The Swiss Evidence
by Alain Hirt
Author Alain Hirt is the creator of the YouTube Channel Via Historia. He is also a citizen of Switzerland. Therefore he was in a position to do the first book about the mystery of Albert Schweitzer College (ASC), which was located in that country at the town of Churwalden. His book is entitled The Swiss Evidence. This rather unusual “college” figures in the John Kennedy assassination due to its tangential connection to Lee Harvey Oswald.
If the reader will recall, one of the strangest aspects of Oswald’s strange life was the episode of his hardship discharge from the Marines. In the summer of 1959, Oswald reported to the American Red Cross office at the Marine Corps Air station at the El Toro base in Santa Ana, California. He said (falsely) that his mother had been permanently disabled due to an accident at work. A box of candy had fallen on her nose while she was conducting sales at the King Candy booth in the Fair Ridglea Department Store in Fort Worth. Therefore, he was now applying for a ‘Q’ allotment to be sent to her from his check, which began in August. He also inquired about the paperwork to begin an application for a hardship discharge, in order to return to Texas to her aid. (Harvey and Lee, by John Armstrong, p. 240) Yet, that injury had occurred seven months previous. (James DiEugenio, Destiny Betrayed, second edition, p. 136)
This hardship application—or dependency discharge--was processed in both Texas, by Oswald’s mother Marguerite, and in California, by Oswald. An interesting aspect of this dual process was the interview that Dr. Milton Goldberg did with the FBI on the day of the JFK assassination. Goldberg was one of the doctors that Marguerite went to for both the discharge and a lawsuit she wished to file against Liberty Insurance.
Goldberg told the Bureau that he found a laceration. Then he took X-rays that revealed no fracture. But the woman kept returning to him complaining about certain ailments. Yet, even after doing more X rays, he could find no permanent disability. Therefore he could not go along with her claim as such. He was kind enough to refer her to two other physicians. He then offered an interesting aside. He told the Bureau that Marguerite said that her son wanted to defect to Russia. This was six months before Oswald went to the Red Cross to begin his application for the hardship discharge, and nine months before that discharge was formally granted. (Ibid)
There are further oddities about this episode. Oswald filed his petition on August 17th. It was approved in just ten days. Four days later, Oswald gained permission to leave the Marines. When the House Select Committee on Assassinations went over this process, they interviewed the senior board member of Oswald’s discharge review committee. He told them that, compared to the two-week pro forma process granted to Oswald, it usually took 3-6 months for an application to be reviewed for approval. (HSCA interview of Colonel B. J. Kozak on 8/27/78). The capper is that when Oswald left California, he only stayed with his mother for a total of three days. Yet, helping her was the ostensible reason for his early release. (DiEugenio, p. 137) The whole hardship discharge process suggests that it was a pretext to get Oswald out of the Marines and on his way to Russia.
In mid-March of 1959, Oswald picked up a form application to file for attendance at Albert Schweitzer College. How he located an application for this obscure institution high in the Swiss Alps is a question we will return to later. On his application he wrote that he wanted to become a short story writer. (Hirt, p. 19) Of which there is no indication he ever really wanted to do.
After Oswald defected, Marguerite tried to get in contact with her son. She got no word from him for weeks, only a returned letter. Was he lost? Lee had his mail redirected from El Toro to his mother’s address. So she did get a letter from Hans Casparis, the director of Albert Schweitzer College. (Hirt, p. 22) Casparis, apparently expecting him, alerted the potential student to changes in the beginning and ending of terms. This led her to think that Oswald would be there. Afterwards, she got in contact with the FBI about the apparently missing Lee. Agent John Fain visited her and she told Fain about his possible attendance at the Swiss college.
Fain filed a report with Director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover now began to do a search for Albert Schweitzer College. Hoover’s embassy agents in Paris got in contact with the Swiss police. Reportedly, it took them three months to find the place. (Hirt, pp. 23-24). They then visited and found out that Oswald had never shown up. The letters between the Swiss authorities and the FBI reps in Europe--called legats-- were classified. They were not declassified until 1995 when the Assassination Records Review Board requested they be opened. Marguerite also got in contact with Casparis and asked if her son ever arrived there. On April 26, 1960, Casparis sent a letter to her saying he had not, even though he had been accepted and paid a $25.00 application fee.
Hirt does not find the story that the Swiss police took three months to find the college credible. Since he is a Swiss citizen, he had access to the phone books of that era. He proves that the college was listed. (Hirt, p. 216) Could the police really have missed such an obvious clue? The author does not believe that is possible. For example, in 1963, a CIA agent in Switzerland did find the entry. (Hirt, p. 273) He thinks that this was part of a deliberate delaying action, one that attempted to hide the fact that the local authorities did not really want to reveal what they knew about the institute. In addition, he states that the Warren Commission never really investigated the college either. (ibid, p. 25)
Hirt maintains that the only reason the Commission even gave the Albert Schweitzer College the minimum attention it did was due to Marguerite. She first let her congressman, Jim Wright, know about the matter of her supposedly lost son. In turn, Wright contacted the college and asked them to send Oswald’s folder to the USA. (p. 217) Then when the mother testified to the Commission, she brought her son’s application papers and her letters to and from Casparis. That is how these documents became exhibits for the Commission. (Exhibits 228 and 236 in Volume XVI)
As one would guess, Allen Dulles looms large in this book. Dulles was stationed in Bern during World War II and became familiar with Swiss intelligence and their diplomats. From Bern, Dulles organized Operation Sunrise, the early negotiations for the German surrender which were handled by Dulles and SS General Karl Wolff, with assistance from Swiss intelligence Major Max Waibel. (Hirt, p. 40)
After the war Swiss intelligence kept files on hundreds of thousands of citizens, many of them honest and law abiding. (ibid, p. 49) Much of this was due to a fear of communism. Hirt makes the argument that although Switzerland was supposed to be a neutral country, it really was not. Originating with Dulles, it was an ally of the United States during the Cold War. In fact, it prosecuted communists who dared criticize the government. (p. 50) In the military, a common exercise was to simulate Switzerland being invaded by the USSR. In conjunction with this, there was a ‘stay behind’ operation organized in 1956 that was not exposed until 1990. (ibid) As many will know, this was part of Operation Gladio, designed to resist a Soviet invasion. Clearly, Switzerland favored America in the Cold War.
In 1946-47 Hans Casparis took a year-long sabbatical to study at the University of Chicago. This was when he was in his forties and was a teacher in Chur, in the canton of Graubunden. The following year, he published a book called American Churches and Sects. (Hirt, p. 61) In this book, Casparis particularly praised two denominations, the Quakers and the Unitarians. At Chicago, he met James Luther Adams, one of the most influential Unitarians and liberal theologians of the era. He was a member of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), an international and inter-denominational outreach program of the Unitarians founded in 1900.
Hirt clearly hints that it was this association with Adams and the Unitarians that gave Casparis the idea for Albert Schweitzer College. He wanted to create an international education center based upon religious freedom. And the IARF approved it. Adams became the first chair of that school’s admission committee and would also be associated with the American Friends of Albert Schweitzer College Inc., which collected tax deductible donations from 1953 onward. That committee was first based in Providence, Rhode Island. Both Adams and Robert Schacht were on it. (p. 64)
Casparis was elected president of ASC and it operated as a kind of Swiss haven for summer classes from 1950-52. But there were no Unitarians in Switzerland, so its Unitarian backers in America supplied both the students and the donations. Then in 1953 ASC officially registered in the town of Chur with Casparis as president. (Hirt, p. 72) One of the things that made the ASC unusual is that it never granted any diplomas. (ibid, p. 73) It did grant credits, but there were very few colleges in America with arrangements to accept them. One of them was Antioch College in Ohio, which Ruth Paine attended.
Casparis purchased the annex building to the former Hotel Krone to house the classes. (Hirt, p. 75) And a board was appointed, called Friends of Albert Schweitzer College in New York. It featured Percival Brundage, who, as we shall see, was a key figure in both the American establishment and the ASC. That group’s aim was to collect tax deductible donations for the college. Classes were begun in 1953, while terms were to formally begin in the fall of 1954, but were delayed for one year. (Hirt, p. 76) Hirt makes it clear that he was never able to locate how Casparis, the first president and director of ASC, was able to find the money to buy the hotel annex. (Hirt, p. 77)
As mentioned, the Unitarian associations backing ASC in America found the students and provided the funds for their tuition. And, in turn, this likely paid for the lecturers and translators, since classes were presented in German and English. (Ibid, p. 232) The tuition was 1,260 Swiss francs per term which included lodging. (Hirt, p. 234)
One of the enduring mysteries about ASC has always been: How did Oswald find out about this rather obscure institution? Further, why did he apply there and how was he apparently accepted? Clearly, the Warren Commission did not want to delve into these areas. Oswald applied for the third and last term of the 1959-60 year. (Hirt, p. 245) The late George Michael Evica, the previous researcher who did extensive work in this area, could not find any pertinent ads in the Unitarian publication, The Christian Register.
The likely conduit that the author centers on is Kerry Thornley. (Hirt, p. 254) Thornley was with Oswald in the Marines at Santa Ana. Thornley attended the large First Unitarian church in Los Angeles where the famous minister Stephen Fritchman held services and which the FBI monitored. Thornley briefly attended USC, which is close to the Fritchman church. The Bureau quickly found Thornley after the JFK murder. One of the things they asked him about was Fritchman’s church. So, in all likelihood, they also suspected Thornley had given Oswald the application. To top it off, Thornley became the Commission’s prime witness to label Oswald a communist while in the Marines.
Robert Schacht processed the Oswald application with three reference letters, one from a chaplain in Santa Ana. (Hirt, p. 261) Richard Call was Oswald’s immediate supervisor in the radar unit at the El Toro base. He said Oswald was studying the Russian language through books, periodicals and records. Oswald told him about his hardship discharge, which Call was surprised about. He also said that Oswald told him he had been accepted at a university in Switzerland. In his original FBI affidavit, with his memory fresher, Call went further. He said Oswald told him he had been awarded a scholarship at Albert Schweitzer. (HSCA interview of 6/6/78, FBI affidavit of May 20, 1964)
All this poses the unanswerable question: Did Oswald really intend to go to the ASC? Or was this part of an elaborate scheme, a diversion, to defect to Russia? Because of the ultimate result, it would appear to be the latter.
As the author notes, Percival Brundage was a major figure in the development and life of the ASC; this was through the Unitarian church. Which, on its face, is rather unusual. Especially when one considers the prominence of Brundage on the American scene, and the rather minor importance of the institute. One way to explain this apparent paradox is that, as George Michael Evica explained, Allen Dulles used the Unitarians. This was first with the OSS during the war and then later when he helmed the CIA: “In fact, this association became so prevalent that by 1960 all Quaker/Unitarian welfare agencies were placed under suspicion by the KGB.” (Evica, A Certain Arrogance, p. 116)
Brundage was the son of a Unitarian minister. He was educated at Harvard and became an accomplished accountant. Brundage served for two years as Budget Director during the Eisenhower administration. His involvement with the Unitarians included becoming a director of the American Unitarian Association. Hirt writes that Dulles used their relief programs out of Boston for intelligence gathering: “Unitarian workers such as Noel Field and Robert Dexter became OSS informants and couriers in Western Europe during the Second World War.” (p. 124)
Brundage was also one of the three incorporators of the Friends of ASC, which received and distributed funds for the institute. What makes Brundage even more interesting is, as Hirt outlines, his friendship with Allen Dulles. Plus the fact that he was a signatory for the purchase of the Southern Air Transport airline by the CIA. In fact, he became one of the major stockholders in the company. (Hirt, pp. 122-24) This was an infamous CIA front which was instrumental in both Indochina and Central America.
In the summer of 1953, Percival Brundage and his wife visited the fledgling Albert Schweitzer College. Casparis wrote about this visit in his report on the summer classes. He named him as the president of the IARF, and one of the founders of the Friends of Albert Schweitzer College Inc. He added that Brundage and his wife “…took part in important discussions about the future design of the college and gave us sound advice.” (Hirt, p.88)
As Hirt further notes, Allen Dulles was also in Switzerland in August of 1953, and the evidence is that he was there on two separate visits. As the author points out, this was just a few weeks after the founding assembly of the ASC, which took place in Churwalden on July 20. (Hirt, p. 87) Was this confluence all just a coincidence?
Besides Oswald, there does seem to have been another intelligence agent who applied to Albert Schweitzer. Except he actually attended during the academic year of 1958-59. His name was John Fleming of Louisville, Kentucky. He was an army cryptographer who later worked for the CIA in Korea and then Germany. (Hirt, pp. 312-14). This is the first time that this particular information has been reported to the public. But, as Hirt writes, it was known to the FBI and CIA.
This relates to the termination of the ASC. As Hirt observes, it appears that the Warren Commission did not want to let out very much information about the college that granted no diplomas and very few transferable credits. But Marguerite’s interest in her supposedly lost son, her communications with Casparis, and her appearance before the Commission compromised that seeming intent.
Hirt closes his book with two chapters which go into some detail about the downfall of the rather odd college. He relates a series of events--a failed move to the other, French speaking side of the country, the hiring of a very odd choice as the new director, and some rather unwise fund raising methods--that led to the demise of the institute. Throughout this chronicle of error and misjudgments, the author raises a jaundiced eyebrow. He does not think it was all a series of mistakes.
At the board meeting of the ASC in January of 1964 Casparis brought up the whole Oswald issue. Namely, the fact his application had been approved by Schacht, but Oswald did not report. He also told those in attendance that the FBI had gotten in contact with the college back in 1960 and then after the JFK murder, on November 25, 1963. This led to questions about the approval process. (Hirt, p. 317)
It was after this that the move was now considered and Casparis was against it. In fact, he wanted to buy the larger building next to the Krone annex. He was overruled and a new man was brought in, Hans Rosenwald. He had just been ordained as a Unitarian minister a month before he got to Switzerland. Rosenwald was not just for the move; he wanted to set up a new legal entity, a new sponsoring foundation and new by-laws. In fact, Rosenwald ended up being key to the move. Which did take place, and failed. (Hirt, pp. 330-32)
Rosenwald also approved of a kind of confederation with another educational institute, the Stockbridge School - which had just opened up a European branch on the same property. This was a private pre-collegiate boarding school located in Western Massachusetts. (Hirt, p. 333) Using some questionable means, Rosenwald got his plan through. As he did with a new foundation located in Liechtenstein.
To sum it all up, leaving out some other important factors—the book is over 500 pages long—this spelled finis for the ASC. Rosenwald eventually went to prison. (p. 390) Hirt suspects this was deliberate. He thinks that Dulles, now on the Commission, understood what the ASC association with Oswald would mean. Hirt postulates that Dulles got his friend Brundage to begin the changes to the institute that would blur the trail and then lead to its demise. Thus disappearing an interesting lead. (pp. 331-332)
Mr. Hirt has gone even further than George Michael Evica did in his exploration of the Albert Schweitzer College. As a Swiss citizen he has availed himself of resources available to him in that nation. By doing so he has taken our information about this institute to a higher level.
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(Ed. note - Alain Hirt's bio follows)
Alain Hirt is a Swiss citizen and the creator of the historical documentary YouTube channel Via Historia, which explores lesser-known historical events. His documentaries include "The History of the Mughals in India" (2020), "When Central Asia Becomes Russian" (2022), and "The Swiss Miracle" (2023). After a career in business intelligence, he applied his analytical skills, fact-based approach, and command of Switzerland’s national languages to this investigation, which led to his debut book.
