Otto Widmer

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Otto Widmer (born January 9, 1855 in Steinhof , † March 29, 1932 in Wangen bei Olten ) was a Swiss Roman Catholic clergyman and director of a children's home.

Life

Otto Widmer was the son of the farmer Johann Josef Widmer and his wife Anna Maria, geb. Schäfli.

He attended the Solothurn grammar school and then the Lyceum there . He completed his theology studies at the University of Tübingen and the University of Paris .

After his Ordinandenkurs in seminary in Lucerne , he received the 1880 ordination and was pastor from 1880 to 1916 in Gretzenbach .

Otto Widmer, whose term of office was heavily burdened by the Kulturkampf , wanted to found an association that accepted orphans and children from alcoholic families as well as children from difficult backgrounds. His project soon found the support of many clergymen and influential men from business and politics.

He was given an older, thatched farmhouse in Däniken and began building a children's home there. With the support of the shoe manufacturers Albert Strub (1854–1928) and Josef Anton Glutz (1844–1899), who promoted the plant and gave him a house in Rickenbach , he founded the St. Joseph-Anstalt Däniken-Rickenbach association on December 14, 1891 , branches followed in 1893 in Nunningen , 1896 in Olten , 1897 in Balsthal , 1903 in Dornach and 1909 in Hägendorf . Pastor Otto Widmer was only able to start his social activities because he succeeded in winning sisters of the Holy Cross of Ingenbohl Monastery to work.

In 1916, Pastor Otto Widmer offered Wilhelm Breidenstein († 1889) the former boys' institute and the Bachtelenbad in Grenchen for sale. With the help of the Grenchen pastor Ernst Niggli (1882–1929), he was able to acquire the extensive Bachtelenbad with an attached farm for 115,000 francs in Grenchen and relocated his foundations there. In order to streamline the entire business, he closed the Däniken, Dornach and Nunningen children's homes and relocated them to Grenchen, where the institution was continued under the name of the Bachtelen children's home to which a school was attached.

He gave up his work as a pastor in Gretzenbach and served as director of the St. Josephsanstalt from 1916 to 1925. Religious sisters performed their duties in the classroom as well as in the kitchen, the laundry and on the beds of the youngest, often well beyond retirement age.

Due to inadequacies in the management of the home, urged to remedy grievances, Otto Widmer demanded too much from the nuns and the public sector failed to provide financial support.He was asked to resign in 1925 by Bishop Joseph Ambühl and in 1928 also resigned as President of the St. Joseph Foundation and then worked as an early knife .

In 2009 the Bachtelen children's home was renamed the Special Education Center for Behavior and Language ; Today around 200 employees look after 600 children.

Fonts (selection)

  • Youth service: Catholic song and prayer booklet for young people . Olten 1907.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Brunner: Bethlehem residence: from the observation station for children to the adult residence. In: Oltner Neujahrsblätter No. 61, 2003, accessed on April 27, 2019 .
  2. ^ History of the Bachtelen - Wiki of the city of Grenchen. Retrieved April 27, 2019 .
  3. ^ Karl Diethelm: Ceremony December 26, 2016 - Historical review. In: Jubilee Bachtelen. Retrieved April 27, 2019 .
  4. ↑ The merciful sisters of the Holy Cross Ingenbohl - Wiki of the city of Grenchen. Retrieved April 27, 2019 .
  5. ^ Aargau Solothurn - 125 years of the Bachtelen Grenchen Special Education Center. February 23, 2016, accessed April 27, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Widmer, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Roman Catholic clergyman and head of a children's home
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Steinhof
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1932
Place of death Wangen near Olten