The Ascona conversation between Luther and Briand: comparison of archival sources and press reports

Organizer: Società Storica Locarnese

Locarno. Palazzo Marcacci.

Wednesday, 21 October 2025, 6:00 pm.

Admission: free.

Recommended age: no limit.

• Event website

French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand and German Chancellor Hans Luther met for a discreet talk at the Elvezia Hotel in Ascona. The event is commemorated by a gray marble plaque with the words, "Here on October 7, 1925, Briand and Luther laid the foundations of the peace of Locarno." At the top of the plaque, fixed in bronze, is a portrait of the two statesmen by sculptor Fiorenzo Abbondio.

The meeting and its local revolts were described by Mario Agliati, showing in an exemplary way how an event of international significance can inscribe itself in the village memory, in the picturesque local tradition.

Even at the time, in reporting on the meeting some newspapers confused Stresemann and Luther. Many were the speculations about what the two statesmen had said to each other in the meeting held outside the conference room. The press made various inferences. Today, thanks to the archives, we know the details of the meeting from Luther's notes. We can therefore analyze the convergences and differences between popular tradition, what was reported at the time by the press, and what was instead documented by those directly involved. A short lesson on the use of historical sources.

Rodolfo Huber

A former president of the Società Storica Locarnese, he studied history at the University of Zurich, earning his doctorate in 1991 and has been an archivist for the City of Locarno since 1988.