Henri Ponsot
High Commissioner of the Levant
In office
August 1926 – 13 July 1933
Preceded byHenry de Jouvenel
Succeeded byDamien de Martel
Personal details
Born
Auguste Henri Ponsot

2 March 1877
Bologna, Italy
Died5 October 1963(1963-10-05) (aged 86)

Auguste Henri Ponsot (2 March 1877 – 5 October 1963)[1] was a French politician and statesman.

Life

Auguste Henri was born in Bologna, Italy. After law studies at the University of Dijon, Ponsot entered the diplomatic career in 1903. After having stayed in Siam, Berlin and Canada, he was appointed as the Secretary General of the Tunisian Government in 1922. Appointed to the Sub-Directorate of African Affairs, he negotiated with the Spain an agreement for a joint action in Morocco and lead the talks of Oujda in May 1925.

Ponsot became the French High Commissioner in Syria and Lebanon in August 1926 until 13 July 1933.[2][3] Afterwards, he served as the French resident-general in Morocco from August 1933 to March 1936. From 1936 to 1938, Ponsot was the French Ambassador to Turkey in Ankara.[4]

Later on, Ponsot led the discussions with Amin al-Husseini in which the French authorities expected an improvement in France's status in the Arab world through his intermediaries.[5] After the World War II, Ponsot worked in Geneva to participate in the creation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There he was in 1947 elected chairman of the International Refugee Organization[6] and was also tasked with liquidating the organization in 1952.[7] He remained in Geneva for seven years until his final retirement.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ French-mandated Syria and Lebanon (headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon) French High Commissioners
  2. ↑ Abdellah Ben Mlih (1990). Structures politiques du Maroc colonial. L'Harmattan. p. 345. ISBN 978-2-7384-0833-4.
  3. ↑ book of The French Mandate
  4. 1 2 Général Catroux (June 1963). "Un Grand Ambassadeur: Henri Ponsot" (pdf). Revue des Deux Mondes (in French): 538–547.
  5. ↑ Hershco, Tsilla (March 2006). "Le grand mufti de Jérusalem en France: Histoire d'une évasion" (PDF). Revue Controverses (1).
  6. ↑ "Part 2: The specialized agencies. Section 8: The International Refugee Organization. Chapter D: Preparatory Commission". Yearbook of the United Nations 1946-47 (PDF). United Nations Publications. 1947. p. 807.
  7. ↑ "International Refugee Organization". International Organization. 6 (2): 309. 1952. JSTOR 2704095.


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