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.Bundespräsident Ueli Maurer: Ansprache zur Gedenkfeier für Walter Stucki, Rede des Bundespräsidenten anlässlich der Enthüllung des Gedenksteins in Konolfingen vom 13. September 2013, Generalsekretariat VBS, Bern
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.Edgar Bonjour / Konrad Stamm: Walter Stucki, Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 21.01.2014, online, 2025
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.
In 1925, Federal Councillor Edmund Schulthess asked him back to the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA) and appointed him as director of the Trade Department. As chief negotiator, Walter Stucki concluded 48 trade agreements for Switzerland and represented the country at international conferences, including the League of Nations. In 1933, he received the title of minister and an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.
Rejected candidacies for the Federal Council and resignation as civil servant Due to his great popularity, Walter Stucki was considered a candidate to succeed the Federal Councillors Heinrich Häberlin and Edmund Schulthess in the Federal Council in 1934 and 1935, respectively. However, he declined the candidacy twice. When Edmund Schulthess resigned, Walter Stucki resigned as a civil servant.
Walter Stucki – the politician In 1935, Walter Stucki was elected to the National Council with the best result on the list of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) of the Canton of Bern. At the same time, the Federal Council appointed him delegate for trade agreements (foreign trade). Because the bourgeois parties did not support his vision of a consensus democracy, he resigned from his position as a National Councillor in 1937.
Envoy to France
In 1938, Walter Stucki was appointed Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France. It was him who was in charge for completing the purchase and the supervision of the serious renovation work for the new legation building, the Hôtel de Besenval.Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 26
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.Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve: Causeries du lundi: Le baron de Besenval – le Suisse le plus français qui ait jamais été, (lundi, 5 janvier 1857), Editions Garnier, tome XII, 1870, p. 492Familienforschung Schweiz: Walter Stucki (1888–1963) – Le plus parisien, Herkunft und Nachkommen, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Familienforschung (SGFF), Jahrbuch, Band 39, 2012, p. 195Konrad Stamm: Der grosse Stucki, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürich, 2013, p. 150
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.
War years: Mediator between the powers, saviour of the city of Vichy and recall to Bern
The offices of the Swiss Legation in the Hôtel de Besenval opened in January 1939. A month earlier, in December 1938, Minister Walter Stucki was able to move into the envoy's residence. However, he could not enjoy it for long. A few months later, World War II broke out and he was soon forced to move.Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 26H. de Grandvelle: La Légation de Suisse à Paris, Journal et Feuille d'avis du Valais, Sion, 1 mars 1939, première page
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.Florian Keller: Botschafterporträts – Schweizer Botschafter in den « Zentren der Macht » zwischen 1945 und 1975, Chronos Verlag, Zürich, 2018, pp. 98, 99, 302
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.
In November 1942, the Swiss took over the Villa Ica from the US ambassador Admiral William D. Leahy, who had left Vichy in the same month. Walter Stucki resided in the villa until September 1944. In Vichy, Walter Stucki represented the interests of several countries to the Third Reich, including the United Kingdom and the United States of America.Walter Stucki: Von Pétain zur Vierten Republik, Verlag Herbert Lang & Cie., Bern, 1947, pp. 18–19
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.
The gratitude of the city of Vichy to Walter Stucki was overwhelming. On 29 August 1944, the grateful city government awarded him honorary citizenship during a ceremony in the town hall. In 1945, the city of Vichy presented him with a 26-piece solid silver dinner service engraved with the coat of arms of the city. And in 1957 a street was named after him, the Avenue Walter Stucki.Landry Charrier: Der Retter von Vichy, Blog Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum, 19. Juli 2021Walter Stucki: Von Pétain zur Vierten Republik, Verlag Herbert Lang & Cie., Bern, 1947, p. 139
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.Paul Widmer: Minister Hans Frölicher – Der umstrittenste Schweizer Diplomat, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürich, 20212, p. 214
Like Walter Stucki, Carl J. Burckhardt was also caught up in his wartime past. When the Federal Council approached the British government in 1944 to ask whether the former League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig would be acceptable as the Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to London, he was turned down. Carl J. Burckhardt, the British argued, had cultivated too familiar a relationship with Nazi figures in Danzig and as a representative of the Red Cross. Thus, Carl J. Burckhardt succeeded Walter Stucki in Paris.Paul Widmer: Minister Hans Frölicher – Der umstrittenste Schweizer Diplomat, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürich, 20212, p. 13
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.
L'affaire Pétain – A historic transit journey through Switzerland in 1945, orchestrated by Walter Stucki
On 7 September 1944, Walter Stucki returned from France to Bern and became the head of the Office of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Political Department (FPD). But already in 1945, in the last weeks of World War II, his time as Envoy of the Swiss Confederation in Paris and Vichy caught up with him, as the Federal Council once again needed his services in this context. Walter Stucki and Maréchal Philippe Pétain were to meet one last time – this time in Switzerland.
At 10:00 a.m. on 24 April 1945, on his 89th birthday, the Maréchal's convoy of four vehicles crossed the Swiss border at St. Margrethen, coming from Sigmaringen, where he was evacuated by the Germans against his will to the Schloss Sigmaringen in September 1944, following the liberation of France. Due to the Allied advance, a further evacuation of Philippe Pétain had become necessary, as the Germans did not want the Maréchal to fall into their hands. Due to the rapidly changing war and security situation, forward-looking planning was no longer possible. Decisions had to be made minute by minute.Herbert R. Lottman: Pétain, Éditions du Seuil, Paris, 1984, pp. 534–540Dominique Lormier: Koenig L'homme de Bir Hakeim, L'artilleur, Paris, 2012, pp. 198–200