Fritz Wartenweiler

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Fritz Wartenweiler (born August 20, 1889 in Kradolf , Canton Thurgau , † July 20, 1985 in Frauenfeld ) was a Swiss writer , pedagogue , popular educator and promoter of the " Education permanente " "missionary of human reason", internationalist and pacifist . He is considered to be the founder of adult education in Switzerland.

Haus zum "Nussbaum", long-term home of the Wartenweiler-Haffter family in Frauenfeld

Live and act

Fritz Wartenweiler grew up as the son of the chicory roaster Eduard Wartenweiler and his wife Hermine nee Kreis. 1896–1900 he lived with grandfather, uncle and aunt on the Asperüti farm in Neukirch an der Thur . At the age of 15 he entered the Frauenfeld grammar school , which he completed in 1909 with the Matura. He studied philology in Berlin (1909–1910) and philosophy in Copenhagen (1910–1911). From 1909 to 1910 he was an assistant teacher at the folk high school Ryslinge Folkehøjskole (Second Community College of the world, founded in 1851 by Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig ) on the Danish island of Funen .

In 1912 he married Elsa Haffter, nine years his senior. He finished his studies in Zurich with the dissertation supervised by Willy Freytag : A Nordic People's Educator; The development of NFS Grundtvig to the father of the adult education center and became a doctor phil. I, pedagogy. In 1913 he was a teacher in Wilen TG and taught at the agricultural school. From 1914 to 1917 he was the seminar director in Solothurn . During the First World War he did active service from 1914 to 1918 and made his first attempts at adult education with young soldiers.

Following the example of the adult education centers in Denmark, Fritz Wartenweiler founded the “Nussbaum” adult education center in Frauenfeld in 1919 and the Herzberg adult education center in Densbüren near Aarau in 1935 . In 1926 Wartenweiler was a co-founder of the association “Friends of Swiss People's Education Homes”. From 1936 to 1939 he conducted courses for young men on Staffelegg in the "Volksbildungsheim Herzberg". During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) he organized aid campaigns for the children and took part in the reception and care of refugees.

During the Second World War , Wartenweiler did active service for the Army and Home Section from 1939 to 1945 . In his books of 1949 and 1955, Wartenweiler dealt with the international organizations of the FAO , WHO and UNESCO . In 1955 he was on the patronage committee of the newly founded "Swiss Aid Organization for Non-European Areas" (SHAG), later Helvetas . The elderly spent the last years of his life in a nursing home in Frauenfeld.

Writer and educator

As a public educator, Wartenweiler dealt in his extensive literary work with international understanding and the role model effect of humane personalities under the motto:

"There is nothing more important than keeping the peace."

His first article in 1920 in the socialist weekly Der Aufbau was followed by countless books.

Youth book author

As a people's educator, Wartenweiler knew how important positive role models ( learning from models ) are for the healthy development of young people. For the Schweizerische Jugendschriftenwerk (SJW) he wrote a whole series of biographies of outstanding personalities who could serve as role models for young people.

People's Enlightenment

Wartenweiler received the decisive impetus for the development of his “life school” at the adult education center in Denmark: "The whole year and a half in Denmark enabled me to clearly feel:" Here lies the task of your life! Make sure that a growing number of young adults from all walks of life, from different occupations and levels, after the storms of Tire, wander towards the common goal: to learn to live. That means: to penetrate into the ups and downs of our existence, in pleasure and concern, in understanding and anticipation, in back and forth: to seek the way out of the busy everyday life into the sublime. Help them to grasp something of the interaction in all areas: of young and old, of man and woman, of parents and children! ... Not with dead learning, but with the tool that Grundtvig called: with the "living one." Word." (Fritz Wartenweiler: A nineties is looking for )

Known as the “man with the rucksack”, Wartenweiler was often out and about in Switzerland for months during his lectures.

“The time has become more serious. It takes more effort. It calls for greater deepening. She needs warmer devotion. It demands more sacrifices. She needs more energy. She needs the highest love. "

- Fritz Wartenweiler

As early as 1919 he gave his first course for young men in the "Nussbaum" in Frauenfeld. From 1923 Wartenweiler conducted courses in the Neukirch an der Thur home founded by Didi Blumer (1883–1973) . From 1936 to 1939 he trained young men in the Herzberg educational center . During the Second World War, Fritz Wartenweiler gave over 6,000 lectures on intellectual national defense for the Army and House Section of the Swiss Army from 1939 to 1945 .

At the age of 80 he opened his traveling exhibition in the Rotapfelgalerie and traveled with it through Switzerland for many months. He also expanded his lecturing activities on Scandinavia.

Works (selection)

  • 1912: About life at a Danish adult education center. Walnut dispatch by H. Brigati, Zurich 1935.
  • 1930: "Bestseller" about Fridtjof Nansen
  • 1932: Friede disarming, upgrading. Zurich.
  • 1934: Leading Swiss in difficult times of crisis: Brother Klaus, Escher von der Linth, General Dufour. Erlenbach.
  • 1935: Näbis-Uli , the poor man in Toggenburg (1735–1798). Nussbaum-Versand H. Brigati, Zurich.
  • 1936: People's education centers for what? Rotapfel-Verlag, Erlenbach-Zurich.
  • 1939: twenty years in the service of popular education. Walnut shipping. Friends switzerland. People's education centers.
  • 1939: The Swiss are looking for the truth - Swiss truth researchers in the 19th century. Rotapfel-Verlag, Erlenbach-Zurich.
  • 1941: Mecha nünt do! - Make me cha öppis. Homeland week on the Herzberg 1941. Volksbildungsheim “Herzberg”, Asp (Aargau).
  • 1942: Gotthelf the farmer and the non-farmer in the wartime plant factory. Swiss Association. Consumers' associations, Bern.
  • 1949: UNESCO appoints popular educators to Elsinore . Fritz Wartenweiler, Frauenfeld.
  • 1951: What are we doing for peace? Red apple, Zurich.
  • 1954: August Forel : A struggle for life for the health of body and soul. Swiss association of abstinent teachers, Bern.
  • 1955: The world is rich - Vom Ringen d. World organizations for bread: FAO, work: ILO, health: WHO, spiritual life: UNESCO. Red apple, Zurich.
  • 1955: Mahatma Gandhi : The great soul of India. Swiss association of abstinent teachers.
  • 1955: Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth (1767–1823): “The necessary reforms at the right time! Otherwise the revolution will come. ” Hauenstein, Olten.
  • 1956: Suez ... Asia - Africa.
  • 1959: A seventies thanks.
  • 1959: courage. A bunch of lectures and articles . Rotapfel Verlag, Zurich
  • 1960: Adventure in the fight against hunger. Good writings, Zurich
  • 1967: Elisabeth Müller and her world. Red apple, Zurich.
  • 1969: wake-up calls.
  • 1979: Autobiography A nineties is looking for . Rotapfel Verlag, Zurich, ISBN 3-85867-098-7

Youth literature

  • Fridtjof Nansen. A hero of peace. Part I: Forward (Fram) to the North Pole. SJW booklet 11
  • Fridtjof Nansen 1861–1939. Hero of peace. Part II: Forward to Charity From 12 years, SJW booklet 25
  • The jungle doctor Schweitzer . From 12 years, SJW booklet 49
  • Hans Konrad Escher from Linth. SJW double issue 54/55
  • “It drives electrically.” Technology and traffic. From 12 years, SJW booklet 388
  • General Dufour - the best Swiss soldier. From 12 years, SJW booklet 444
  • Max Huber - A Swiss man in the service of humanity. From 14 years, SJW booklet 517
  • David Ben Gurion : from farm worker to head of state. SJW-Verlag, Zurich 1957 or 1961
  • Dag Hammarskjöld : negotiate, mediate, reconcile. SJW-Verlag, Zurich 1962
  • General Guisan . From 13 years, 1964, SJW booklet 878

literature

  • HB: The Herzberg adult education center on Staffelegg. In: The Bern Week in Words and Images , Vol. 27, 1937, pp. 618–620. ( e-periodica )
  • Franz Josef Graab: Fritz Wartenweiler and adult education in Switzerland . Rotapfel Verlag, Zurich 1975, ISBN 978-3-85867-076-2 .
  • Alfred A. Häsler : outsiders - insiders. 28 portraits from Switzerland. Huber, Frauenfeld 1983, pp. 63-68.
  • Hans Ruedi Fischer: Missionary of human reason - In memoriam Fritz Wartenweiler. Church messenger of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of St. Gallen, November 1989.
  • Necrology for Fritz Wartenweiler. In: Thurgauer Jahrbuch , Vol. 61, 1986, p. 206. ( e-periodica.ch )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wartenweiler, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss writer
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Kradolf-Schönenberg
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1985
Place of death Frauenfeld