Walter Stucki

First steps in the federal administration

In 1917, he was appointed Secretary General by Federal Councillor Edmund Schulthess for the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA). But by the end of 1919, he had returned to the law firm Leo Merz & Hugo Mosimann, however, with numerous federal mandates.^[2]

In 1925, Federal Councillor Edmund Schulthess asked him back to the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA) and appointed him as director of the Trade Department. As chief negotiator, Walter Stucki concluded 48 trade agreements for Switzerland and represented the country at international conferences, including the League of Nations. In 1933, he received the title of minister and an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.^[2]

Rejected candidacies for the Federal Council and resignation as civil servant

Due to his great popularity, Walter Stucki was considered a candidate to succeed the Federal Councillors Heinrich Häberlin and Edmund Schulthess in the Federal Council in 1934 and 1935, respectively. However, he declined the candidacy twice. When Edmund Schulthess resigned, Walter Stucki resigned as a civil servant.^[2]

Walter Stucki – the politician

In 1935, Walter Stucki was elected to the National Council with the best result on the list of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) of the Canton of Bern. At the same time, the Federal Council appointed him delegate for trade agreements (foreign trade). Because the bourgeois parties did not support his vision of a consensus democracy, he resigned from his position as a National Councillor in 1937.^[2]

Envoy to France

In 1938, Walter Stucki was appointed Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France. It was him who was in charge for completing the purchase and the supervision of the serious renovation work for the new legation building, the Hôtel de Besenval.^[3]

Walter Stucki and his wife Gertrud soon became established figures in Parisian society. Due to his eloquence, education and impeccable manners, but also because of his persistence, Walter Stucki was called "le ministre le plus parisien" (the most Parisian of ministers) by Prime Minister Édouard Daladier. In doing so, Walter Stucki continued the legendary reputation of the former owner of the Hôtel de Besenval, Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service and confidant of Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was called "le Suisse le plus français qui ait jamais été" (the most French Swiss that ever was) by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve.^[4][5][6]

War years: Mediator between the powers, saviour of the city of Vichy and recall to Bern

The offices of the Swiss Legation in the Hôtel de Besenval opened in January 1939. A month earlier, in December 1938, Minister Walter Stucki was able to move into the envoy's residence. However, he could not enjoy it for long. A few months later, World War II broke out and he was soon forced to move.^[3][7]

From July 1940, after the Battle of France, the Capture of Paris and the Fall of the Third Republic on 22 June 1940, the legation in Paris served solely to represent the interests of Switzerland in Occupied France. De facto, the legation was downgraded to a consulate. However, the official downgrade did not occur until the summer of 1941 under pressure from Germany, when the Germans demanded that Switzerland no longer represents its interests in the territory of Occupied France from Paris, but from Berlin. But already in June 1940, Minister Walter Stucki, together with Legation Secretary Pierre Dupont (1912–1993), as well as a large part of the French ruling elite, including Prime Minister Maréchal Philippe Pétain, had withdrawn to Vichy. Meanwhile, Walter Stucki's deputy, Legation Councillor Henry de Torrenté, remained in Paris.^[2][8]

In Vichy, the Swiss Legation was first set up at the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs in two small rooms. One of them was the bedroom of Minister Walter Stucki, which also served as his office and salon. Over time, he finally managed to get a total of six rooms. Walter Stucki complained that the cramped conditions in the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs gradually became a nuisance for the many international diplomats housed there. He derided the hotel as a "camp de concentration diplomatique" (diplomatic concentration camp). Moreover, alongside the diplomats, there were just as many spies roaming the building, making work even more difficult and dangerous.^[9]

In November 1942, the Swiss took over the Villa Ica from the US ambassador Admiral William D. Leahy, who had left Vichy in the same month. Walter Stucki resided in the villa until September 1944. In Vichy, Walter Stucki represented the interests of several countries to the Third Reich, including the United Kingdom and the United States of America.^[2][8][9]

Walter Stucki played a key role towards the end of World War II. On the one hand, he helped Maréchal Philippe Pétain, whose trust he enjoyed, to withdraw from Vichy on 20 August 1944, saving face and without bloodshed. On the other hand, he mediated between the advancing Allies, the withdrawing Germans and the French Resistance fighters and saved Vichy from destruction.^[2]

The gratitude of the city of Vichy to Walter Stucki was overwhelming. On 29 August 1944, the grateful city government awarded him honorary citizenship during a ceremony in the town hall. In 1945, the city of Vichy presented him with a 26-piece solid silver dinner service engraved with the coat of arms of the city. And in 1957 a street was named after him, the Avenue Walter Stucki.^[11][12]

Walter Stucki would have liked to return to the Hôtel de Besenval in Paris. But the French government objected. Charles de Gaulle was unwilling to grant the agrément. Walter Stucki's contact with Maréchal Philippe Pétain had long since gone beyond professional matters. The French government did not approve of a confidant of Philippe Pétain serving as Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France. Walter Stucki's downfall was that he massively underestimated Charles de Gaulle. Walter Stucki was recalled to Bern and, as his colleague Hans Frölicher, the Envoy of the Swiss Confederation in Berlin, contemptuously noted in his diary, was placed under quarantine.^[13][14]

Like Walter Stucki, Carl J. Burckhardt was also caught up in his wartime past. When the Federal Council approached the British government in 1944 to ask whether the former League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig would be acceptable as the Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to London, he was turned down. Carl J. Burckhardt, the British argued, had cultivated too familiar a relationship with Nazi figures in Danzig and as a representative of the Red Cross. Thus, Carl J. Burckhardt succeeded Walter Stucki in Paris.^[14]

Apparently, when Carl J. Burckhardt resigned in 1949, Walter Stucki would have liked to return to Paris as the Envoy of the Swiss Confederation. However, the Quai d'Orsay is said to have once again turned him down.^[13]

L'affaire Pétain – A historic transit journey through Switzerland in 1945, orchestrated by Walter Stucki

On 7 September 1944, Walter Stucki returned from France to Bern and became the head of the Office of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Political Department (FPD). But already in 1945, in the last weeks of World War II, his time as Envoy of the Swiss Confederation in Paris and Vichy caught up with him, as the Federal Council once again needed his services in this context. Walter Stucki and Maréchal Philippe Pétain were to meet one last time – this time in Switzerland.^[2][11]

At 10:00 am on 24 April 1945, on his 89th birthday, the Maréchal's convoy of four vehicles crossed the Swiss border at St. Margrethen, coming from Sigmaringen, where he was evacuated by the Germans against his will to the Schloss Sigmaringen in September 1944, following the liberation of France. Due to the Allied advance, a further evacuation of Philippe Pétain had become necessary, as the Germans did not want the Maréchal to fall into their hands. Due to the rapidly changing war and security situation, forward-looking planning was no longer possible. Decisions had to be made minute by minute.^[15][16]

The entry of Philippe Pétain and his entourage into Switzerland was agreed with the Federal Council, albeit at very short notice. The telephone request was made late in the evening of 22 April. At this point, Philippe Pétain and his entourage made a stopover at Schloss Zeil in Leutkirch im Allgäu, where they spent the night. With the Allies ever closer, the Germans didn't know where to take the Maréchal to safety. Nearby neutral Switzerland seemed like a good solution to the Germans – a solution also favoured by Philippe Pétain.^[15][16]

The following day, Maréchal Philippe Pétain and the members of his convoy received permission to enter and transit Switzerland. On the orders of Walter Stucki, the Maréchal's convoy was accompanied by his young colleague from the Swiss Legation, Hans K. Frey (1916–1974), who was to ensure a smooth border crossing of the convoy into Switzerland. The contact between the Germans and the Swiss was established through the mediation of the Swiss Legation, which was temporarily located at the Schloss Höhenried in Bernried am Starnberger See in Bavaria at the time (in 1945, Berlin became too dangerous due to the war fighting). The Federal Council authorised Maréchal Philippe Pétain and his entourage to transit through Switzerland to France. Philippe Pétain's entourage consisted of his wife Eugénie, Général Victor Debeney, Contre-Amiral Henri Bléhaut and eight officers as well as other members of his personal guard and household staff.^{[15][16][17][18][19]}

Reunion at the Walensee, the offer of political asylum and an official motorcade to the border

After the Maréchal's convoy had crossed the border to Switzerland, it continued its journey to Weesen at the western end of the Walensee, where the group spent the night at the Schloss-Hotel Mariahalden, which also served as an internment camp for German and Austrian officers. Walter Stucki had given orders to reserve the hotel rooms. At the same time, a meeting took place at the Hôtel de Besenval in Paris, the seat of the Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France. Shortly thereafter, Minister Carl J. Burckhardt, who had been appointed Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France by the Federal Council on 23 February 1945, requested an audience with Général Charles de Gaulle and officially informed him of Maréchal Philippe Pétain's presence in Switzerland and his desire to enter France. Général Charles de Gaulle would have preferred the Maréchal to seek asylum in Switzerland, which would have solved the problem for France – and for Général de Gaulle personally. Switzerland would have granted Philippe Pétain asylum, as Walter Stucki campaigned vigorously on his behalf.^{[15][16][20][21]}

On 25 April, Walter Stucki and Maréchal Philippe Pétain met in Weesen. On behalf of Federal Councillor Max Petitpierre, Walter Stucki offered the Maréchal political asylum, but Philippe Pétain firmly rejected it. He stated: "I cannot possibly hide in Switzerland and allow others who have carried out my orders to be persecuted and condemned." Walter Stucki took note of this and ensured that Philippe Pétain and his entourage could travel with dignity to Vallorbe on 26 April, with a Swiss motorcade, as directly and discreetly as possible, avoiding journalists as much as possible. At 07:47 pm that same day, as recorded in the police report, Maréchal Philippe Pétain placed himself in the hands of Général Marie-Pierre Kœnig by crossing the border at Vallorbe, where in nearby Les Hôpitaux-Neufs, at the train station Gare des Hôpitaux-Neufs - Jougne, a special train was already waiting for his onward journey in France. In contrast to the Swiss border authorities, the French troops present did not salute Philippe Pétain. Général Kœnig also refused to shake the Maréchal's hand. At 09:30 pm the special train left Les Hôpitaux-Neufs towards Paris with the destination station Gare d'Igny, in the southwest of Paris.^[15][16][20]

Special missions and the concours diplomatique

Since his return from France in 1944, Walter Stucki was the head of the Office of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Political Department (FPD). But as early as 1946, Federal Councillor Max Petitpierre appointed him delegate for special missions. On 25 May 1946, Walter Stucki achieved a remarkable compromise in the Washington Agreement on German assets in Switzerland claimed by the Allies. The agreement was a treaty between Switzerland and the victorious Western Allies – USA, Great Britain and France – that regulated the liquidation of German assets in Switzerland and prevented a boycott against the country. According to the treaty, Switzerland had to pay CHF 250 million for the reconstruction of Europe. In return, the Allies waived any further claims against the Swiss National Bank, whose activities during the war, especially the purchase of looted German gold, were controversial. In addition, Switzerland undertook to register the German assets blocked in Switzerland from 16 February 1945 onwards and to liquidate all assets held in Switzerland by Germans living in Germany. In this context, the Americans agreed to release the Swiss assets that had been blocked in the USA since 1941. The agreement was an important step for Switzerland out of its isolation and an important compromise that paved the way for its integration into the post-war order. In view of the outcome of the negotiations, which was due to the negotiating skills of Walter Stucki, William Rappard, diplomatic advisor to the Swiss delegation, described it as a diplomatic miracle, because the victorious Western Allies had given up a significant part of their harsh demands.^[2][11][22]

In 1953, Walter Stucki concluded his last international agreement for Switzerland with the London Agreement on German External Debts. After resigning as delegate, he reformed the training of the young Swiss diplomats. A task he completed in 1955, and which is seen as the democratisation of the diplomatic service. In Switzerland, of all places, with its republican self-image, the diplomatic service was for a long time in the very exclusive hands of sons of rich and influential, and mostly patrician, families. This era is called the era of the gentlemen diplomats. The key point of the revision of the admission to the diplomatic service is the multi-stage admission competition, the concours diplomatique, which also includes an internship at a Swiss embassy. In 1956, the first diplomats began their training under the new regulations.^[2][23]

"It is true that, until relatively recently, Swiss diplomacy was primarily the preserve of members of noble and wealthy families."