazi.spies.html
for more information). Indeed, snooping by the Nazis was the main reason that Switzerland substantially strengthened its privacy laws in the 1930s.