Georges Oltramare (born 17 April 1896 in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

– died 16 August 1960 in Geneva) was a Swiss writer and fascist politician who became involved in collaboration in

Nazi-occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

. Born into a leading Geneva family, he obtained a ''demi-licence'' in law at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

in 1919.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...

'' He became a noted author, winning the Foundation Schiller prize for his 1927 novel ''Don Juan ou la Solitude'' and also wrote for a number of

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

journals, specifically ''Le Pilori'', which specialized in

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. He began direct involvement in politics in 1931 when he set up the ''Ordre politique national'', merging this with the ''Union de Défense économique'' to form the '' Union nationale'' the following year. This fascist movement, which represented the country's French population, gained little support, although Oltramare was invited to participate in the anti-communist ''Entente nationale genevoise'' with more

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

parties in 1936.Rainer Baudendistel, ''Between Bombs and Good Intentions: The Red Cross and the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935-1936'', Berghahn Books, 2006, p. 23 He remained leader of the ''Union Nationale'' until 1940 when he left the country to settle in German-occupied France. Adopting the pseudonym Charles Dieudonné, Oltramare took up his pen in support of the Nazis, eventually becoming director of '' La France au travail'', a German-funded newspaper aimed at converting the country's trade unionists and former

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

to the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

cause. Also writing for ''L'Appel'' and ''Revivre'', as well as broadcasting on Radio Paris, Oltramare even survived an assassination attempt on the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is l ...

. He left France in August 1944 for

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen ...

, eventually returning to Switzerland in April 1945. Arrested for compromising Switzerland's independence, he spent the next few years in and out detention before being freed in 1952. He went on to live in Spain and Egypt, where he briefly worked as a propagandist for the regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser, before returning to Switzerland where he was allowed to revive ''Le Pilori'', which this time combined Poujadism with anti-Semitism. Notwithstanding a sentence of death that had been passed on him by a French court in 1950 Oltramare died of natural causes in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oltramare, Georges 1896 births 1960 deaths Writers from Geneva Swiss collaborators with Nazi Germany People sentenced to death in absentia Swiss fascists Swiss male novelists Swiss anti-communists 20th-century Swiss novelists Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus 20th-century Swiss journalists Politicians from Geneva