How to welcome an emperor

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Haile Selassie arrives by train on November 25,1954 (Walter Nydegger/Cantonal Bern archives) © Staatsarchiv des Kantons Bern.

The emperor with Albert Danz, Hindelbank town council head (Walter and Peter Studer archives) Peter Studer

Children are given the day off school. (Walter and Peter Studer archives) Studer

A horse-drawn carriage takes the guest to Jegenstorf Castle. (Walter and Peter Studer archives) Peter Studer

Children present the emperor with Bernese gingerbread and are given coins in return. (Actualité Suisse Lausanne/Swiss National Museum Zurich image archives) SNM Bildarchiv

The army watches over Jegenstorf Castle, where he is staying. (Björn LIndroos, Comet/ETH Zurich image archives) ETH

Selassie meets with a photographer and journalist. (Björn Lindroos, Comet/ETH Zurich image archive) ETH

Welcome at parliament square in Bern. (Walter Nydegger/Canton Bern archives) Staatsarchiv Bern

Leaving parliament, accompanied by Foreign Minister Max Petitpierre and Federal Chancellor Charles Oser (ETH Zurich image archives) ETH

A crowd of 100,000 people turn out to see the Ethiopian leader. (Milou Steiner/RDB) RDB

A buffet is laid on at the Bellevue Palace Hotel in Bern. (RDB/ATP) RDB

Travelling to Zurich. (SBB Historic) SBB

Zurich prepares for their VIP guest. (Keystone/Ilse Mayer-Guenther) Keystone

A visit to the Oerlikon Bührle & Co weapons manufacturer. (Keystone/Ilse Mayer-Guenther) Keystone

Oerlikon presents a gift of a telephone with a solid gold dial. (Keystone/Ilse Mayer-Guenther) Keystone

Attending a dinner with the government and special guests at the Bellevue Palace Hotel. (Actualité Suisse Lausanne/Swiss National Museum Zurich image archives) SNM

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Sixty years ago, more than 100,000 people gathered in Bern to celebrate the arrival of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I. Through a grand state visit, the Swiss government wanted to make up for the fact that they had failed to shelter him during the 1936 Abyssinian war against Mussolini’s troops.

An exhibit at Jegenstorf Castle, where the guest of honour stayed during his state visit, looks back on the big event of 1954 when the exotic ruler greeted those paying homage to him from a horse-drawn carriage and schoolchildren got the day off to wave flags along the route.

There were other political motives behind the enthusiastic welcome that greeted the emperor: the Swiss government wanted to return to Selassie’s good graces after having gambled them away in 1936. After Mussolini’s fascist troops invaded Ethiopia, using poison gas in the process, the Swiss showed the exiled emperor the door instead of giving him refuge in a neutral country.

But the relationship between Selassie and the Swiss weapons manufacturer Bührle didn’t suffer, as the company sent large shipments of weapons to Ethiopia.

The exhibit “Hosting a Kaiser: Haile Selassie’s 1954 State Visit” is on display through October 19 at the Jegenstorf Castle’s Museum for Bernese Interior Design.

(Text: Renat Küenzi, swissinfo.ch)