Marcel de Baer

General Marcel Marie José Emile de Baer (31 August 1890 – ) was a Belgian judge and politician who, as chairman of the London International Assembly, laid the groundwork for the founding of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, and for the Nuremberg Trials. Moving to the UN in 1945, he became chairman of the first Committee of the UN War Crimes Commission, and in 1948, chairman of the Review Board of the International Refugee Organization (IRO) in Geneva.

Personal life

Marcel was born to a prosperous family in Antwerp. The family had a large house in town, now demolished and redeveloped, and owned a country house, Domain La Châtaigneraie, near Boechout, now a listed building. Marcel's father, Emil de Baer, and his father's father, Ferdinand de Baer, were both lawyers in Antwerp – working in maritime law and divorce law respectively. Until he was 16 Marcel was home educated by tutors - among them a Scottish governess. Marcel took up law, completing a law degree at Brussels University.

He had one sister, Edmée, from whom he became estranged due to a dispute over inheritance. Marcel was in London at the time, and left the negotiation of a land sale to Petrofina to his sister, but was unhappy with the outcome. Edmée married Charles Boelens, and there was no further communication.

Marcel married Margaret Rudston-Read (1904–1995), in London, May 1927. Under the rules of the time, Margaret had to renounce her British citizenship in order to marry a Belgian. They had two children, Philip (born 29 October 1929) and Oliver (born 13 June 1933). Both boys became naturalised British citizens when they decided to join the British army. Oliver became a cavalry reserve officer, while Philip joined the Royal Artillery and saw service in Korea. Marcel had four grandchildren, Jacqueline and Richard by Philip, and William and Leonora by Oliver.

Marcel was a capable linguist, speaking around 11 languages - among them German, French, Dutch, Flemish, English, Italian, Spanish, Persian and Swahili, with some knowledge of Russian and Arabic. Some of these would come naturally to a Belgian, some would be needed for work, but Marcel pursued an interest generally in learning new languages.

Career summary

1912 - Doctorate of Law at the University of Brussels December 1916 - sent to the Belgian Congo as Territorial Administrator, 1st Class January 1917 to the end of 1919 - Territorial Administrator based in Albertville (now Kalemie) Tanganyika December 1918 - became Principal Administrator of the territory December 1919 - returned to Belgium June 1920 - appointed Judge at the Antwerp Tribunal of First Instance 1925 - Judge of Instruction (makes the initial inquiry into possible criminal proceedings) 1927 - appointed Crown Prosecutor at Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) 1928 - appointed President of the Tribunal in the second district of Stanleyville (now Kisangani), Congo 1933 - returned to Belgium to the Antwerp Tribunal 1936 - appointed Vice President of the Antwerp Tribunal of First Instance 1939 - appointed Counsellor at the Court of Appeal in Brussels May 1940 following the German invasion of Belgium, escaped via France to the USA and joined Harvard Law School November 1940 - joined the Belgian Government in Exile in London November 1941 - was invited to join the Cambridge Commission on International law

1941 - 1947 - President of the Military Court of the Belgian Government in exile in London 1942 - additionally became President of the Maritime Court 1948 - Chairman of the Review Board, International Refugee Organization (IRO), in Geneva 1949 - 1955 - Resident Representative of the United Nations to the Shah of Iran in Iran 1955 - took retirement at age 65, moved to Domaine de Canteperdrix in Auribeau-sur-Siagne near Cannes, Alpes Maritimes 1955 - 1973 - Honorary Vice Consul for Belgium at Nice

Parallel activities

1936 - 1947 - Professor at the Colonial University of Belgium Professor at the Higher institute of Commerce in Antwerp In charge of courses at the University of Brussels 1940 - President and Member of various commissions of the Belgian Government in Exile in London, and other commissions on the Belgian Government too numerous to mention 1941 - President of the Commission on War Crimes within the London International Assembly 1944 - elected President of the London International Assembly, replacing Lord Cecil 1945 - made representative of the Belgian Government at the UN, and President of the first committee at the UN on War Crimes

The Belgian Congo

In 1908, following an international humanitarian outcry, King Leopold II was forced to surrender what had been his personal possession, the Congo Free State, to the democratically elected Belgian parliament, when it then became the Belgian Congo. This ended the notorious period of slavery and genocide under King Leopold.

de Baer was sent to the Congo 8 years later, in 1916, and was made administrator of the Tanganyika territory through the years of 1917 to 1919.

De Baer shared the pro colonial attitudes of his time, seeing colonialism as a means of advancing civilisation and commercial enterprise in Third World countries - the Congo became a major producer of diamonds and radium in that period. In the article he penned for 'Belgium Review', "Leopold II: An Undeserved Reputation" he praised Leopold II as a visionary idealist and strategist.

Work for the London International Assembly

His most significant work was as a member (1941–1945) and later chairman (1944) of the London International Assembly (LIA) – a committee of allied and friendly countries set up by Churchill under the auspices of the League of Nations to discuss plans for a post-war world order. Following the guidance of the first chairman, Lord Cecil, de Baer was encouraged to set up a committee to look into the question of punishing War Crimes - as, in Lord Cecil's view, de Baer was the person most passionate about it.

De Baer, along with others, had considered the issue of War Crimes between 1919 and 1939 – but, like others, had taken no action then. The previous discussions were impeded by various factors: the defeated nations did not welcome trials and further humiliation of their own personnel, and there was a lack of any legal institution outside of a criminal's own country in which they could be tried.

The earlier War Crimes trials - the Leipzig Trials of 1921 in Germany - arose from demands made in the Treaty of Versailles and were generally viewed as a failure. They were seen as unfairly one-sided by the Germans, and unduly lenient by the Allies. The popular cry in 1918 to "hang the Kaiser", notably supported by Lloyd George, was also a failure. After his abdication in Germany, the Kaiser was invited to the Netherlands by Queen Wilhelmina, and was granted asylum. Extradition requests to the Dutch government were refused. Lacking any determined Allied support, the proposal lost momentum and the Kaiser ended his days in peaceful retirement in Doorn.

A couple of years later, when the UN offered de Baer the position of High Commissioner for Refugees in Rome, the Vatican sent Monsignor Landis on a special mission to Geneva to inform the UN that de Baer would not be 'persona grata' with the Vatican if he were appointed. Privately informed of this, de Baer turned down the appointment (de Baer family archive). Officer of the Order of Leopold Commander of the Order of the Crown Grand Officer of the Order of Homayoun (Iran)