Georges-Henri Martin

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Georges-Henri Martin (born June 20, 1916 in Geneva , † September 2, 1992 in Collonge-Bellerive ) was a liberal Swiss journalist . From 1961 to 1981 he was editor-in-chief of the Geneva newspaper Tribune de Genève .

Life

Martin was the son of the late journalist and historian William Martin (1889-1934, 1924-1933 head of the foreign department of the Journal de Genève , professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne ) and Germaine Martin nee. Pochelon (1889-1973). He was married to Simone Zélah Martin geb. Vincent (1919–2016) and had a son with her, Christophe. After studying law and economics at the University of Geneva , he was Deputy Red Cross Delegate in the USA at the beginning of the Second World War .

Professional career

After working as a Red Cross delegate, Martin was a correspondent in Washington for the Tribune de Genève and Die Tat . From 1944 to 1956 he was in charge of the New York office of the French daily France-Soir and the magazine Elle . His reports from the USA were z. Partly translated and published in various Swiss-German newspapers. At the same time, Martin worked for radio and television. In 1956 he returned to Geneva and in 1957 became deputy editor-in-chief of the Tribune de Genève in 1961 (until the end of 1981). Influenced by American journalism and his work at France-Soir , where he was trained by Pierre Lazareff, he consistently continued the development of the newspaper into a “popular quality newspaper” driven by his predecessor Gaston Bridel . Under his leadership, the newspaper switched to offset printing and a smaller format in 1971; he led u. a. the very colored front "Une-vitrine".

Martin turned the newspaper into an institution in Geneva. He led some passionate campaigns, the best known being those against the candidacy of the Lausanne city ​​president Georges-André Chevallaz for the Federal Council (where Pierre Graber was another former city president; Martin unsuccessfully favored the Geneva State Councilor Henri Schmitt ), against the election by Christian Grobet in the Geneva State Council , against the appointment of Jean Ziegler as full professor and against James Schwarzenbach , the author of a (rejected) popular initiative to limit the number of foreigners in Switzerland. On the other hand, he campaigned vehemently and successfully against the extradition of a former Zairean minister, Batwanyele Losembe alias Mario Cardoso, who Mobutu wanted to try .

From 1963 to 1992, Martin was a member of the board of the “Twentieth Century Fund” think tank, from 1976 to 1982 a member of the board of directors of the Swiss Dispatch Agency , like his predecessor Gaston Bridel, a member of the Swiss UNESCO Commission and from 1983 to 1990 President, then honorary member of the academic Council of the University of Geneva, where he founded the English-language periodical Uni News . He was also president of the "Dr Henri Dubois-Ferrière Dino Lipatti" foundation, a board member of "Les Rencontres Internationales de Genève" and the "Fondation pour Genève" and an honorary member of the "Union genevoise des éditeurs de journaux". Martin is considered one of the most prominent personalities in modern journalism in western Switzerland.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jacques Barrelet: Martin, William. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ↑ Family tree on the website of the Société Genevoise de Généalogie .
  3. ↑ a b c Daniel Cornu: Un vieux soldat du journalisme. In: Tribune de Genève. September 4, 1992, p. 25.
  4. ↑ M. James Schwarzenbach, représentant de l'Action zuricoise contre l'excès de la pénétration étrangère, porte plainte contre un journal genevois. In: Nouvelliste et Feuille d'Avis du Valais . June 26, 1969, p. 2 (PDF; 62.7 MB).
  5. ↑ Le Tribunal fédéral annule l'extradition de M. Losembé. In: L'Impartial . July 12, 1973, p. 9 (PDF; 46.1 MB).
  6. ↑ Former Trustees. Former board members of “The Century Foundation” (before 1999 “The Twentieth Foundation”, founded in 1919 by Edward A. Filene as “The Co-operative Ligue”), p. 43 (PDF; 34.22 kB).
  7. ↑ Website of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unesco.ch
  8. ↑ Martin, Georges-Henri. In: Schweizer Lexikon, Rotten Verlag, Visp 1991-1993.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Martin, Georges-Henri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss journalist
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Geneva
DATE OF DEATH 2nd September 1992
Place of death Collonge-Bellerive