Swiss mercenaries in the Congolese service
Fifteen Swiss mercenaries in the Congolese service were in the ranks of the Force Publique , the colonial army of the Congo Free State (1885–1908), in various functions and periods of time.
The only one among them who, in accordance with the federal law of 1859 , submitted an application to the Swiss government ( Federal Council) to join the "Force Publique" was granted this.
The résumés of some of the fifteen Swiss mercenaries are at least partially known.
context
In 1885, at the Congo Conference, the Congo was created as "État indépendant du Congo" (German: Congo-Free State ) and the territory of today's Democratic Republic of the Congo with more than two million square kilometers as the private property of the Belgian King Leopold II - an exceptional status under international law - recognized internationally.
Since he had spent all of his wealth on the acquisition and the Congo had no monetary economy , he proved u. a. every local with a " rubber tax " for his income . To collect them, he also set up the "Force Publique" (German analogous: Public Order Force; 1885: 10,000 men; 1914: 17,500 men; recruited from 14 to 30-year-old locals according to quotas set annually by the Governor General), his private colonial army. The developed increasingly brutal methods, which finally culminated in the so-called Congo horrors.
In 1908 Leopold II, under the pressure of an international investigation report ("Casement Report"), the official demarches of various countries against him and a human rights campaign denouncing the violations against the Congolese, was forced to sell the Congo Free State to the Belgian state, who from then on administered it as a colony " Belgian Congo ".
The fifteen Swiss in the "Force Publique" of the Congo Free State
Since there were no Belgian settlers in the Congo, Leopold II employed staff from outside. Fifteen Swiss mercenaries were among the 3,000 or so Europeans (2,260 Belgians, 229 Italians and 151 Scandinavians). They had different tasks in the colonial administration, which could only assert itself thanks to the "Force Publique" and which aimed to exploit the natural resources of the Congo.
Victor Dutoit was the only one who obtained an official permit. In 1896 he applied to the then head of the military department , Federal Councilor Emil Frey , who gave him permission to serve as a lieutenant in the "Force Publique" in a personal interview. This was justified by the fact that on his return he could improve his training in the Swiss army.
Ernest de Weck was a captain in the Swiss army . In 1898 he signed a contract as captain of the "Force Publique" through the Belgian ambassador to Switzerland, Josef Jooris. The de Weck family dismissed him because he was in a relationship with a woman who was not in keeping with his class. She tried to separate the couple through the Swiss consul in Brussels. De Weck finally embarked for Africa in Antwerp alone . He got the order to advance from Ponthierville to Kabambare in the district of Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo ), which was in turmoil. After a month he fell ill and was evacuated to Nyangwe, where he died shortly afterwards in February 1889 of hemolysis .
Alfred Lardy , train officer in the Swiss Army and commander of the Neuchâtel Artillery Battery 11, who traveled with him to Africa , was placed under the command of Stanley Pool. He was one of the four white cadres of a unit of 350 locals who were caught in a skirmish on a punitive expedition in October 1898 in Sungala west of Karambare, surprised in the thick fog. The unit that was supposed to support him did not arrive. Apparently part of the crew mutinied and refused to march. The official written justification to the Swiss consulate was then "because of delay due to the fog". Lardy's body was never found. It is speculated that, according to the cannibalistic spiritual ideas of the locals at the time, it could have been consumed by them.
Gustave Yves , a sergeant in the Luluaba district, was killed in action in 1917 after 12 years of service. His name can be found on the commemorative plaque in the entrance hall of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren near Brussels.
Charles Heer was released in 1900 as an instruction captain in the Swiss Army. After two years of service with the French Foreign Legion, he joined the Force Publique in 1902, where he was employed in Lado a year later . In 1905 he returned to Europe and was finally dismissed after 9 years of service. He then became an employee of the Belgian consulate and in 1922 Belgian vice-consul in Lugano , where he died in the same year.
The sergeant Charles Liwenthal traveled to the Congo in 1887. He was the only white man on the post in Bokatola. He died in an accident in 1902.
Erwin Federspiel was in the service of the "Force Publique" from 1898 to 1908 and was commandant of the Stanley Falls district (now Boyoma Falls). He is the only one who expresses himself about his commitment: this is how he writes about his commitment in the 84-page brochure entitled How it goes in the Congo state .
Marc Dailledouze was the only Swiss man to be held accountable for beating and injuring a local: in 1903 he was fined 100 francs and a fee of 29 francs.
In response to the Dutoit request, the Federal Council initiated an internal consultation process with various experts with the final decision:
“ ... that a permit from the federal authority is not required by law to join a national army. If the Belgian colonial army is not a Belgian national force, Dutoit is nevertheless to be allowed to enter . "
The Congolese service in the "Force Publique" was at that time, analogous to the French Foreign Legion , a further possibility for Swiss mercenaries. It was not until the Military Penal Act of 1927 that such individual foreign services by Swiss people were criminalized.
literature
- Patrick Minder: Quelques soldats suisses à la conquête du Congo belge - les 15 mercenaires de la Force publique , article in Revue Militaire Suisse, Volume 141, Issue 11, 1996. doi : 10.5169 / seals-345709
- Mark Twain : King Leopold's Soliloquy - A Defense of His Congo Rule . The PR Warren Co., Boston 1905, book scan: King Leopold's Soliloquy . Known in German as: King Leopold's self-talk .
- Erwin Federspiel: How it works in the Congo state - sketches by the former commander of the Stanley Falls district . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1909, book scan : What happens in the Congo state .
- Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness. Edited [and glossed in German] by Bernhard Reitz (= RUB . No. 9161: Fremdsprachentexte ). Reclam, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 978-3-15-009161-6 .
- Ruth Kinet: Between Cooperation and Confrontation - Colonial State and National Mission in the Congo Free State 1876–1908 , in Ulrich van der Heyden and Holger Stoecker: Mission and Power in the Change of Political Orientations . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2005.
- Julia Seibert: Forced into the global economy - work and colonialism in the Congo (1865–1960) , Campus Verlag, Frankfurt 2016. ISBN 978-3-593-50519-0 .
- David van Reybrouck: Congo - a story . Suhrkamp Taschenbuch 4445, Berlin 2013. ISBN 978-3-518-46445-8 .
- Martin Beglinger: In the heart of darkness; The woman's weapon; A hundred years of silence. NZZ story No. 5, April 2016.
See also
Individual evidence
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↑ a b
List of Swiss in the "Force Publique" of the Congo Free State Surname First name Age
at
entryorigin 1. Dailledouze
2. Dotta
3. Dutoit
4. Federspiel
5. Grellet
6. Heer
7. Hirschbühl
8. Klopfenstein
9. Lardy
10. Liwenthal
11. Perrenaud
12. Piot
13. Rüpp
14. Weck
15. YvesMarc
Florio
Victor
Erwin
Georges
Charles
Jean
Frédéric
Alfred
Charles
Maurice
Robert
Philipp
Ernest de
Gustave23
27
25
27
23
35
27
24
39
31
25
25
29
29
24Neuchâtel
Ticino
Vaud
Bern
Vaud
Neuchâtel
Graubünden
Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel
Geneva
Vaud
Vaud
St. Gallen
Friborg
VaudTaken from the article: Quelques soldats suisses à la conquête du Congo belge - les 15 mercenaires de la Force publique , by Patrick Minder in the Revue Militaire Suisse, Volume 141, Issue 11 from 1996.
-
↑ Federal law, concerning advertising and entry into foreign military service (of September 30, 1859):
Article 1
Entry into those troops abroad that are not to be regarded as national troops of the state concerned is prohibited to any Swiss citizen without the approval of the Federal Council.
The Federal Council can only grant such a permit for the purpose of further training for the purposes of the patriotic defense system. - ↑ a b Guido Mülhaupt: ... for the purposes of the patriotic defense system ... - The federal administration of foreign services 1859-1927 . Master's thesis in Modern History, Philosophical-Historical Faculty of the University of Bern, 2012. Compiled in Bernische Historische Mitteilungen 2012 : PDF
- ↑ With Leopold II as the main shareholder in each case.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Patrick Minder: Quelques soldats suisses à la conquête du Congo belge - les 15 mercenaires de la Force publique , article in Revue Militaire Suisse, Volume 141, Issue 11, 1996. doi : 10.5169 / seals -345709
- ↑ Beautified colonial history
- ↑ Rudolf von Albertini, Albert Wirz: Colonialism. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
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^ Military Criminal Law of June 13, 1927:
Article 94 A
Swiss citizen who enters into foreign military service without the permission of the Federal Council is punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine.