Geneva - Crossroads of Intrigue

During our literary tour of Geneva a couple weeks back, we learned about many writers known to and influential in history who lived and wrote here, or who were inspired by events or scenery here.   The attraction has not yet worn off.  People still come here for a variety of reasons.  Many often write about their experiences here as memoirs.  Some of the more contemporaneous writers, however, especially those who came during the early third and mid-20th century, also found Geneva to be a wonderful setting or inspiration for novels featuring diplomatic intrigue, aka spying.  In fact, there are often glimpses of Geneva and/or Switzerland in some of the great spy flicks featuring James Bond or, more recently, Jason Bourne.   Part of this is due to Geneva's role in international diplomacy and as a neutral ground where East and West have traditionally been able to meet, both officially and unofficially.

Among others, our guide mentioned two authors well-known for their novels of intrigue who had spent time in Geneva, specifically, Graham Greene and Eric Ambler.  One of the latter's titles mentioned by our guide was "The Light of Day" which features - as is often typical of Ambler's novels - a protagonist who is a bumbling sort of anti-hero who manages to surprise himself - and the professional spies - by his decisive actions in a given situation.

Interestingly, soon after our tour, the 1964 film "Topkapi" - which was based on "The Light of Day" - was featured on the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) cable channel here.  For some reason, although I had read the novel in the 60s, I had never seen the film.  So I was thoroughly enchanted to see Peter Ustinov cast as Ambler's bumbling anti-hero, together with luminaries such as Melina Mercouri and Maximilian Schell. 

But our guide also whetted our curiosity by speaking about a real-life intrigue that took place in Geneva in the waning days of the Cold War: the so-called "suicide" of a West German politician named Uwe Barschel in a Geneva hotel in 1987.  The incident has resonated with her especially because her husband was at that time employed as a journalist (he is now retired) and had received word in the middle of the night that he should get to the hotel before the room could be "cleaned up."  Reports state that Barschel was found, fully clothed and lying in a bathtub in his hotel room.  His family has always insisted that his death was not a suicide.  Interestingly, this case (l'Affaire Barschel) was also featured as part of a documentary report on Zone d'Ombre ("Murky Area"), as recently as 27 October 2010 on the French-speaking Swiss channel TSR.  The truth of what happened is still not known but there is reason to believe that his death was linked to  his refusal to allow Israeli arms for Iran to be shipped from ports in Schleswig-Holstein. During the Iran-Iraq war, Israel and the United States secretly armed both sides.  When will we ever learn?

The guide's personal link to this true mystery reminded me of another, also related to Geneva, that also has had many strange links to my own life throughout the years.  This mystery, which has always been a personal quest of mine, relates to the mysterious disappearance - and presumed death - of Moroccan left-wing politician Mehdi Ben Barka.  Ben Barka "disappeared" 45 years ago today in Paris, having travelled there from Geneva.  Why I have cause to remember that date is because on or about 29 October 1965, I myself was passing through Paris - my first visit to the "City of Light" - from Rabat, Morocco on my way home to give birth to No 1 Son some months later.  I was horrified by Ben Barka's disappearance at about the same time - ships passing and all that.

Ben Barka was someone whom many young Moroccans who came of age in the 1950s and 1960s admired.  When he was forced into exile in 1963, shortly after the accession to power of King Hassan II, after the unexpected death of his father, King Mohammed V who was considered more friendly to liberal causes, many of these young Moroccans felt that their vision of an independent country based on a parliamentary monarchy had been betrayed.  Hassan II was indeed more repressive than his father had ever dreamed of being.

As an exile, Ben Barka met with and knew several of the great revolutionary rebels of the period.  After meeting Che Guevara, Malcom X and others in Algiers, he travelled to Cairo, Rome, Geneva and Havana, trying to unite revolutionary movements of the Third World.  He was lured to Paris for a meeting, and there was abducted.  Although there is still no one clear theory of what happened to him, most have concluded that he died at the hands of General Mohamed Oufkir, who was the Moroccan Interior Minister at the time.  There have been recurring but so far unverified reports of both US and Israeli complicity in this death as well.

This story has always fascinated me.  Its aftermath has had a tangential influence on my own life.  In 1972, just after I left Moroccan airspace after a brief visit there, the same General Oufkir led an assassination attempt on King Hassan II, unsuccessfully attempting to shoot down the King's private jet.  The King, known for his incredible luck at escaping such attempts, managed to escape yet again.  Oufkir "committed suicide" although the wound was in the back of his head.  Oufkir's family was held prisoner for some 17 years afterwards - a gross travesty of human rights.  The pilot who flew the King's plane and saved his life was thereafter named the Head of the Moroccan Air Forces.  Many years later, I would return to Morocco yet again to meet HWMBO there, at the time working on a commercial US contract under the direction of the Head of the Moroccan Air Forces.

And now we have come full circle.