ABSTRACT
Jacob Carl Burckhardt, a scion of a Basel patrician family, was a major figure on the European cultural scene between the two world wars, a friend of Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Rainer Maria Rilke, connected with the Stefan George circle but also a confidant of leading French writers. He was a professor of history whose three-volume biography of Richelieu also appeared in English. He had a political career as the chief representative of the League of Nations in Danzig in the 1930s. He met Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, and their underlings and was given the opportunity to visit some concentration camps. He was the chief Swiss diplomatic envoi to France after World War II, and lastly and most importantly, he was president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He was a highly educated man, good-looking, impressive in his appearance, a grand seigneur, and to use the overworked term—charismatic.
