Walter Stucki

Walter Stucki (1888–1963) was a Swiss lawyer, politician, diplomat and Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France. His family originated from Konolfingen.

Walter Stucki's political influence was such that he was sometimes dubbed the eighth Federal Councillor. When asked about it, he dismissed the notion with a wry remark: If he ever joined the Federal Council, he certainly wouldn't be its eighth member.

Education and career After attending school in Bern and studying law in the same town, he completed his studies with the state examination in 1912. He then worked for the law firm Leo Merz & Hugo Mosimann (first only Leo Merz, later only known as Hugo Mosimann) in Bern. At the same time, he continued his education in international law as well as international contract and commercial law in Munich, Paris and London.

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.

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.

Walter Stucki's first and most important mission Walter Stucki was able to accomplish his first and most important mission in Paris just in time: On 30 August 1939, on the eve of World War II, Ambassador Alexis Leger, Secretary General of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, assured him of the unconditional respect for Switzerland's integral neutrality. General Maurice Gamelin gave the same assurance to Walter Stucki on behalf of the French Armed Forces. Two days later, on 1 September, World War II broke out.

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.

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.

Contemporary transcription (excerpt) of the telegram sent by Walter Stucki to Federal Councillor Marcel Pilet-Golaz about the arrest of Philippe Pétain. It reads: "This morning at 07.00 hours, Maréchal Pétain was arrested by the armed forces of the occupying power, brutal force having been employed. The entrance to his hotel, including his bedroom, was likewise blown open." On 20 August 1944, Pétain took Stucki to his private apartment at the Hôtel du Parc as a witness to prove that he was evacuated by the Germans against his will to Belfort. The staged arrest of Philippe Pétain, which had been precisely planned the day before through the mediation of Walter Stucki between the commanding Germans in Vichy and Général Victor Debeney, head of the secretariat of Philippe Pétain, took place in the presence of General Alexander, Freiherr Neubronn von Eisenburg (1877–1949). 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.

22 October 1948 – The United Nations elect the judges of the International Court of Justice: Minister Carl J. Burckhardt, Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France (right), in conversation with his colleague Luc Bischoff (1909–1997), a legation secretary in the Swiss diplomatic service. After the war, Carl J. Burckhardt – like Walter Stucki and Hans Frölicher – was repeatedly confronted with his conduct during World War II. For the position of the Swiss envoy to France, Burckhardt and Stucki were rivals. 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.

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.

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.

Reunion at the Walensee, the offer of political asylum and an official motorcade to the border The Schloss-Hotel Mariahalden in Weesen in the 1940s. The hotel was run by the couple Maria and Walter Wehrli, who had purchased it from the German family Reiff. Philippe Pétain and his entourage stayed at the hotel from 24 to 26 April 1945. On 25 April, the meeting between Walter Stucki and Philipp Pétain took place at the hotel. 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.

Maréchal Philipp Pétain and his wife Eugénie in Vallorbe on 26 April 1945, shortly before crossing the border into France. 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 p.m. 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 p.m. the special train left Les Hôpitaux-Neufs towards Paris with the destination station Gare d'Igny, in the southwest of Paris.

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.

Publications (partial list) In German Die schweizerischen Effektenbörsen während und nach dem Weltkrieg 1914–1921, 1924 Der schweizerische Gewerkschaftsbund in der Kriegszeit (1914–1920), 1928 Von Pétain zur Vierten Republik, Verlag Herbert Lang & Cie., Bern, 1947

In French La fin du régime de Vichy, Éditions de la Baconnière, Neuchâtel, 1947 La fin du régime de Vichy, réédition aux Éditions de la Baconnière, 2020, avec introduction de Marc Perrenoud