Edouard de Haller

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edouard de Haller in Bennebroek (April 6, 1960)

Edouard de Haller (born February 26, 1897 in Cologny , † June 4, 1982 in Geneva ) was a Swiss lawyer , diplomat , ambassador and delegate of the Federal Council for international aid agencies.

Life and activity

Edouard de Haller grew up as the son of an engineer, industrialist and Bernese citizen in French-speaking Switzerland . He studied law in Geneva and Zurich and graduated from the University of Geneva with a state examination in law. 1921–1923 he worked as secretary to the chairman of the Port and Shipping Council in Gdansk . 1923–1926 he worked as general secretary of the mixed commission of the League of Nations for the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in Athens , Istanbul and Ankara . Until 1940 he was part of the cadre of the League of Nations, where from 1938 he headed the League of Nations Mandates section.

During World War II he was a member of the ICRC from 1940-1941 . In 1942 he was appointed delegate of the Federal Council for international aid agencies and was a member of the executive committee of the children's aid of the Swiss Red Cross . In 1948 he headed the Swiss delegation at the XVII. International Red Cross Conference in Stockholm .

In 1948 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Switzerland in Norway and in 1951 in Iceland . 1953–1957 he was accredited Swiss envoy to Moscow and 1957–1962 ambassador to The Hague .

Activity in children's aid

In January 1942, the Federal Council appointed de Haller as a delegate for international Swiss aid agencies, a newly created position. He had to advise the aid agencies if their activities put them in situations that could affect foreign policy and the security of the Confederation. That was possible when they were dealing with foreigners abroad or at home. In this capacity he reported directly to the head of the Federal Political Department , Marcel Pilet-Golaz , carried out the cautious and restrictive neutrality policy of the Federal Council - especially when the Wehrmacht was at the height of its power in 1942 - and worked with his brother-in-law Pierre Bonna , the head of the foreign affairs department. As one of two delegates of the Federal Council, he was active in the executive committee (working committee) of the children's aid of the Swiss Red Cross (SRK, Kh) from 1942 to 1948.

Like all national Red Cross societies, the SRC was subordinate to the government with a privileged relationship and, especially in times of war, was dependent on the political line in compliance with the Geneva Conventions . After the negative experiences in the League of Nations , the Conference of Évian , where no state was ready to accept refugees, the annexation of Austria and the excessive demands of its large neighbor France in the internment of over 450,000 refugees from the Spanish civil war , the Federal Council was back to the restrictive neutrality policy of Returned in 1914. The Federal Council could not be indifferent if the activities of the SRC and other Swiss aid agencies went beyond the national framework, because they could have political implications for all Swiss aid activities abroad, the security of the general population and the interests of the country.

Throughout the war, De Haller showed an aversion to any public attention and wished for "humanitarian work in the shadows". He feared that the “spectacle” in the Swiss press about the country's role as “benefactor of the children of all of Europe” could lead to restrictions on the work of aid organizations abroad (interruption of convoys, etc.), because foreign countries are very much in this field be sensitive.

“ I was shocked by the testimony of virtue that we apparently exhibited ourselves and by the racket that the Geneva newspapers were making at the time whenever a train arrived or departed from Cornavin station. "

- Eduard de Haller

During and after the Second World War, SRK Children's Aid enabled more than 180,000 war-damaged children from a dozen European countries to spend several months relaxing in Switzerland. Millions of malnourished children across Europe were given a daily meal and their families were provided with thousands of tons of medicines, clothing and parcels. The Center Henri-Dunant alone , today's headquarters of the ICRC, housed over 30,000 children from 1942 to 1945. The largest relief operation in Swiss history to date had a volume of around one billion Swiss francs up to 1949 (today's value: 2014) and was financially supported by Swiss donations from 1945 onwards .

Honors

  • 1942 honorary member of the ICRC

literature

  • Jean-Claude Favez, G. Billeter: Une mission impossible? Le CICR, les déportations et les camps de concentration nazis. Payot, Lausanne 1988.
  • Commission Indépendante d'Experts Suisse - Seconde Guerre Mondiale: La Suisse et les réfugiés à l'époque du national-socialisme, 1999
  • Serge Nessi: The Children's Aid of the Swiss Red Cross 1942–1945 and the role of the doctor Hugo Oltramare . Preface by Cornelio Sommaruga . Karolinger Verlag , Vienna / Leipzig 2013, ISBN 978-3-85418-147-7 (French original edition: Éditions Slatkine , Genève 2011, ISBN 978-2-8321-0458-3 ).
  • Isabelle Vonèche Cardia: 'La politique humanitaire du gouvernement suisse en 1942. La création du poste de délégué du Conseil fédéral aux œuvres d'entraide internationalees', in Relations internationales, échanges culturels et réseaux intellectuels: Actes du colloque du 3ème cycle romand d' histoire moderne et contemporaine, Lausanne 2002, pp. 129-136.
  • Isabelle Vonèche Cardia: neutrality and engagement. Les relations entre le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge et le gouvernement suisse pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Société d'histoire de la Suisse romande, Lausanne 2012.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Serge Nessi: The Children's Aid of the Swiss Red Cross 1942-1945 and the role of the doctor Hugo Oltramare
  2. ^ Independent Commission of Experts Switzerland - Second World War (ICE): Edouard de Haller
personal data
SURNAME Haller, Edouard de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss lawyer, diplomat and ambassador
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologny
DATE OF DEATH 4th June 1982
Place of death Geneva