Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter
Keywords
Diplomacy, Dr. Beat de Fischer, Swiss diplomat
Abstract
Dr. Beat de Fischer, Ambassador of Switzerland in London, has profited by his former assignments to Lisbon and Cairo to make a study in depth of the history of Swiss relations with Portugal and Egypt . He has published two beautifully printed and illustrated volumes entitled "Dialogue Luso-Suissett", Lisbon 1960, and "Contributions a la connaissance des relations suisse-egyptiennes suivie d 'une esquisse des relations suisse - ethio-piennes", Lisbon 1956. In both books the chapters on the contributions of Swiss intellectuals to these countries are particular ly interesting for anyone concerned with Swiss Research in science and in the humanities. We learn how Swiss Protestant missionaries penetrated into the yet untouched backwoods of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique and so well integrated themselves into the life of the natives that they became pioneers in African ethnology. Swiss scholars in the old cultural centers of Egypt and
Swiss experts in the service of farsighted Kings of Ethiopia also played an important role in the life of these countries. The source material collected and evaluated in Ambassador de Fischer's books would, without his efforts, be scattered and to a large extent even lost for all practical purposes in remote papers, libraries, etc. A similar publication describing the history of Swiss-American relations on the same high intellectual level would be a very valuable endeavor worthy of the efforts of our best scholars.
Recommended Citation
Burckhardt, Lukas F.
(1965)
"A Swiss Diplomat Author of Works on Swiss Intellectual Relations with Egypt and Portugal,"
Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter: Vol. 1:
Iss.
1, Article 9.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_newsletter/vol1/iss1/9