The Dangers of ‘Going Native’: George Montandon in Siberia and the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1919–1922

Abstract

This article focuses on humanitarians by studying the interactions between the International Committee of the Red Cross and one of his delegates, George Montandon, between 1919 and1922. Montandon was charged with a fact-finding mission in Siberia that set the basis for larger repatriation plans on behalf of prisoners of war from the Central Powers. This article explores the nature and circulation of expertise -formal and informal -in connection with Montandon's private and professional life before the mission, during the mission itself and once the mission was over. Being a delegate for the ICRC was not a profession but rather a break from established professions as doctors, military officers and scholars in Switzerland. However, experts associated with the work of the Geneva organisation at the headquarters and at the ground level brought a vast set of skills to international humanitarianism. Through a spectrum of transnational connections and networks, at the end of the First World War the ICRC experienced processes of specialisation and standardisation of tasks which had already started in wartime. This article argues that the impulse towards an increasing professionalisation of humanitarianism 'clashed'

George Montandon, the Ainu and the theory of hologenesis

“…The Red Cross nevertheless suspected Montandon of misappropriation of funds and failure to stick to his mission objectives, leading to an investigation after his return to Switzerland. The officers of the Red Cross were likely unconvinced by his defense that anthropology was a free-time hobby for him just like playing a musical instrument, but they ultimately decided to drop the case because his original instructions had been vague and the Red Cross’s files relating to the mission were in a state of complete disarray (Piana 2016, 264, 267–268).…”

“…Montandon seems to have carefully hidden his antisemitism from public view before 1938. He worked in several international humanitarian groups, including the Red Cross and an anti-slavery organization, and he was even an active communist for several years (Piana 2016; Conklin 2013). In the most complete account of his life (which nonetheless only forms a portion of her history of modern French anthropology), Alice Conklin has masterfully charted the circles in which he moved and the reception of his work in interwar France (Conklin 2013).…”

“…Though the Central Powers had surrendered, civil war still raged in Russia, trapping thousands of prisoners of war of different nationalities in Siberia. Montandon secured a position as a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross charged with facilitating the repatriation of Austrian, Hungarian and Turkish POWs in Siberia, departing in March 1919 (Piana 2016). Regardless of Montandon's other goals, he must have viewed an all expenses paid trip to remote regions as a perfect opportunity to conduct further anthropological and ethnographic fieldwork that could propel him into the highest reaches of the academic establishment at home.…”

“…The Red Cross seriously considered replacing the maverick Montandon, but eventually agreed to an extension of his mission. Montandon continued to take bold, unilateral actions in the name of the Red Cross, most notably creating a "relief train" ("the Montandon Train") that could travel around Siberia providing aid for prisoners, but whose operation required a good deal of compromise with local warlords and the Red Army (Piana 2016). Finally, in 1921, Montandon's mission was concluded, and he decided to make his way back to Switzerland westward via Moscow.…”

Fascist Samurais: the Japanese race in the Italian imaginary during the Second World War and beyond

“…Montandon had begun his research on the Ainu in 1919 when he was still cultivating his passion for descriptive ethnography, while his academic career was yet undetermined. Searching for new travel adventures while living in Switzerland and working as a medical doctor, he managed to become a leading member of the Red Cross mission in Siberia, with a mandate to repatriate war prisoners while offering medical support (Piana 2016). Travelling through Siberia by train, Montandon dedicated himself to writing ethnographic reports on several indigenous populations, including the Ainu living on the Sakhalin Island of Japan.…”