However,
Swiss lived end second world:
A war correspondent stands in the ruins of Hiroshima. Similarly, A few weeks after the atomic bomb release. In addition,
AP Photo80 years ago. However, American bombers dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to the death of more than 200,000 people and the capitulation of Japan. Furthermore, At the heart of this drama was the Swiss diplomat Camille Gorgé (1893-1978). Meanwhile, whose memories today arouse the interest of Japan. For example, – Swiss lived end second world
Summer 1945. Therefore, The Second World War has just ended in Europe, but continues to rage at the other end of the globe. For example, The fights culminate during four dramatic days that will permanently change the world. Moreover, with the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, 200,000 people lose their lives. Similarly,
So sent Switzerland to Japan, Camille Gorgé slept these events on paperExternal link. In addition, Chosen extracts:
August 7. Meanwhile, 1945
Sensational event: the city of Hiroshima was destroyed by a bomb, only one, but of a whole new kind, a bomb of a mysterious composition, more powerful than thousands of ordinary bombs. For example, Losses in life would be considerable. Furthermore, The drama would have been consumed in a fraction of a second.
August 8, 1945
Hiroshima’s bomb would swiss lived end second world have made 100,000 victims.
No one doubts that with this so -called atomic bomb, humanity has entered a new era. Moreover,
August 9, 1945
Another misfortune: Nagasaki in turn knew the martyrdom of Hiroshima. However, A second atomic bomb destroyed him.
August 10, 1945
Events rush. Therefore, The imperial government would have agreed to capitulate without conditions. For example, with this only reserve that the emperor retains his throne and his prerogatives.
In fact. Consequently, this same evening, the swiss lived end second world Japanese ambassador in Bern, Shun’ichi Kase, goes to the head of the Swiss Foreign Affairs department and gives him the declaration of capitulation of his government. Therefore, Switzerland then has many protective power mandates and also assumes the function of messenger between Japan and the United States.
There followed an exchange of grades organized by Switzerland and an attempted coup of Japanese officers against the imperial house. However, Mediation results, the coup fails. In addition, On September 2, 1945, the capitulation of Japan put an end to the Second World War.
Swiss lived end second world
Switzerland. Nevertheless, “protective power”
At the end of the Second World War, neutral Switzerland had up to 219 protective power mandates. Furthermore, Through these good offices. For example, she supported the interests of many states in the face of their opponents, hence the important role played by Swiss diplomats such as Camille Gorgé.
swiss lived end second world
What protective power mandates does Switzerland hold today? Meanwhile, Read our article on this:
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Switzerland. protective power: a diplomatic bridge between states in conflict
Originally from the Jura mountains, Camille Gorgé obtained her license at the University of Geneva in 1917. After starting to work as a lawyer in the Federal Department of Economy in Bern. he quickly joined the federal political department (which will become the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs).
Very early on. it was attracted to distant regions; Between 1924 and 1926, he held the position of legal advisor to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.
“Camille Gorgé was fascinated by Japan. supported the Western orientation and the modernity of the Japanese government,” says Pierre-Yves Donzé.
He too from the Jura. this professor of economic history at the University of swiss lived end second world Osaka has lived in Japan for almost twenty years.
During his research on the influence. role of Swiss companies in Japan, the historian fell on the name of Camille Gorgé several times. “As a official representative of Switzerland in Japan during the 1940s to 1945 war years. he engaged in his cabinet at the Legation, which temporarily represented the interests of more than 20 states, many representatives of Swiss companies who had lost their jobs, but could no longer leave the country.”
With his colleagues Claude Hauser. Andy Maître and Pascal Lottaz, Pierre-Yves Donzé looked into the unique memories of the Swiss diplomat. Back in Switzerland, the latter had gathered his notes under the title of “memories”. They offer “a unique overview of life in Japan. the role of neutral Switzerland during the Second World War,” said Pierre-Yves Donzé.
It was dazzled that Camille Gorgé had left Japan in the swiss lived end second world mid -1920s. He was “shocked”. underlines our interlocutor, by the situation he discovered on his return and that he described in the following terms on February 15, 1940:
On the platform, I squeeze a crowd of hands. My compatriots seem happy to see us again. However, I observe some discomfort in their attitude. They speak low and look around them before speaking. There is concern in the air. I understand, I understand too quickly. This 1940 Japan is no longer Japan 1924. It is now a police state that sees enemies everywhere, spies. Its natural xenophobia has worsened.
Since 1937 already, Japan has been at war with China. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. in December 1941, the situation will get worse for the Swiss; He sees this xenophobia intensify that he perceives as “natural” and reports that he was the victim of physical assault. A diplomat he swiss lived end second world had sent to Taiwan. then occupied by Japan, was assassinated by military police on the boat which brought him back to Japan.
But Camille Gorgé is good. In August 1944. the Swiss legation, which employs more than 60 people in the final phase of the war, was evacuated from Tokyo to a mountainous region of the north of the country, where it was monitored by the secret services.
During the war years. the diplomat failed to defend Swiss interests in Japan or to assume the tasks linked to the status of “protective power”. These included in particular the guarantee of communications between belligerent states. the care of prisoners of war and internees, as well as the evacuation of individuals to their country of origin.
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Swiss lived end second world
Neutrality policy. a perilous exercise
Despite the numerous obstacles and an extremely limited room for maneuver, Camille Gorgé keeps in mind Japan “before”. On July 27. 1943, he wrote:
“… There are two antinomic Japan: on the one hand, Japan of art, kakemonos, haikus, cult of ancestors and flowers; On the other hand, police Japan, related by many sides in military Japan. One, thanks and beauty; the other, ugliness and stupidity. We love the first as much as we abhor the second. ”
The ambivalence of the diplomat towards his host country is reinforced by the policy of neutrality of. Switzerland during the Second World War. “This was based on both tradition. pragmatism, swiss lived end second world without forgetting economic motivations,” explains Pascal Lottaz, who teaches international relations at the University of Tokyo.
He wrote the comments of several parts of the Memoirs. “Despite all the uncertainties. Switzerland fully assumed its role as diplomatic service provider in Japan during the Second World War, until the end of the end.”
In Japan. these memories fill “a gap”
Published in 2018 in their original French version, the Memoirs of the diplomat have recently been available in full in Japanese. The editor Pierre-Yves Donzé underlines the interest aroused by the texts. “Local historians have hypothesized that gorged, by its communication with the Americans, had helped Japan maintain the imperial system.” However, researchers did not find proof in their research.
Memoirs were also presented to Japanese researchers during events organized by the Swiss Embassy. Several of them told Swissinfo that they welcomed this publication. It remains to be swiss lived end second world seen if, and how, it will be greeted by Japanese historians.
On September 2. 1945, the signing, by a delegation from the Japanese government, of the capitulation act on the American battleship “Missouri”, in the Bay of Tokyo, marked the end of the last hostilities between the Second World War.
Camille Gorgé’s mission in Japan thus comes to an end. After meeting the American general Douglas MacArthur. Japanese Prime Minister swiss lived end second world Kijuro Shidehara, whom he had known in the 1920s, he returned to Switzerland. He will remain faithful to the diplomatic service until his retirement in 1958.
«Journal of a witness-Camille Gorgé. Swiss diplomat in Japan at war (1940-1945)External link», Pierre-Yves Donzé, Claude Hauser, Pascal Lottaz and Andy Maître (ed. Quaderni di Dodis-Fonti, vol. 10)
Rely and verified by Benjamin von Wyl, translated from German by Albertine Bourget
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