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for one of the League's own officials moving into its new premises, hun- move intended to make the presence
to be in charge of the Architectural dreds of staff members were asked of the League of Nations in Geneva
Office and for this reason the Swiss to leave. This process continued in as discrete as possible. With Switzer-
Maurice Grivel took up these func- the early part of the war until only land entirely surrounded by Axis
tions in September 1935. In 1950 a about 15% of the pre-war personnel forces, the authorities in Bern and
commemorative plaque was unveiled remained. The majority of diplo- Geneva were faced with an extremely
in the Secretariat courtyard bearing matic delegations left (or were equivocal situation with regard to the
the names of the five architects and asked to leave) Geneva following the attitude they should adopt towards
noting that their task had lasted from twentieth session of the Assembly in the League of Nations. At one point
1927 to 1938. December 1939. With the German it was decided to cut off the supply of
invasion of France in May and June heating oil to the Palais des Nations,
The complete programme of interior 1940, German troops were stationed but it was restored before any serious
and exterior decoration of the buil- in Occupied (northern) France damage was done to the building.
ding as it appeared in the project's which reached as far as the Geneva!
drawings would never be achieved. Ferney border only three kilometres Following the resignation of Joseph
Many decorative elements were from the Palais. The only remain- Avenol at the end of August 1940, the
not included in the building budget ing access to the free world was a Irishman Sean Lester became the
and depended upon extra-budge-
tary contributions by governments.
Countries were invited to make do-
nations towards the decoration of
the building, but these contributions
had to be approved by the Building
Committee so that they harmonized
with the general Art Deco style of
the building. A number of decorative
sculptures proposed by the architects
were never executed since no country
came forward to finance them. This
was also the fate of two monumental
stone columns intended to be placed
in the south-east-facing courtyard in
front of Building A. These columns,
reflecting the architectural style of a
bygone era, would have considerably
complicated the construction of the
present cafeteria. A decorative stone
pond containing fish would have
made an attractive feature in the
Secretariat courtyard -- but that too complicated route through C arouge third and last Secretary-General of
failed to find a financier. and Unoccupied (southern) France, the League of Nations, a position des-
across the Pyrenees and Spain to cribed as "the captain of a waterlog-
It could even be said that the building Lisbon in Portugal, where people ged boat". Because he may have been
has never been completely finished, could continue the journey on ships prevented in one way or another from
since it has undergone continuous or aircraft. When General Franco returning, he did not leave Switzer-
reconstruction, enlargement and closed the Spanish border to the per- land until the autumn of 1944. In
modification ever since. The staff sonnel of the League of Nations in April 1946 the League of Nations was
gradually moved into the building August 1940, communication with officially dissolved and a few months
during 1936 and 1937, but there was the outside world became almost later the Palais des Nations became
no official opening ceremony. The impossible. Nevertheless, when the the European Office of the United
early years of the 1930s had been Spanish border restrictions were re- Nations.
disastrous for the reputation of the laxed a few months later, the Econo-
League of Nations, with its failure mic/Financial and Opium units were Jo/in Fo::
to act in the Manchurian Crisis, the transferred to Princeton and Wash-
Ethiopian Crisis and the Danzig Cri- ington respectively in the United Sources:
sis. By the time of the Munich Crisis States, while the Treasury and Re- Pallas, J.-C. (2001). Histoire et archi-
in September 1938, the League's role fugee units had already moved to tecture du Palais des Nations. Geneva:
in international affairs was finished. London. The Palais des Nations be- United Nations.
In the prelude to the Second World came a silent and almost empty shell. Fosse, M.; Fox, J. The League of
War, the League had lost its politi- In the summer of 1940 some 100 Nations: from Collective Security to
cal prestige and was facing serious remaining staff members had taken Global Rearmament. New York, NY:
budgetary reductions. Shortly after up residence in the Library block, a United Nations.

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