Up for auction "Swiss Banker" Marcel Naville Hand Signed First Day Cover Dated 1952.
ES-6127E
Marcel
Alfred Naville (born August 12, 1919 in Genthod , † October 8, 2003 in Meyrin )
was a Swiss banker . After studying classical philology ,
he initially worked for the Federal
Political Department and for the legal department of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) during the Second World
War . After the war he switched to banking. In 1969 he was
elected President of the ICRC and held this office until 1973. Marcel Naville
was born in Genthod on August 12, 1919. He studied Classical
Philology at the University of Geneva and
completed his studies with a Licentiate ( Licencié ès Lettres classiques ),
a degree comparable to the Magister . During the Second World War he worked for the Federal Political
Department and for the legal department of the International Committee of the
Red Cross. After the end of the war he stayed for further studies in Rome and Paris . He
then began a career in banking and from 1965 was director of the Geneva branch
of the Swiss National Bank .
Naville was married to Béatrice Naville nee Vernet. Together they had two
daughters and a son. In 1967 Naville was co-opted as a member of the International Committee of
the Red Cross . His grandfather Edouard Naville , who was a member of the committee from
1898 to 1922 and headed its International Central Office for Prisoners of War during
the First World War , was
vice-president and interim president of the committee from 1916 to
1920. In January 1969, Naville was unanimously elected President of the ICRC , replacing Samuel Gonard who had given up the office for reasons of
age. During his tenure, the ICRC was involved in the Biafra War ,
a dispute over the independence of the Biafra region from Nigeria . This conflict presented the ICRC with its
greatest challenge since World War II. His work was characterized by
traditional quiet diplomacy and strict neutrality. Dissatisfaction with
this approach led to the establishment of the aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors
Without Borders) in 1971 by French doctors led by Bernard Kouchner. It was also shown that the French and
Swedish Red Cross in particular supported the population in Biafra, sometimes
unilaterally. This was due to attempts by the rebels in Biafra to
influence public opinion in Europe in their favor. Through these developments,
the ICRC's mission in Biafra also revealed problems within the leadership of
the ICRC in coordinating the mission and with regard to the committee's claim
to leadership within the International Red Cross Movement. Naville's other
activities in his role as ICRC President included visits to Poland ,
the Soviet Union and
the United States , where he spoke with then
President Richard Nixon about
the war-related humanitarian
problems in Vietnam . In September 1971, he traveled to China to
meet with representatives from the government and the country's National Red
Cross Society about problems with the acceptance of the Red Cross
that arose as a result of the Cultural Revolution .
In July 1973, the Geneva doctor Eric Martin was elected
to succeed Naville as President of the ICRC. This decision was considered
a surprise, as almost all committee presidents have resigned from office at
their own request. In addition, it is a practice within the committee to
grant an incumbent president a second term if he so wishes.
