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REMINISCENCES
THE REPARATIONS CONFERENCE
1932
Maurice PERNOT
‘In the vast lobby leading to the conference room, well before ten o’clock, battle commenced
‘The beautiful, cosmopolitan and hospitable city is always ready to receive guests. between expert advisors and journalists. The questions were precise, the answers vague.
A few hundred more or less does nothing to change its appearance or its habits. Even so, it had Mr MacDonald moved from group to group, shaking hands here, speaking words of welcome
undergone something of a facelift. The facade of the Hôtel des Postes was adorned with clusters there. A few minutes before the appointed time he entered the conference room where two
of greenery and floral arrangements; the grand hotels were all decked out in the national colours City of Lausanne ushers, in their French-style livery with cocked hats and large silver breastplates,
of the delegations staying in them. And the sun, so much missed during the sad days of spring, solemnly opened the doors for him. His British colleagues, Mr Neville Chamberlain, Sir John
lent Lausanne a festive air from early morning, flooding the deserted streets and gardens with light, Simon and Mr Walter Runciman, sat on his left. Chancellor von Papen, Mr von Neurath, the
illuminating the mountain tops still shrouded in a delicate mist, and making the lake German ministers Count von Krosigk and Mr Warmbold, and Mr Herriot, who had just entered,
glitter like a sheet of silver […]. followed by the other French delegates, took their places on the chairman’s right. Next to
them were members of the Italian delegation […].
‘The great lounge of the Hôtel Beau-Rivage, whose décor brought to mind the regrettable
excesses of France’s Second Empire, was easily converted into a conference room. Long tables, ‘In a few simple phrases full of emotion, Mr Motta painted a startling picture of a world living
arranged in a rectangle, would accommodate the delegates and, behind them, their expert advisors. in a state of misery which the Lausanne conference must strive to alleviate. Commerce and
Much to the disgust of the photographers, the top table at which all the most important people industry were paralysed, there was universal mistrust, and twenty-five million people were
were to be seated was immediately in front of the tall window separating the lounge from the unemployed. He claimed it was impossible to separate the problem of reparations from other
garden, which meant that all the leading participants would have their backs to the light. problems caused by deep and prolonged economic imbalance. He discreetly expressed a desire to
To the left and right of the tables reserved for the delegates, several tables were provided for the see the United States of America joining in the efforts of the leading European nations.
journalists. In the four corners of the room, four palm trees reached up to the gilded ceiling. Finally, the president of the Swiss Confederation called for a renewal of trust between governments
This was the only acceptable feature of the decor. and between peoples, ending his speech with the phrase which his country continues to cherish:
“Gentlemen, I commend you to God’s protection.”’
Maurice PERNOT ‘Images de Lausanne’ in Revue des Deux Mondes, 1 July 1932, quoted in: Claude Reichler, Roland Ruffieux, Le voyage en Suisse. Anthologie des voyageurs français
et européens de la Renaissance au XX e siècle, Robert Laffont, Collection Bouquins, Paris, 1998, pp. 1495-1496.
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