Jean-Marie Musy (10 April 1876 – 19 April 1952) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

politician. Affiliated with the

Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland (german: Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei der Schweiz, CVP), also called the Christian Democratic Party (french: Parti démocrate-chrétien, PDC), Democratic People's Party ( it, Partito P ...

, he was elected to the

Federal Council of Switzerland The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and govern ...

on 11 December 1919 served until 30 April 1934. During his time in office he held the

Department of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

and became

President of the Confederation The president of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the president of the Confederation or colloquially as the president of Switzerland, is the head of Switzerland's seven-member Federal Council, the country's executive branch. Elected by t ...

twice, in 1925 and 1930. Musy was acquainted with

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

. Toward the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the forces of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

were retreating and near defeat. At the request of two Swiss Orthodox Jews,

Recha Sternbuch Recha Sternbuch (née Rottenberg; 1905–1971) was a Swiss Orthodox Jewish woman who was a major Holocaust-era Jewish rescuer. Biography Born in Krakow, Poland in 1905, Sternbuch moved to St. Gallen in 1928, with her husband, Yitzchak Stern ...

and her husband Yitzchak Sternbuch, and in coordination with them, Musy and his son

Benoît Musy Benoît Nicolas Musy (December 13, 1917 – October 7, 1956) was a Swiss Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Maserati race car driver. Biography Musy was born on December 13, 1917 in Bern, Switzerland, the son of the Swiss president Jean ...

engaged in high-level negotiations with the Nazis to rescue large numbers of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

in the concentration camps. Following the of 12 January 1945, Musy was involved in the release of 1,210 prisoners from the

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination camp ...

in February 1945. The group was saved after $1.25 million was placed in Swiss banks by Jewish organizations working in Switzerland. However, the money was never paid to the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

. Jean-Marie Musy's son Pierre received numerous equestrian competition titles and won the four-man bobsleigh gold medal at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

References

External links

*Jean-Marie Musy biography in Englis
Jean-Marie Musy – President of Switzerland
*Jean-Marie Musy biographie en françai

* * * 1876 births 1952 deaths People from Gruyère District Swiss Roman Catholics Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland politicians Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland) Finance ministers of Switzerland Members of the National Council (Switzerland) University of Fribourg alumni {{Switzerland-politician-stub