Alfred Siegfried (teacher)

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Alfred Siegfried (born February 15, 1890 in Lucerne ; † March 27, 1972 in Oetwil am See ) was a Swiss teacher and person in charge of the children's racial welfare organization Kinder der Landstrasse of the Pro Juventute Foundation .

Life

Siegfried was the son of the metal goods dealer Karl Siegfried and his wife Emilie Maria Josefa geb. Lehmann. He married Maria Anna Ermatinger in 1930. From 1906 to 1909 he attended the teachers' college in Lucerne and was a primary school teacher in Lucerne from 1909 to 1913. From 1913 to 1921 he studied new languages ​​and history at the University of Basel , where he also received his doctorate. From 1915 to 1918 he was a secondary teacher and district secretary of Pro Juventute in Lucerne. In 1918 he switched to the humanistic grammar school in Basel, where he was convicted of sexual abuse of a student in 1924 and dismissed from school.

Act

Siegfried was a controversial employee of the central secretariat of Pro Juventute from 1924 to 1959 , where he founded the aid organization for the children of Landstrasse and headed it until 1958. Until 1972, the “relief organization” separated parents and children from travelers ( Yeniche , Sinti ).

From 1937 to 1939 Siegfried was President of the Swiss Working Group for Spanish Children . In 1940 he founded the Swiss Working Group for War-Damaged Children (SAK) with Rodolfo Olgiati and Fritz Wartenweiler . From 1942 to 1949 he worked in the Swiss Red Cross .

criticism

Siegfried's genocidal practice of separating parents and children from travelers was uncovered by Hans Caprez in several reports in the Schweizerischer Beobachter from 1972 onwards , and has been the subject of historical analysis for several years, despite resistance from Pro Juventute .

Quote

“… The individual anti-social is always in a weak position in relation to the population as a whole; one way or another, it will come under the wheels and either be classified or rendered harmless. Therefore, its danger to society is low. The antisocial clan, on the other hand, is to be assessed very differently ... Whoever wants to successfully combat vagueness must try to break the association of the traveling people, he must, as hard as that sounds, tear the family community apart. ... "

- Alfred Siegfried, 1942

literature

  • Walter Leimgruber et al .: The relief organization for the children of the Landstrasse. 1998
  • Sara Galle, Thomas Meier: Of people and files: The “Children of the Landstrasse” campaign by the Pro Juventute Foundation. Zurich: Chronos, 2009. ISBN 9783034009447

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Sara Galle: Siegfried, Alfred. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ↑ Lecture by Dr. Thomas Huonker, Bern, January 28, 2006 (PDF; 5 MB) , accessed on September 30, 2013
  3. ↑ Worst clan , article in the mirror, No. 48/1987 of November 23, 1987
  4. ^ Lecture by Alfred Siegfried: On combating vagueness in Switzerland , accessed on September 30, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Siegfried, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss teacher and responsible for the children's racial welfare organization Kinder der Landstrasse of the Pro Juventute Foundation
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1972
Place of death Oetwil am See