Geneva, seat of the League of Nations
Geneva, Bern
Key figures: Woodrow Wilson, Giuseppe Motta, Max Huber, William Rappard
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (German): League of Nations, Giuseppe Motta
An idea born of war (1918–1919). In January 1918, in the last of his Fourteen Points, US President Woodrow Wilson proposed a “general association of nations” to guarantee peace. In May the Federal Council set up a commission to study Swiss participation; based on a report by the jurist Max Huber, in January 1919 it drew up its own draft Covenant. Neutral Switzerland, however, was not invited to the Paris Peace Conference: its ideas were taken up by others or set aside. The Covenant of the League of Nations, adopted on 28 April 1919, became part of the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June.
Geneva, seat of peace (1919–1920). With Wilson’s support, Geneva was chosen as the seat of the new organisation, beating Brussels. From 1 November 1920 the secretariat worked in the former Hôtel National on the lakeshore, which in 1924 was renamed Palais Wilson. In 1920 the International Labour Office also settled in Geneva.
“Differential” neutrality (1920). In its message of 4 August 1919 the Federal Council proposed membership and decided to put it to the people and the cantons: an important step in the use of direct democracy for the country’s international commitments. The sticking point was neutrality. With the London Declaration of 13 February 1920 Switzerland obtained explicit recognition of its neutrality and exemption from military sanctions, but remained bound to take part in economic ones: this was the birth of so-called “differential” neutrality.
The vote of 16 May 1920. The campaign was heated, with posters for and against facing each other on the walls. The President of the Confederation, Giuseppe Motta, head of the Political Department from that year, personally worked to win over the Catholic Conservatives. With a turnout of 77.5 per cent, the people approved membership by 416,870 votes to 323,719, but only 11½ cantons were in favour against 10½. French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino voted solidly yes, while German-speaking Switzerland was divided.
The first Assembly (15 November 1920). Delegations from more than forty states met in the Salle de la Réformation, then the largest hall in Geneva. The Assembly was chaired by Paul Hymans of Belgium, with Motta as honorary president. For Switzerland and Geneva it brought unprecedented visibility, to which the Geneva professor William Rappard and other Swiss working in the secretariat also contributed. To avoid compromising neutrality, on 13 December 1920 the Federal Council declined a seat on the League Council.
The Motta era (1920–1940). Until his death in January 1940 Motta directed Swiss foreign policy, a record never equalled. In September 1924 he presided over the fifth Assembly. From the Geneva rostrum he defended the League’s universality and international arbitration, but Switzerland remained cautious: as early as 1920 Motta had to withdraw his consent to the transit of League troops for the Vilnius conflict; in 1934 Switzerland voted against the admission of the Soviet Union; and in 1935–1936 it took part only to a limited, almost symbolic extent in the sanctions against Italy after its invasion of Ethiopia.
The Palais des Nations (1929–1936). On 7 September 1929 the foundation stone of a new headquarters was laid in Ariana Park, above the lake. In 1936 the League of Nations moved into the new Palais des Nations, just as its authority was crumbling: Japan and Germany had left in 1933, and Italy would leave at the end of 1937.
From full neutrality to the UN (1938–1946). On 14 May 1938 the League Council released Switzerland from economic sanctions as well, restoring its “integral” neutrality. During the Second World War Bern feared that the activities in Geneva might compromise neutrality, and from 1941 stopped paying its annual contribution. In April 1946 the last Assembly, meeting in Geneva, dissolved the League of Nations in favour of the United Nations. The Palais des Nations became the UN’s European headquarters, and Geneva remained a capital of world diplomacy; Switzerland itself would join the UN only in 2002.
Aerial view of the former Hôtel National in Geneva, first seat of the League of Nations and from 1924 the Palais Wilson, October 1920
Agence Rol, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Wikimedia Commons, public domain
“Ja dem Völkerbund” (“Yes to the League of Nations”), poster by Emil Cardinaux for the vote of 16 May 1920
Swiss National Library, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The opening session of the first Assembly of the League of Nations in the Salle de la Réformation, Geneva, November 1920
Photo Frédéric Boissonnas, National Library of Norway, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Giuseppe Motta on the balcony of the Hôtel des Bergues during the fifth Assembly, September 1924: a colour autochrome, with the Rhône and the lake behind
Autochrome by Roger Dumas, Musée Albert-Kahn, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
“Schweizervolk, lass dich nicht binden!” (“Swiss people, do not let yourselves be bound!”), poster by Hans Beat Wieland for the committee against membership, 1920
Swiss National Library, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Giuseppe Motta, President of the fifth Assembly of the League of Nations, Geneva, 6 September 1924
Agence Rol, Bibliothèque nationale de France, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Palais des Nations under construction in Ariana Park: the future courtyard of honour and, in the background on the left, the building for the Assembly’s plenary sessions, 14 May 1934
Agence Rol, Bibliothèque nationale de France, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain