JUTZI Philipp

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Reckoning · The army against its own people

They fired on their own people

Three times Switzerland sent its army2 against strikers and demonstrators. Three times soldiers fired into the crowd. In Grenchen and Geneva not one rifleman and not one officer was ever convicted.

21

dead, 1918–1932

0

convicted, Grenchen and Geneva

Dead per army deployment

Grenchen 19183
Basel 19195
Geneva 193213

The chain of command name by name

Grenchen SO · 14 Nov 1918 · 3 dead

General strike

Major Henri PeletGave the order to fire
Colonel HirtGarrison commander Solothurnsent Pelet
Federal Councillor Camille DecoppetHead of the Military Department 1914–1919
President of the Confederation Felix CalonderDefended the troop call-up
General Ulrich WilleDemanded the troop call-up

Basel · 1 Aug 1919 · 5 dead

Dyers' strike

Corps Commander Hermann SteinbuchOverall commandwith Colonel Jecker (garrison)
Federal Councillor Camille DecoppetTroops at the Basel government's request

Geneva · 9 Nov 1932 · 13 dead

Plainpalais

First Lieutenant Raymond BurnatGave the order to fire
Colonel Ernest LederreyHead of the Lausanne recruit school
State Councillor Frederic MartinOrdered the army in
Federal Councillor Rudolf MingerGranted the troops

They had names

Some birth years are calculated from age and year of death, accurate to one year.

Grenchen · 14 Nov 1918

Three young watchmakers

Age / years

Marius NoirjeanWatchmaker171901 – 1918 †
Fritz SchollWatchmaker211897 – 1918 †
Hermann LanzWatchmaker291889 – 1918 †

Shot from behind. Their gravestone disappeared between 1948 and 1950. Only in 2008 did they get a memorial plaque on the Zytplatz.

Basel · 1 Aug 1919

Five dead
three of them women

Age / years

Franz WoeberForeman bricklayerClaraplatz–1919 †
Frieda NyffelerHousewifeRebgasse–1919 †
Rosa HunzikerSeamstressBarracks gate201898 – 1919 †
Karl FaesslerShoemakerBarracks gate–1919 †
Julia EschmannMaidBarracks gate–1919 †

Geneva · 9 Nov 1932

Thirteen dead
most of them passers-by

Father and son

Albert Francis Clerc, 54, a milling machinist at the Gardy factory and trade unionist, died in the crowd. His son stood on the other side: among the recruits who opened fire.

Age / years

Henri FuerstMechanicPresident of the Geneva Communist Party381894 – 1932 †
Albert Francis ClercMilling machinistTrade unionist541878 – 1932 †
Melchior AllemannHotel employeeSocialist311901 – 1932 †
Hans Brugger281904 – 1932 †
Emile GuignetEmployee271905 – 1932 †
Emile HenryBoatmanQuai Wilson551877 – 1932 †
Edmond JunodMechanicMotosacoche291903 – 1932 †
Alphonse Kolly411891 – 1932 †
Jean-Pierre LarderazCommercial clerk231909 – 1932 †
Gabriel LoupMaster baker571875 – 1932 †
Oscar MaurerBank clerkon his way home from evening class251907 – 1932 †
Edouard QuilletSalvation Army341898 – 1932 †
Marius RattazHead teacherdied on 14 Nov361896 – 1932 †

Only two of the thirteen, Fuerst and Allemann, were known for their politics. The others were workers, employees and onlookers.

Geneva 1932

Who went to prison

Soldiers0
Officers0
Left-wing activists7

How the troops were chosen

No soldiers from the people they were sent to guard

1918General strikeAround 95,000 men were called up. Without exception the units came from «reliable» rural areas and from French-speaking Switzerland, not from the workers' cities.
1918GrenchenThe local troops, older men from the area, were de-escalating. The army decided on «forceful action» and brought in a battalion from Vaud. The troops from Biel were told that the soldiers in Grenchen would refuse orders and side with the strikers.
1919DirectiveIn February 1919 a secret General Staff directive governed deployment in internal crises: units with few workers, from outside the affected cities, were to be used.
1919BaselThe first unit deployed was border-guard company 10. Before setting off, the company commander ordered his men to fire at stone throwers. There was no warning.
1932GenevaNot Geneva's own troops, but recruits from Lausanne in their sixth week of training. They were told a revolution had broken out in Geneva. Those who refused were given other duties in Lausanne.
The aim was the same in all three cases: troops that would not go over to the crowd.

And today?

Internal security deployment still exists

Deploying the army against internal unrest is called Ordnungsdienst and is still a form of active service today. In urgent cases, when parliament is not sitting, the Federal Council can order it alone. Parliament only has to be convened immediately above:

4000
members of the armed forces
3
weeks of deployment

Below that, in such a case, the Federal Council decides alone. Geneva 1932 had 108 recruits at the front.

Source: Military Act SR 510.10, Art. 76 and 77

Parties in political responsibility

Where the parties stood

FDP1918, 1919
Liberals1932
BGB → SVP1932
FDPauthoritarianlibertarianleftright

FDP

1918–1919

Party of state with an absolute majority until 19191, economically liberal, core of the bourgeois bloc.

today

FDP.The Liberals: economically liberal, socially more open.

Liberalsauthoritarianlibertarianleftright

Liberals · Geneva

1932

Conservative liberals, Protestant in character, sceptical of the state. Today merged into FDP.The Liberals.

BGB SVPauthoritarianlibertarianleftright

BGB → SVP

1932

Farmers', Traders' and Citizens' Party, split from the Radicals in 1919, in the Federal Council from 1929.

today

SVP since 1971, rebuilt as national-conservative from the mid-1980s.

Dot positions: assessment based on the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, not a measurement.

Reference

The parties in brief

FDP: Radical Democratic Party, founded 1894, known simply as «the Radicals». Thanks to the majority voting system it held an absolute majority in the National Council until 1919. Today FDP.The Liberals.

Liberals: the Liberal Party founded in 1913, conservative, sceptical of the state, long Protestant in character. In Geneva the party of the old bourgeoisie. Merged into FDP.The Liberals in 2009.

BGB: Farmers', Traders' and Citizens' Party. Split from the Radicals after proportional representation was introduced in 1919, in the Federal Council from 1929, renamed SVP in 1971.

Summary

Political responsibility at a glance

Political compassauthoritarianlibertarianleftrightFDP 1918FDP 1919LiberalsBGBFDP.The LiberalsSVP
Grenchen, 14 Nov 1918 · 3 dead. Troops called up by the Federal Council under President Calonder (FDP), Military Department under Decoppet (FDP), at General Wille's demand.
Dot positions: assessment based on the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, not a measurement.

«Never again the army against the people»

Memorial plaque inscription, Basel (translated)

More on this

1Grenchen 1918 and Basel 1919 happened while the FDP alone held the absolute majority in the National Council under the majority voting system. So that no party ever decides alone again: a cap of 20% of seats per party.
Eliminate the one-party risk →
2Abolish compulsory military service →

Sources

OL-DE

TS120

Fact check8/10

Names, dates and chain of command checked against the HLS, parliamentary services, local history and press, legal position against the Military Act. Points off: some birth years calculated, Basel rests on a local-history site, party dot positions are an assessment.

As of 08.10.2026