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Carl Jacob Burckhardt
Carl Jacob Burckhardt (September 10, 1891 – March 3, 1974) was a Swiss diplomat and historian. His career alternated between periods of academic historical research and diplomatic postings; the most prominent of the latter were League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig (1937–39) and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (1945–48).
While serving as High Commissioner for Danzig, Burckhardt sought to avoid escalation of tensions between Nazi Germany and Poland into open military conflict. Unlike his predecessor, who had been removed as High Commissioner at Germany's insistence because he sought to protect Danzig's Jewish community, Burckhardt tried to cultivate relations with the "moderate" Nazi leaders of Danzig while blaming the Polish government for taking too uncompromising a stand against German demands that Danzig be returned to Germany. Those efforts, which had reflected the attitudes of the League, the United Kingdom and France, failed with Germany's invasion of Poland and seizure of Danzig on 1 September 1939. Burckhardt fled Danzig after being told by the Nazi Gauleiter for Danzig that he would be executed if he did not.
Burckhardt was a Germanophile with a visceral hatred of Bolshevism. Under his leadership following World War II the ICRC provided documents that helped many high-level Nazis, including Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele, escape Europe and evade justice for their war crimes.
Burckhardt was born in Basel to Carl Christoph Burckhardt, a member of the patrician Burckhardt family, and attended gymnasium in Basel and Glarisegg (in Steckborn). He subsequently studied at the universities of Basel, Zürich, Munich, and Göttingen, being particularly influenced by professors Ernst Gagliardi and Heinrich Wölfflin.
He gained his first diplomatic experience in the Swiss legation in Austria from 1918 to 1922, a chaotic period following the collapse of Austria-Hungary. While there, he became acquainted with Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Burckhardt earned his doctorate in 1922, and then accepted an appointment with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which posted him to Asia Minor, where he assisted in the resettlement of Greeks expelled from Turkey following Greece's 1922 defeat.
He subsequently returned to Switzerland to pursue an academic career. In 1926, he married Marie-Elisabeth de Reynold (1906–1989), a daughter of Swiss writer, historian, and right-wing political activist Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970). One year later he was appointed Privatdozent at the University of Zurich and in 1929 extraordinary professor of contemporary history. From 1932 to 1937 he was ordinary professor at the recently created Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. While there, he published in 1935 the first volume of his comprehensive biography of Cardinal Richelieu, which would eventually be completed by the publication of the 4th volume in 1967.
Burckhardt returned to a diplomatic career in 1937, serving as the final League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig from 1937 to 1939. In that position, he aimed to maintain the international status of Danzig guaranteed by the League of Nations, which brought him into contact with a number of prominent Nazis as he attempted to stave off increasing German demands.
The precise legal status of Danzig in the interwar era was, as the American historian Elizabeth Clark has noted, ambiguous: "...few experts, whether Polish, French or German, agreed on a legal description of the city, whether it was a sovereign state, a state without sovereignty, a Polish protectorate or a League of Nations protectorate". The Free City had some of the markers of sovereignty, such as its own police force, national anthem, flag, currency and stamps, but the Polish government had been granted certain rights in Danzig, such as control of the customs service and the right to represent the Free City of Danzig abroad.
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Carl Jacob Burckhardt
Carl Jacob Burckhardt (September 10, 1891 – March 3, 1974) was a Swiss diplomat and historian. His career alternated between periods of academic historical research and diplomatic postings; the most prominent of the latter were League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig (1937–39) and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (1945–48).
While serving as High Commissioner for Danzig, Burckhardt sought to avoid escalation of tensions between Nazi Germany and Poland into open military conflict. Unlike his predecessor, who had been removed as High Commissioner at Germany's insistence because he sought to protect Danzig's Jewish community, Burckhardt tried to cultivate relations with the "moderate" Nazi leaders of Danzig while blaming the Polish government for taking too uncompromising a stand against German demands that Danzig be returned to Germany. Those efforts, which had reflected the attitudes of the League, the United Kingdom and France, failed with Germany's invasion of Poland and seizure of Danzig on 1 September 1939. Burckhardt fled Danzig after being told by the Nazi Gauleiter for Danzig that he would be executed if he did not.
Burckhardt was a Germanophile with a visceral hatred of Bolshevism. Under his leadership following World War II the ICRC provided documents that helped many high-level Nazis, including Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele, escape Europe and evade justice for their war crimes.
Burckhardt was born in Basel to Carl Christoph Burckhardt, a member of the patrician Burckhardt family, and attended gymnasium in Basel and Glarisegg (in Steckborn). He subsequently studied at the universities of Basel, Zürich, Munich, and Göttingen, being particularly influenced by professors Ernst Gagliardi and Heinrich Wölfflin.
He gained his first diplomatic experience in the Swiss legation in Austria from 1918 to 1922, a chaotic period following the collapse of Austria-Hungary. While there, he became acquainted with Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Burckhardt earned his doctorate in 1922, and then accepted an appointment with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which posted him to Asia Minor, where he assisted in the resettlement of Greeks expelled from Turkey following Greece's 1922 defeat.
He subsequently returned to Switzerland to pursue an academic career. In 1926, he married Marie-Elisabeth de Reynold (1906–1989), a daughter of Swiss writer, historian, and right-wing political activist Gonzague de Reynold (1880–1970). One year later he was appointed Privatdozent at the University of Zurich and in 1929 extraordinary professor of contemporary history. From 1932 to 1937 he was ordinary professor at the recently created Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. While there, he published in 1935 the first volume of his comprehensive biography of Cardinal Richelieu, which would eventually be completed by the publication of the 4th volume in 1967.
Burckhardt returned to a diplomatic career in 1937, serving as the final League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig from 1937 to 1939. In that position, he aimed to maintain the international status of Danzig guaranteed by the League of Nations, which brought him into contact with a number of prominent Nazis as he attempted to stave off increasing German demands.
The precise legal status of Danzig in the interwar era was, as the American historian Elizabeth Clark has noted, ambiguous: "...few experts, whether Polish, French or German, agreed on a legal description of the city, whether it was a sovereign state, a state without sovereignty, a Polish protectorate or a League of Nations protectorate". The Free City had some of the markers of sovereignty, such as its own police force, national anthem, flag, currency and stamps, but the Polish government had been granted certain rights in Danzig, such as control of the customs service and the right to represent the Free City of Danzig abroad.
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