Skål International History: 1939
The World War
The General Secretariat of the AISC had its registered office in Brussels, as its Secretary General, Geo Thirty, although working in Antwerp, lived in that city.
On 1 February, the 'Berliner Beobachter', the mouthpiece of the Nazi government, and the ‘Berliner Borsen-Zeitung’ spoke of the IKT and announced that Skål was run by Jews and Freemasons. Accusation refuted by R. Waugh and H. Ostelius by circular letter: "In view of the attacks we have received, please inform your members of the real situation and leave them free to make a fair decision. Skål being a non-political association, we would ask the entire Steering Committee not to speak publicly on these matters".
On 3 February, the Secretary General of the German Chamber of Tourism, Georg W. Emich, writes to Honzatko of the RDV in Zurich, telling him about the IKT, ‘Internationalen Kameradschaft Turistik’. He explains that the Director is Winter and that the Vice-Presidents are Den from the Tokyo Ministry and Mario Mengoni from the Italian ENIT. The Presidium is held by Esser, Minister of State, Dr. Kiyasu, Japanese Minister of Transport, and Magrini, Director General of Tourism at the Italian Ministry of Popular Culture. The idea is clear, they are trying to do away with the Skål Club by creating another organisation, in which the character was clearly in line with the thinking of the Axis Alliance.
On 3 February, the Secretary General of the German Chamber of Tourism, Georg W. Emich, writes to Honzatko of the RDV in Zurich, telling him about the IKT, ‘Internationalen Kameradschaft Turistik’. He explains that the Director is Winter and that the Vice-Presidents are Den from the Tokyo Ministry and Mario Mengoni from the Italian ENIT. The Presidium is held by Esser, Minister of State, Dr. Kiyasu, Japanese Minister of Transport, and Magrini, Director General of Tourism at the Italian Ministry of Popular Culture. The idea is clear, they are trying to do away with the Skål Club by creating another organisation, in which the character was clearly in line with the thinking of the Axis Alliance.
This letter, with the text 'Heil Hitler', is in the General Secretariat. It is interesting to see how the Third Reich tried to do away with Skål, Rotary, the Freemasons, the Boy Scouts, etc.
A report from the Paris Skål Committee on the IKT was sent to the presidents of all the Skål Clubs. They were shocked by the attacks on ISAAC and asked the Committee not to take this point up at their next Assembly but to take it up at the next ISAAC Committee meeting. Skål Club Paris would like to remind ISCA of the aims of the organisation:
To be a link between tourism and transport professionals in order to bring them closer together.
To unite its members with an ideal of collaboration, outside of political, trade union or religious issues.
Development of tourism, through exchanges between tourism professionals from all countries.
To help in a disinterested way all organisations serving tourism exchanges.
In March, when Czechoslovakia was occupied, the newly founded Skål Club in Prague, which had attended the London Congress as an observer, disappeared without trace.
This document gave me the shivers, as some names are blank, such as a German who resigns from the Skål Club in Paris and does so with words of sorrow, which are also missing from the document. The French have tried not to involve this Skålleague or have not seen fit for Skål. This is a difficult point to resolve and impossible to complete.
This is a Tourism Amical organisation, and we want to keep it that way. Looking back, we see that our Committee continues with the same philosophy and that the Skål ethos reigns and manifests itself in all the actions of AISC:
"Events and peoples may change, but friendship, the fundamental principle and raison d'être of Skål, remains unchanged".
A request was made to reject any discussion with the IKT and to draw up a text based on the Paris Declaration. On the other hand, on 31 January, the IKT met at the Reich Ministry of Development and Propaganda and found the Berlin, Rome, Tokyo axis as a means of developing friendship between tourism professionals.
Greater Germany, Italy and Japan unite in defence of the IKT and approve its statutes. The father of the idea was Dr. Fritz Mahlo, advisor to the Ministry and head of the Reich Committee for Tourist Traffic, and for this reason he leads the Assembly until the election of a President. He addressed a speech in these terms:
"I am thrilled to see you here and especially happy to welcome the representatives of tourism from Italy and Japan. I remember the words of Goebbels in this very place a few days ago. We are here," he said, "to lay the foundations for the cultivation and harmonious relations between the tourism leaders of our three countries. When Germany decided to leave the Skål Club last year, we adopted the idea of unity among tourism professionals, with the expulsion of all Jews, Freemasons and other elements that are enemies of our states, which are run in a totalitarian manner. The IKT, which al-ready has 250 members, wants to organise itself into an international organisation. It is my wish and hope that the new association which we have initiated, the IKT, will serve to unite the good wishes of friendship which now exist between the propaganda organisations of our three countries, Italy, Japan and Germany. I therefore declare this Inaugural Assembly of the IKT open".
State Secretary Hermann Esser said: "The people of tourism at all levels must be united. One way was the AISC, to which Germany had belonged since 1937, but we soon realised that it did not correspond to our idea of international friendship. At the first Assembly we saw that the leadership was led by the powers of democracy and Freemasonry, Skål is dominated by politicians and with ideas that I think go against the development of tourism. The Jews are trying to take power for obvious reasons. Nobody knows better than we do that the Jews are not an element of understanding between peoples, but of disunity, nothing better than to set up an organisation that directs tourist traffic".
"Germany cannot be a member of an International Association whose ideas are contrary to National Socialism. In 1939, at the London meeting, Germany proposed the expulsion of the Jews from the AISC. Our proposal was rejected and for this reason we left the AISC and created the IKT. We are happy to see that our initiative has been taken up by the friendly states of Italy and Japan. The people of tourism wish to foster and cultivate friendship in an international association that is in accordance with the development of their people and with their idea of the nature of tourist traffic".
"This is the idea of the IKT, whose foundation we celebrate today in a festive way. We unite with the Italians and the Japanese and this fact will be appreciated when the great development of the world comes for these countries. We work in the service of a great ideal and we know that the work of our tourism sector will serve to promote peace and lay the foundations for peaceful development. This purpose serves our ideal among the people of tourism, for whom the foundations of this international organisation are being laid".
"I look forward to a rapid development of the IKT and I will always be ready to cooperate, my protection will be permanent".
Mario Mangoni spoke for Italy. He commented on the words of Count Ciano, considering tourists as ambassadors of the people. For Japan, Dr. Ghitama, a counsellor, said a few words and, like the Italian, corroborated what the Germans had said. Hans Gert Winter of the German Railway Information Office was appointed chairman of the IKT. The Director of the Japanese Railways and the Inspector General of the ENIT, Commendatore Mengoni, were elected as Vice-Presidents. Under the honorary chairmanship of Hermann Esser, Kenjiro Kinafu and Probo Magrini.
They were convinced that Yugoslavia, Hungary and Bulgaria would immediately join. The Statutes, by which they would be governed, were immediately approved. Within them a clause:
"Descendants of Jews and members of Masonic lodges are excluded."