Georges Oltramare

Who was Georges Oltramare?

Georges Oltramare was a Swiss author and fascist politician who became involved in collaboration in Nazi-occupied France.

Born into a leading Geneva family, he obtained a demi-licence in law at the University of Geneva in 1919. He became a noted author, winning the Foundation Schiller prize for his 1927 novel Don Juan ou la Solitude and also wrote for a number of right wing journals, specifically Le Pilori, which specialized in anti-Semitism. He began direct involvement in politics in 1931 when he set up the Order Politique Nationale, merging this with the Union de Défense Economique to form the Union Nationale the following year. This fascist movement, which represented the country's French population, gained little support, although Oltramare was invited to participate in the anti-communist Entente Nationale Genevoise with more conservative parties in 1936. He remained leader of the Union Nationale until 1940 when he left the country to settle in German-occupied France.