---
title: Work in Switzerland
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/33-work-in-switzerland/
description: Work in Switzerland, from Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information by George Creel, Chairman, Committee on Public…
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg)

[Library](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/) · Report · [Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/)

# Work in Switzerland

This text

- **Work:** [Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/)
- **Author:** George Creel, Chairman, Committee on Public Information
- **Published:** 1920

Full details

- **Rights:** A work of the United States government, printed by the Government Printing Office in 1920, so not protected by copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. 105) and in the public domain by age as well. The Library of Congress states that it is unaware of any copyright restrictions on the item.

Chapters

1. [Letter of Transmittal and General Survey](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/01-letter-of-transmittal-and-general-survey/)
2. Part I: The Domestic Section
3. [Work of the Domestic Section](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/02-work-of-the-domestic-section/)
4. [The Voluntary Censorship](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/03-the-voluntary-censorship/)
5. [Division of News](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/04-division-of-news/)
6. [Division of Civic and Educational Cooperation](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/05-division-of-civic-and-educational-cooperation/)
7. [Division of Production and Distribution](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/06-division-of-production-and-distribution/)
8. [Four Minute Men](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/07-four-minute-men/)
9. [The Speaking Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/08-the-speaking-division/)
10. [The Division of Advertising](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/09-the-division-of-advertising/)
11. [Film Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/10-film-division/)
12. [Bureau of Distribution of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/11-bureau-of-distribution-of-the-division-of-films/)
13. [Educational Department of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/12-educational-department-of-the-division-of-films/)
14. [Scenario Department of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/13-scenario-department-of-the-division-of-films/)
15. [Bureau of War Expositions of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/14-bureau-of-war-expositions-of-the-division-of-fil/)
16. [Bureau of War Photographs of the Division of Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/15-bureau-of-war-photographs-of-the-division-of-fil/)
17. [Official U. S. Bulletin](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/16-official-u-s-bulletin/)
18. [The Service Bureau](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/17-the-service-bureau/)
19. [Division of Exhibit at State Fairs](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/18-division-of-exhibit-at-state-fairs/)
20. [Division of Syndicate Features](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/19-division-of-syndicate-features/)
21. [Division of Women’s War Work](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/20-division-of-women-s-war-work/)
22. [The Bureau of Cartoons](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/21-the-bureau-of-cartoons/)
23. [Division of Business Management](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/22-division-of-business-management/)
24. [Division of Work with the Foreign Born](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/23-division-of-work-with-the-foreign-born/)
25. [Showing America to the Foreign Press](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/24-showing-america-to-the-foreign-press/)
26. Part II: The Foreign Section
27. [Work of the Foreign Section](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/25-work-of-the-foreign-section/)
28. [Wireless and Cable Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/26-wireless-and-cable-service/)
29. [Foreign Press Bureau](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/27-foreign-press-bureau/)
30. [Foreign Film Activities](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/28-foreign-film-activities/)
31. [Foreign Picture Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/29-foreign-picture-service/)
32. Reports from Foreign Commissioners
33. [Report on the Work in Mexico](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/30-report-on-the-work-in-mexico/)
34. [The Work in France](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/31-the-work-in-france/)
35. [The Work in Holland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/32-the-work-in-holland/)
36. [Work in Switzerland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/33-work-in-switzerland/)
37. [Work in Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/34-work-in-italy/)
38. [Work in Spain](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/35-work-in-spain/)
39. [Work in Denmark](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/36-work-in-denmark/)
40. [Work in Russia: General Introduction](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/37-work-in-russia-general-introduction/)
41. [Work in Russia: The Installation](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/38-work-in-russia-the-installation/)
42. [Work in Russia: Siberian Activities](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/39-work-in-russia-siberian-activities/)
43. [Work in Russia: Archangel](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/40-work-in-russia-archangel/)
44. [The Work in China](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/41-the-work-in-china/)
45. [Work in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/42-work-in-argentina-uruguay-and-paraguay/)
46. [Work in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/43-work-in-peru-ecuador-and-bolivia/)
47. [Other Work in South America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/44-other-work-in-south-america/)
48. [Work in Sweden and Norway](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/45-work-in-sweden-and-norway/)

[← The Work in Holland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/32-the-work-in-holland/) [Work in Italy →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/34-work-in-italy/)

**Content note:** Quotes wartime anti-German language, including "Hun", and period terms for racial and national groups. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

(By ViEA B. Whitehouse, Commissionei".)

German propaganda had been developing in Switzerland ;for 30 or 40 years and was conducted by a corps of trained experts. It was common gossip that there were between 800 and 1,200 German diplomatic representatives, a large major-

:,ity of whom were said to be active in propaganda. Their policy was to buy or subsidize Swiss newspapers and news agencies and leave them under the Swiss directors. They also had a system of paying the smaller papers throughout Switzerland for every paragraph or item sent by German-owned news agencies which were published.

The motion-picture houses in German Switzerland were said to be either owned outright or controlled by the German Government. The same situation applied to theaters, opera houses, and commercial establishments. They had a very complete, accurate, and efficient system of circularization. The result of their activities was that Switzerland was inundated not only by pro-German propaganda, but by anti-Ally and especially anti-American propaganda.

On my arrival, I found that the Germans were maintaining that America could not raise an army in spite of her draft law, that she could not train it, could not arm it, could not transport it to Europe and if she did, the untrained soldiers could not face the German heroes. They tried to persuade the Swiss that America was going to invade Switzerland in order to attack Germany. They agitated a great deal about a secret treaty which was supposed to exist between the United States and Great Britain in regard to Japan. They tried to show our weakness at home by reporting that our difficulties on the Mexican, border amounted to our being at war Avith that country and they insinuated, that we meant to annex it. They tried to create difficulties between the Allies by articles showing that the Americans had invaded France to the latter country's disadvantage. . They harped upon our supposed effort to steal Great, Britain's place as the leader of commerce on the seas.

I found no agency interested in presenting the American side. There were only a few American items sent by Havas or Renter on subjects of general interest. The Swiss papers - and public were eager for American news.

Importakce of Switzerland as News Center

The importance of Switzerland as a news center for us was that it is the only neutral nation whose newspapers are printed in the German language, and they had a free and. large circulation in Austria and Germany. They were not only read in Germany, but the German press quoted from them freely. The liberal German papers especially followed everything that was said in the Swiss papers. Getting our news into the German Swiss press was the best way of getting it into Germany.

There were about 20,000 German prisoners in Switzerland who communicated with their relatives in Germany. They also read the Swiss papers. A great number of Germans came back and forth into Switzerland very freely and in large numbers. Gossip and rumor circulated freely between Switzerland and Germany.

As soon as I could find a few assistants I organized my office into the following departments:

DAILY NEWS SERVICE. [Under the direction of Mr. George B. Fife.]

Our service arrived early in the morning. It was rewritten in simple English, translated into French and German and delivered to the Agence Telegraphique Suisse, the official Swiss news agency, which distributed it for us to the Swiss press. This agency was reported to be unsympathetic. We found that mistakes were made in our figures and that some times important items were overlooked. We took great pains in confirming and reconfirming by telephone and by letter .all figTires, and in order to avoid any oversight in distributing important news items, we, ourselves, would telegraph or telephone such items directly to the papers.

The news items from our service aroused great public interest and American news was much discussed. We believe that to this fact is due the enormously increased use of the Havas and Renter items on American events.

In August I was able to report to the Committee on Public Information in Washington that an estimated minimum of 2,000 paragraphs of our service was being published weekly in the Swiss papers.

All the President's speeches and notes were translated in full and sent both in English and German, or English and French, to every newspaper. Previously only extracts had been carried by Havas and Renter.

The News Service Department sent weekly bulletins directly to the editorial offices of all the papers, reviewing the American events of greatest interest of the past week, and commenting upon their significance.

Special Services

From the Foreign Press Bureau in New York, under the directorship of Mr. Ernest Poole, we received special articles and feature stories through the diplomatic pouch. These articles we found of great value, but they presented enormous difficulties. They had to be rewritten and edited from the Swiss point of view and connected with events in Switzerland, before they were translated. Until the armistice negotiations began to absorb public attention, we placed almost 100 per cent of these articles which we succeeded in having translated. On October 8 I was able to report to the Foreign Press Bureau that during the previous six weeks we had records of 123 separate articles published (some had been given exclusively to one paper or magazine, others to agencies and had appeared in a number of papers) ; 72 accepted by papers and magazines but not yet printed; 59 on hand translated but not distributed; 22 sent out to translators but not yet returned. Extracts from the Foreign Press Bureau were useful as news items also, although they were many weeks old when we received them.

This department sent a biweekly information service to the editorial staffs of the newspapers, including in this service such material as Secretary Baker's military report, the Shipping Board's report, Navy reports on naval constructions, etc. Many extracts from them were printed in the press and they furnished good material for editorials.

The Mittel Presse, an agency which served a collection of small German Swiss papers, formerly considered pro- German, accepted a service of special articles from us three times a week.

A number of pamphlets were issued and circulated, including one of the Bolshevik revelations. President Wilson's speeches, and one on America's achievement in the first year of the war. These pamphlets were printed in comparatively small numbers — about 10,000 in the first edition. They were distributed free to men of prominence and influence and put on sale at bookshops and news stands at a nominal price. The sales brought no return to us.

Still, Photographs

Under- the direction of Mr. Valentini we received from the Foreign Press Bureau photographs illustrating some of their special articles. We received from the Photographic Division of the United States Army photographs of American activities in France and on the front. These we placed successfully in illustrated magazines and papers, hut the particular use made of them was for displays in shop windows and in small glass cases along the arcaded streets of the Swiss cities. In October, 1918, we reported that 1,988 enlarged photographs of 127 different kinds were then on exhibition in 77 places in 33 towns.

Motion -picture Films

[Also under the direction of Mr. Valentine.]

The Allies recognized that this was an important field of propaganda and appointed an interallied committee to work out a plan of cooperation. The mere report of joint action on the part of the Allies caused one of the German-owned companies to offer for sale their large chain of houses. In spite of this indication of the power of the joint allied actions, the Allies could agree to no plans, except that no allied film of commercial value should be sold except on conditionthat a certain per cent of news or the propaganda film should be shown with it. When the armistice was signed the need of controlling the cinema situation ended. In the meantime, the British and French disputed that American propaganda on news films should be shown with American films of commercial value, because the British claimed that all American ■commercial films were British property because the accepted business method is to sell American films to British firms who reproduce them in England on British material. The French claimed they were French property because the method of renting them in Europe was through French firms with right for other countries^ For this reason the Committee on Public Information in Washington sent through the diplomatic pouch directly to me about 145,000 feet, or about 195 reels, of romantic story films of commercial value to which we could attach American news or propaganda for an entire American program. After the armistice we sold at a price satisfactory to the former owners all but two of these films. Beginning in September we received weekly consignment of news films from the American Expeditionary Forces.

The failure of the Allies to act in concert had no serious consequences, as the motion-picture houses in Switzerland were almost continuously closed on account of a succession of epidemics of Spanish gTippe.

Swiss Mission

We sent a delegation of six of the most prominent editors in Switzerland representing the six largest newspapers there on a trip to the United States.

president's message.

n ^ We obtainecl wide publicity for a message from President

' " Wilson sent on November 7 to the peoples of the nations liberated from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As connections between Switzerland and Austria were broken and no information could be obtained as to conditions across the Austrian frontier, I took the message across myself.

Success. ■

I believe the work of the Committee on Public Information in Switzerland was undoubtedly successful. When we opened our office there was very little knowledge of the American situation, either there or in the Central Empires. "^ Soon American prowess was the chief topic of comment. The j)roof that our activities had something to do with this change was to be found in the frequent comments in the German and German Swiss press on our service. The Morgen Zeitung, a German-owned paper in Zurich, explained that our news service offered the only information obtainable about the war craze that had taken hold of America. It was openly acknowledged that the United States had the most friendly press support of all the Allies in Switzerland.

Policy

The policy of the Committee on Public Information was to buy no papers, people, business, or buildings. Not one cent went for corruption of any sort — subsidies or bribes — or was spent in any illegal manner.

The Swiss Government

The Swiss Government in all its departments with which my work brought me in contact was unfailingly friendly and helpful.

Resignation

After the armistice was signed, I felt my work had been done. I resigned and left Switzerland December 25. Mr. Guy Croswell Smith then took charge and remained until the office was closed, February 23, 1919.

Mrs. Norman de R. Whitehouse,

G omTYhlssioTier For Switzerland.

As Mrs. Whitehouse has submitted a report covering the activities of the Berne office up to December 25, I will speak of the continuance of the work until the close of the office on February 28, 1919.

I completed the publication of the various booklets which Mrs. Whitehouse had started. These were printed in German and included " The League of Nations," President Wilson's speeches, and several other of the most important of the committee's publications. They were circulated not only throughout Switzerland but in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Balkan countries.

The daily news service, weekly bulletins, and other special information services were continued to within a few days of our closing, and their termination was a matter of great regret to the press of Switzerland, who had come to rely upon our office for authentic, unbiased American news. Upon the announcement of the closing of our office I received letters Pi.nd expressions not only from the newspapers throughout the country, but from Swiss Government officials, the American Legation, and the office of the American military attache, a few of which I beg leave to quote :

From the general manager of the Agence Telegraphique Suisse :

We are sorry indeed to learn tMt the Committee on Public Information is soon to close its office in Switzerland. Our papers will certainly regret it, for they have highly appreciated its interesting news service coming directly from the United States and which doubtless has exercised a great influence upon the cordial relations between the two Republics.

We wish that this service might continue under some form or other. It will be a great pity if the Swiss press receives its American /. news only through the channel of foreign agencies. /

From William E. Eappard, professor. University of Geneva, and one of the most prominent men in Switzerland :

* * * May I avail myself of this opportunity to congratulate you on the happy results your intelligent activity has achieved? Your office has certainly contributed to' establish the good understanding which now so fortunately prevails between our two Republics.

From the Gazette de Lausanne, February 25 :

The American press bureau which has been established in Berne as a part of the Committee on Public Information closes this week. Always scrupulously truthful, always well informed, the committee has supplied the press and authorities of Switzerland with much valuable information and was also a beneficent factor to aid those who were fighting against insidious German propaganda. The results were slow to manifest themselves ; nevertheless, progress was certain. .

Editorial written by Swiss Middle Press News Bureau and used in many papers :

It is stated that the American Committee on Public Information at Berne will close its bureau and discontinue its news service on the 22d February.

This announcement can not be passed over in silence. The American press service in Switzerland, as no other bureau which supplied the Swiss press with news and articles, has from the start taken a position vvhich placed it far above the usual standard of propaganda. In this respect it formed a counterpart to the Swiss Mission, which not long ago went to America and was accompanied by Minister Sulzer, because it made it its principal object to explain to the Swiss the true conditions and intentions of America and to bring the two Republics to a better mutual understanding. Just because of this liigh interpretation of its tasl<:, it has fulfilled its purpose. As far as its activity concerned the war, it was anything but an imperialistic war agitation ; rather has it carried on only propaganda for a just and lasting peace and thereby gained the full appreciation of Switzerland. There Is probably no State and no statesman so highly esteemed and regarded with so much confidence in Switzerland as the North American Union and its President Wilson.

Guy CEOgwELL Smith.

[← The Work in Holland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/32-the-work-in-holland/) [Work in Italy →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/34-work-in-italy/)

Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, George Creel, Chairman, Committee on Public Information. A work of the United States government, printed by the Government Printing Office in 1920, so not protected by copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. 105) and in the public domain by age as well. The Library of Congress states that it is unaware of any copyright restrictions on the item. [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-cpi-complete-report-1920/).