Albert Huber (diplomat)

Albert Huber (born July 28, 1897 ; † January 1, 1959 in Bern ) was a Swiss diplomat and from 1951 to 1958 envoy or ambassador of the Swiss Confederation in Germany .

Life

Albert Huber was the son of the dentist of the same name and his wife Juliane nee Kusolitsch. He was born in Hungary and was entitled to reside in Däniken . Huber studied law in Geneva and Bern and obtained the Bernese attorney patent .

At the request of Felix Calonder , the young lawyer took part in his mission in Upper Silesia and was Secretary General of the President of the mixed German-Polish Commission in Katowice from 1924 to 1937 . The body was set up in the wake of the cession of part of Upper Silesia to Poland and its task was to alleviate international problems and to protect the respective minorities. Huber then joined the Federal Political Department in Bern, where he was deputy head of the League of Nations Section until 1939 and was appointed consul .

In November 1940 he was commissioned to head the Swiss representation in Prague . He fulfilled this task - now with the rank of Consul General - until September 17, 1945. The Consulate General in Prague played a central role in diplomacy and humanitarian affairs during these years. After all, after the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, the Berlin embassy of Switzerland entrusted this position with the protection of foreign interests. In close cooperation with the Berlin legation, Albert Huber tried to protect foreign citizens by issuing protective passports and certificates of ownership and above all to help the oppressed Jews while safeguarding the interests of protecting power . However, he and his staff at the Consulate General found themselves exposed to massive hindrance from the German occupation, and the increased coercive measures from 1943 onwards considerably reduced Huber's ability to influence. However, essential information about the extent of the Holocaust reached the western capitals through the Prague Consulate General . It also played an important role in covert actions, coordinated by a representative of the Czechoslovak government- in- exile in Geneva and the secretary of the World Jewish Congress there , Gerhart M. Riegner .

Albert Huber returned to Bern in autumn 1945, was appointed Legation Councilor on January 1, 1946 and deputy head of the Political Department in the Federal Political Department, of which he was now one of the top executives.

Former building of the Swiss embassy in the Bayenthal district of Cologne in 2008.

But the EPD sent Huber again to Germany, where he represented Switzerland in the bizone from May 1948 in Frankfurt am Main . After the establishment of the Swiss diplomatic mission in Bonn in autumn 1949, he was accredited to the Allied High Commission on December 15, 1949 with the rank of minister - as is the Swiss usage for this envoy post. With the establishment of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany in March 1951, the Federal Council then appointed him envoy and plenipotentiary minister and in 1957 as part of a worldwide reorganization of the entire Swiss foreign service as ambassador. The Swiss legation had its seat since May 1951 in a representative villa in the Cologne district of Bayenthal .

Bonn was one of the most important diplomatic posts in Bern during these years. Thanks to his extensive knowledge of political Germany and his reserved demeanor, Albert Huber quickly gained everyone's appreciation there. He had good connections with the political actors and always proved to be extremely well informed. On the one hand, this was probably due to the positive attitude of many of the people he spoke to towards neutral Switzerland. On the other hand, at Huber, they could be sure that he only passed on internal information to his headquarters in Bern. Naturally, his relations were particularly close with the leading officials of the Foreign Office and with those of the Federal Ministry of Economics . State Secretaries Karl Carstens , Walter Hallstein and Rolf Lahr as well as Hans Globke - who was very fond of the diplomat - were also among Huber's important interlocutors, as were Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano , Federal Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard and Bundestag President Eugen Gerstenmaier .

In addition, Albert Huber and his wife Renée from the Sudetenland , divorced Husty, were also involved in social life in Cologne and Bonn. The couple had a special relationship with Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer . Adenauer and Huber valued each other and also socialized privately. Huber has expressed his appreciation for the person and politics of the Federal Chancellor several times. His widow was still in contact with Adenauer later.

Albert Huber died after a long illness. The Federal Council then appointed Alfred Escher as his successor as ambassador in Bonn.

literature

Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . In the series Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland . Quaderni di Dodis. Volume 2, DDS, Bern 2012, ISBN 978-3-906051-05-5 , pp. 71-72; doi : 10.5907 / Q2 (PDF; 4.4 MB): Abstract.

Web links

Marc Perrenoud: Albert Huber (diplomat). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Albert Huber in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
Albert Huber (diplomat) in the Dodis databaseof diplomatic documents in Switzerland
Short biography in the Federal Archives (Germany)

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Marc Perrenoud: Albert Huber. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 12, 2005 , accessed February 11, 2013 .
^ Markus Schmitz and Bernd Haunfelder: Short biography Huber in dies .: Humanity and diplomacy. Switzerland in Cologne 1940–1949 . Aschendorff, Münster 2001, p. 305.
↑ Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 71.
↑ Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, pp. 71–72.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 72.
↑ Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 21.
↑ On the background, also mutual business . In: Der Spiegel . No. 31 , 1957, pp. 13-14 ( online ).
↑ Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 35.
↑ Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, pp. 29–30.
↑ He succeeded in this most notably in a political report to Federal Councilor Max Petitpierre on January 9, 1956, written on the occasion of Adenauer's 80th birthday; published in Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, pp. 85–90.
↑ Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 37ff.

personal data
SURNAME	Huber, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH	July 28, 1897
DATE OF DEATH	January 1, 1959
Place of death	Bern

[HLS-1] A ^b Marc Perrenoud: Albert Huber. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 12, 2005 , accessed February 11, 2013 .

[2] Markus Schmitz and Bernd Haunfelder: Short biography Huber in dies .: Humanity and diplomacy. Switzerland in Cologne 1940–1949 . Aschendorff, Münster 2001, p. 305.

[Haunfelder71-3] Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 71.

[4] Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, pp. 71–72.

[Haunfelder72-5] Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 72.

[6] Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 21.

[7] On the background, also mutual business . In: Der Spiegel . No. 31 , 1957, pp. 13-14 ( online ).

[8] Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 35.

[9] Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, pp. 29–30.

[10] He succeeded in this most notably in a political report to Federal Councilor Max Petitpierre on January 9, 1956, written on the occasion of Adenauer's 80th birthday; published in Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, pp. 85–90.

[11] Bernd Haunfelder (Ed.): From Adenauer's vicinity. The political correspondence of the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany 1956–1963 . DDS, Bern 2012, p. 37ff.