Efrem Cattelan

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Efrem Cattelan (1990)

Efrem Corinto Benjamin Cattelan (born November 29, 1931 in Basel ; † May 26, 2014 in Münchenstein or Basel; authorized to live there ) was a Swiss professional officer and held the rank of colonel in the Swiss General Staff . From 1979 to 1990 he was head of the secret cadre organization for the resistance in the enemy-occupied area Project 26 ( P-26 ). The reason for the establishment of this organization was the scenario that Switzerland could also be occupied by the enemy during the Cold War .

Life

After attending grammar school in Basel, Efrem Cattelan studied law at the University of Basel . After receiving his doctorate, he was an instructor at the infantry school in Liestal from 1958 to 1965 . He later worked at the officers' school in Bern until 1972 . From 1972 to 1979 he held a director position at the Swiss National Insurance Company and from 1979 to 1990 he led project 26 under the code name “Rico” . On Freie Strasse in Basel he ran a front company called Consec AG for personnel and management training while he lived in Münchenstein . As a militia officer, the Colonel led the Basel Infantry Regiment 21 in the General Staff. He died on May 26, 2014 after a brief illness at the age of 82.

P-26

On June 30, 1979, Major Richard Ochsner, head of the Intelligence and Defense Subgroup (UNA) of the Federal Military Department, appointed Colonel Efrem Cattelan to command the secret Project 26. Cattelan received a fee of 240,000 francs a year for this task.

According to Corps Commander Jörg Zumstein , Chief of Staff of the Swiss Army from 1981 to 1985, the construction of this structure was completed after 1½ years . Cattelan had to prepare two management teams, one of which would have to lead from Switzerland and the other from abroad on behalf of the Federal Council. Nine instructors (two officers, seven NCOs), three civil officers and other administrative staff were subordinate to him in the management staff of Switzerland.

The P-26 was built without detailed knowledge of the Swiss parliament, but financed exclusively with state funds. According to Cattelan in a television interview in 2009, the P-26 was an organization known to parliamentarians because there was a secret parliamentary commission called “Group 426”. The name was based on number 426 of the security policy report of Switzerland from 1973, according to which "all possibilities to create favorable conditions for active resistance (...) must be used early."

When the secret resistance organization P-26 became known to the public, this led to violent public disputes; especially when a parliamentary investigation was set up in 1990 to investigate the matter and found that the P-26 had set up various depots with hundreds of submachine guns, rifles with telescopic sights, explosives and anti-tank weapons.

The secret organization P-26 was spread over the whole country according to the regional principle and each of the approximately 80 groups worked for itself, coordinated by the Cattelan's management staff. Only the group leader knew his superior from the management staff. In addition, there were specialists for special tasks. At the time of its discovery, the P-26 consisted of about 400 people who were supposed to organize civil disobedience , propaganda and sabotage of the infrastructure against occupiers with weapons and explosives. Chosen people were trained for these tasks in England.

Inconspicuous and innocent citizens of Switzerland were selected for the P-26, for example a nurse at the time who revealed herself in 2009. The family and spouses were not allowed to find out about this activity. To date, members of this organization are only made public if they agree. The former members of the P-26 are only allowed to report that they belonged and what they experienced personally. It pains the members of this organization to this day "that they are ridiculed as Alpine guerrillas and that their organization is dismissed as a completely exaggerated precautionary measure."

The weapons available in the depots were only to be distributed to the resistance regions on the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.

Parliamentary inquiry

When the project became public at the end of 1989, a parliamentary commission of inquiry (PUK) investigated the process for nine months. In his report on a second, internal administrative investigation, the examining magistrate Pierre Cornu found that “there were close relationships with the British who knew more about the Swiss resistance than the Federal Council and the heads of the EMD”. When the P-26 organization was disbanded, Cattelan was relieved of his duties and was banned from speaking. When his ban on speaking was later partially lifted, he gave lectures on his function and the P-26 on a few occasions.

literature

  • Franziska Schürch: Efrem Cattelan. In: Personal Lexicon of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Cattelan, Efrem Corinto Benjamin in the database Dodis the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland
  2. memorial of the family in the Basler Zeitung , June 2, 2014, p. 6
  3. Entry by Efrem Cattelan in the personal dictionary of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft
  4. ^ P-26 chief Efrem Cattelan has died. In: 20 Minuten / sda from May 31, 2014
  5. ^ Entry by Efrem Cattelan in the commercial register of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft
  6. Thomas Knellwolf: They called him "Rico". In: Tages-Anzeiger of May 31, 2014, p. 5.
  7. Schwarzer Schatten , in Der Spiegel, December 10, 1990
  8. PUK EMD: Report of the PUK EMD of November 17, 1990 . P. 223
  9. Swiss Society for Military Study Trips, Issue 57 ( Memento of January 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 14, 2010
  10. Report of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on Switzerland's security policy (conception of overall defense) (dated June 27, 1973). In: parlament.ch, accessed on July 17, 2018 (PDF).
  11. Black shadow. The federal counterpart to the NATO secret soldiers was called the P-26 - a private force, secretly financed from the federal treasury. Spiegel 50/1990 , accessed May 14, 2010
  12. ^ A b Simone Matthieu: TV review: Veronika's secret mission in the service of Switzerland. Tages-Anzeiger of December 17, 2009, accessed on May 14, 2010
  13. This nation has not given up. Public appearance by Efrem Cattelan, the head of the P 26 - details on the secret organization , troop service , episode 297, issue 3/2007, accessed on May 14, 2010
  14. 90.022 Business of Parliament. Incidents in the EMD. Parliamentary commission of inquiry, In: parlament.ch of March 13, 1990.