Hugo Oltramare

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The Center Henri-Dunant in Geneva (former Hotel Carlton-Parc, today the seat of the ICRC) accommodated over 30,000 war-damaged children, mainly from France, from 1942 to 1945.

Hugo Oltramare (born July 2, 1887 in Buenos Aires , Argentina , † October 31, 1957 Geneva ) was a Swiss theologian and doctor , main initiator of the children's aid of the Swiss Red Cross (SRK, Kh) and a member of its executive committee.

Life and activities

Hugo Oltramare grew up as the eldest of the four sons of the doctor Gabriel Oltramare (1850-1906) and Marguerite-Françoise-Louise Bedot in Buenos Aires. The Oltramares were Italian Protestants who had fled to Geneva for religious reasons in the 16th century. In 1905 he went to Switzerland to complete the remainder of school at the Collège de Genève . He studied theology at the University of Geneva and graduated in 1911 with the thesis The prayer according to the philosophical thought of William James . His grandfather was Marc Jean Hugues Oltramare (1813-1891), professor of theology and translator of the New Testament. He became pastor of the Reformed Church of Pentemont in Paris, where he met Wilfred Monod .

Because of the First World War he returned to Geneva, where he became secretary in the Protestant parish of Eaux-Vives . Following the model of Monods, he introduced a voluntary social service and in 1916 was co-founder and editor of the Messager paroissial (today Messager social ).

In addition to his pastoral work, he studied at the medical faculty of the University of Geneva, where he received his doctorate in 1920. After the wedding, he moved to Paris with his wife, where he worked in the hospitals of Cochin , la Pitié and Salpêtrière . On his return he opened a practice as a general practitioner and psychoanalyst in Geneva. At the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute he gave free medical and psychological consultations for children for years. He was a student and friend of Henri Bergson .

He was a member of the democratic (later liberal) party and was involved in Les Équipes , a movement for national renewal. Around 1939 he became a board member of the Journal de Genève and was chairman of the consistory of the national Protestant church in Geneva.

Very early on he had been involved in helping war victims and especially children. He was a doctor at the French health center (dispensaire) and, in this function, a committee member of the French Secours national in Geneva. He was elected to the committee of the Geneva section of the Swiss Working Group for War Damaged Children (SAK) , founded in May 1940 , which was active in southern France. In January 1942 he was elected as a representative of the SAK in the executive committee (working committee) of the newly founded Children's Aid of the Swiss Red Cross (SRK, Kh) .

In 1920 he married Marcelle Barbey, the granddaughter of Gustave Ador , with whom he had three children.

Activity in children's aid

When the SAK children's convoys ( children's trains ) from free and occupied France arrived at the reception center in Geneva from November 1940 , Oltramare volunteered to head the reception section responsible for the various services (medical, interview, admission and discharge service, visiting service for host parents ) was responsible and also ran the medical service. The Geneva section of the SAK did most of the work in admitting thousands of French war-torn children, and in 1941 their number began to become a problem.

In August 1941, Oltramare proposed to the SAK in Bern to create a generous, neutral aid organization that would be supported by the whole of Switzerland and its authorities in accordance with their tradition. Because the SAK lacked the human and financial resources for this on the one hand, and on the other hand it was considered "political", this was only possible by creating a new, larger organization under the patronage of the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) , whose statues were also responsible for "civilian" tasks had to be expanded, was founded.

The SAK and the SRK, which was responsible for the entire activity, agreed on a cooperation agreement, the main condition of which was the unconditional maintenance of the principles of the Red Cross . Like all national Red Cross societies, the SRC was subordinate to the government with a privileged relationship and was dependent on the political line, especially in times of war. In January 1942, the Federal Council appointed Edouard de Haller as the newly created delegate for international aid organizations. He had to advise the aid agencies if their activities put them in situations that could affect foreign policy and the security of the Confederation. That was possible when they were dealing with foreigners abroad or at home. In the Executive Committee of Children's Aid, the representatives of the SAK, the SRK and the Federal Council made joint decisions. The president was the SRK chief physician Hugo Remund and central secretary Rodolfo Olgiati .

As President of the Medical Commission, Oltramare was primarily responsible for the medical aspects and risks of the relief operations. When selecting children for a recreational stay in Switzerland, primarily medical criteria were used. Children were selected who had a health need and whose condition allowed them to recover in a three to six month stay. For the stay in Switzerland, the children had to be vaccinated in order to prevent the spread of epidemics among the helpers, host families and the Swiss population. On his initiative, the Henri Dunant Center (today ICRC headquarters) was opened in Geneva in 1942, which was able to receive and accommodate 800 war-damaged children.

When the health of the children deteriorated after the end of the war due to the chaotic conditions in the war-damaged countries and the tuberculosis spread, the SRK's largest program to date, which was able to take in around 1000 pretuberculosis children at the same time , was implemented in a short time on the recommendation of Oltramare in Adelboden , established and operated successfully from September 1945 to March 1946. This action was later extended to other health resorts. In the affected countries, children and infants were given large quantities of fresh milk, canned milk and powdered milk to correct their nutritional deficiencies, which weakened their immune systems.

Thanks to the newly created aid organization, the Children's Aid of the Swiss Red Cross , over 180,000 war-damaged children from Europe were able to spend a holiday in Switzerland from 1940 to 1955, millions of children in war-torn Europe a daily meal and their families thousands of tons of medicines, clothes and aid packages receive. Today (2014) the total value of the relief operation financed by the Swiss population (since 1946 with the support of Swiss donations ) was over one billion Swiss francs.

" The worth of a nation depends on its ability to serve humanity, and we can only give back to ourselves by rendering service to others ."

- Hugo Oltramare, August 1940

Oltramare's original wish, the formation of a third Red Cross unit in Switzerland to protect all children of the warring nations, which could have been independent from both the International Committee, which looked after the wounded and prisoners of war, and the SRC with its national interests, could have been due to political Circumstances are not fully met. The Henri Dunant Center remained a model until its closure in 1945.

Honors

  • Winner of the University of Geneva with a thesis on the concept of reason in Bergson's philosophy .
  • In 1945 he received the degree of Officer of the Legion of Honor from General de Gaulle's brother as a token of the gratitude of the French government for his commitment to the French children and in founding the SRK Children's Aid.

Publications

  • Essai sur la prière d'après la pensée philosophique de William James . ( The prayer according to the philosophical thought of William James ), Université de Genève. Faculté de théologie. Thèse n ° 227, H. Robert, Geneva 1912
  • L'Hypotension dans le choc traumatique . Dissertation University of Geneva, J. Guerry Publishing House, Geneva 1924
  • About the concept of reason in Bergson's philosophy .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Serge Nessi: The Children's Aid of the Swiss Red Cross 1942–1945 and the role of the doctor Hugo Oltramare , Karolinger Verlag, Vienna / Leipzig 2013, ISBN 978-3-85418-147-7 (French original edition: Éditions Slatkine, Genève 2011, ISBN 978-2-8321-0458-3 )
personal data
SURNAME Oltramare, Hugo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss doctor and Red Cross official
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Buenos Aires , Argentina
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1957
Place of death Geneva