Felix Ortt
Felix (Louis) Ortt (born June 9, 1866 in Groningen , † October 15, 1959 in Soest ) was a Dutch civil engineer, author , philosopher , anti-militarist and Christian anarchist .
Life
Raised in Haarlem visited Ortt elementary school, the junior high school ( Hogere burger school , HBS) and studied from 1883 at the Technical University in Delft for Civil Engineering . In 1887 he worked as an engineer at Rijkswaterstaat . While working on the Merwede Canal, Ortt fell ill with malaria in 1890 and in search of recovery he became a vegetarian by reading writings on natural history .
In 1894 he co-founded the “Nederlandsche Vegetarianbond” (Dutch Association for Vegetarians) and worked as an editor for the magazine “Vegetarian Bode” (Vegetarian Bote) . He resigned from Rijkswaterstaat in 1899, left the church shortly afterwards and devoted himself to humanitarian and Christian-anarchist ideas. Ortt also dealt with theology, parapsychology, science and philosophy. Outside the Netherlands he was best known as an educator because of his opinion on sexual education, including homosexuality , and his striving for a religious life.
Ortt was a member of the Rein Leven Bewegungsing (meaning: chaste life ) from its foundation in 1901 to its dissolution in 1929. On the one hand, this organization propagated an unusually permissive sex education and the equality of men and women , but wanted to exercise sexuality on the Limit procreation. This ruled out the use of contraceptives and homosexual practices, a general abstinence , also from alcohol and other drugs , was propagated as the basis of a "chaste life".
Act
Ortt was an influential theorist and exponent of Christian anarchism in the Netherlands . At a congress for abstinence in 1896 he came into contact with the works of Leo Tolstoy and studied socialist and anarchist literature. Together with Jacob van Rees , JK van der Leer and others he was involved in the publication of the magazine Vrede ("Friede"), in which, among others, the Dutch anarchist Jan Sterringa published. Around 1900 he founded the "Vereniging Internationale Broederschap" ( Association of the International Brotherhood , VIB) with other Christian anarchists for nonviolence and vegetarianism.
In 1903 there was a conflict with the surrounding population. They broke into the grounds of the "red grazers" (meaning the vegetarians) and arson broke out.
Some members of the VIB wanted to defend themselves with weapons, but Ortt rejected the violent resistance. That was the end of the VIB. Ortt described the downfall of the "Association of the International Brotherhood" in his novel Felicia (1905). Ortt's non-violence and his Christian faith hardly brought him into contact with the "International Antimilitarist Association" (IAV), in contrast to his contemporaries Bart de Ligt and Clara Wichmann . The IAV wrote mockingly in the magazine “De Wapens Neder” (meaning: down with your arms ) about his Christian anarchism and called him a “christelijke kwezel” (Christian bigot) .
Despite this ridicule, he and the editor of the magazine “De Vrije Mensch” (The Free Man) succeeded in giving the Dutch peace movement new impetus. In 1901 Ortt founded together with Lodewijk van Mierop , Menno Huizinga and Edo Fimmen the organization "Rein Leven Bewegungsing " (literally: Pure Life Movement , RLB), which campaigned against prostitution, for sexual abstinence and vegetarianism.
In 1915 he signed the “Denial of Service Manifesto” and became a member of the “Bund Freemen” ( Het Vrije Menschen Verbond , VMV), a continuation of the Dutch peace movement. In 1920 the VMV joined the "Bond van religieuze Anarcho-Communisten" (Association of Religious Anarcho-Communists ) . Ortt gave humanistic lessons in the 1920s.
The encounter with Albert Einstein's theory of relativity prompted him to apply it to spiritualistic topics ( "De relativiteitstheorie van Einstein uiteengezet voor een wiskundig niet-geschoold publiek" ). Ortt was convinced of the "truth of spiritism ". He developed a monistic philosophy ( monistic philosophy ) located on the border between theology, philosophy, parapsychology and natural science , which he called “ pneumatological- energetic monism” (“pneumatic-energetic monisme”).
He became a pioneer of the esoteric movement in the Netherlands. During the Second World War , during the German occupation, he distanced himself from some of his companions, who no longer accepted his pacifist approaches.
After the Second World War he lived in retirement in Soest and maintained a "vegetarian Office" (Vegetarian Bureau) . He also worked as an editor at the “Vegetarian Bode” and published several cookbooks with vegetarian recipes.
Felix Louis Ortt was married twice and had six children. He also wrote under the pseudonym "Felix".
Fonts (selection)
- Christelijk anarchisme . Haarlem 1898
- Het beginsel the runde . The Hague 1898
- Denkbeelden van a christian anarchist . The Hague 1900
- Practically socialism . Amersfoort 1903.
- Het streven the christian anarchists . Amersfoort 1903
- Tolstoy's influence on intellectual and social life in the Netherlands . In: The Socialist . 3rd year, No. 1, 1911
- Letter to my sister about sex life . Basel 1920
- Over art en schoonheid . Blaricum 1921
- Inleiding tot het pneumat-energetic monisme . 's-Gravenhage 1917
- De superkosmos. Filosofie van het occultisme en het spiritisme . The Hague 1949
further reading
-
Max Nettlau (Ed.), History of Anarchy . Newly published by Heiner Becker. In collaboration with the IISG , Amsterdam. Library Thélème, Münster 1993, 1st edition, reprint of the Berlin edition, Verlag Der Syndikalist , 1927.
- Volume 5 , Anarchists and Syndicalists. Section IX. “The Dutch socialist beginnings. Multatuli . International. Domela Nieuwenhuis . The communist anarchists . The Christian Anarchists ”.
- Dennis de Lange: You are the revolution! Tolstojanism as a social movement in the Netherlands. Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, Heidelberg 2016. ISBN 978-3-939045-27-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ See: Ed .: Stiftung / Zeitschrift De As , "Jaarboek Anarchisme 1997". Pages 24 to 35
- ↑ Anarchisme en christen-anarchisme ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Author: Jannes Houkes. "Portret: jonkheer FL Ortt" . In: Biografisch Woordenbooek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbewegung in Nederland (BWSA 5, 1992. Pages 208 to 213). In: IISG , Amsterdam. Most of the information in this article is based on these “portraits”. Last modified on December 7, 2004. Dutch, accessed February 2, 2011
- ↑ See on this: Foundation / magazine De As , "Jaarboek Anarchisme 1997". Pages 24 to 35
- ↑ See on this: Max Nettlau, History of Anarchy . Volume 5
Web links
- History of Felxoord . Named after Felix Ortt. (Dutch)
- In the catalog of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek . 2 entries
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Location, Felix |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ortt, Felix Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 9, 1866 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Groningen (Netherlands) |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 15, 1959 |
| Place of death | Soest (Netherlands) |