The United Nations building in Geneva is the second largest United Nations site. The building itself is the Palais des Nations building. It was originally constructed between 1929 and 1938 for the ill-fated League of Nations. It was expanded in the early 50’s and then again in the late 1960’s. So this picture would have been taken between the two construction periods.
The International Conference on the Settlement of the Laotian Question would have been held in this building at the time. It was convened to pledge to respect Laotian neutrality and had 14 Nations in attendance. They were Burma, Cambodia, Canada, the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, France, India, Poland, the Republic of Vietnam, Thailand, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The car on the right is an Volvo Amazon 122 Sedan. It was one of the most commonly produced cars in Europe and a pretty popular vehicle in the United States also. Next to it is another popular vehicle, the distinctive rounded back of the poplar Volkswagen Beetle. There may be another Amazon or two in the picture, and possibly an Vovlvo station wagon a bit further down too. I think there is a Citroen over on the right side, but I don’t know for sure.
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