Pierre Cérésole
Pierre Cérésole (born August 17, 1879 in Lausanne , † October 23, 1945 in Le Daley near Lausanne) was a Swiss pacifist , Quaker , mathematician and founder of the Service Civil International (SCI) .
Life
His father Paul Cérésole was a federal judge and later a member of the state government. After finishing school, Pierre Cérésole passed the engineering examination at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and received his doctorate in 1903. However, he turned down an offered professorship in order to do something for others in his religious life.
In 1910 he traveled to the United States , from San Francisco to Hawaii and from there to Japan in 1912 . He earned his living with simple work and classes. During the years abroad, Cérésole experienced social grievances that shaped his entire life.
After the outbreak of the First World War he returned to Switzerland, where in 1915 the conscientious objection of the French-speaking Swiss teacher John Baudraz caused a sensation. Cérésole took a big part in the man's fate. For health reasons, he was not fit for military service, but from 1916 he refused to pay the compulsory military contribution . As a result, Pierre Cérésole was repeatedly sentenced to shorter prison terms. Because of his political commitment he came to the religious socialists and got to know the Swiss theologian and pacifist Leonhard Ragaz .
Ragaz persuaded Cérésole to participate in the first international meeting of the International Union of Reconciliation in Bilthoven in the Netherlands in 1919 , whereupon he initiated the Service Civil International in 1920 . In the war-ravaged village of Esnes, on the battlefield of Verdun (France), he organized the first international community service together with the English Quaker Hubert Parris. As part of a political initiative to introduce civilian service in Switzerland, from 1924 he organized further services in Switzerland, where international volunteers helped communities damaged by storms. The high point was his service in Liechtenstein in 1928 . Over 700 volunteers from 20 countries helped the country that was hit by a flood by the Rhine. He led other services in France (1930) and Great Britain (1932/33).
Professionally, Cérésole worked as a teacher after the First World War . The city of La Chaux-de-Fonds hired him as a mathematics professor from 1926 to 1937, despite his previous convictions - which he had received due to his refusal to pay military compulsory replacement tax.
In 1931 he met Mahatma Gandhi , who was passing through Switzerland, and then traveled several times to India from 1935 to 1937 to provide aid in areas affected by earthquakes and floods in the state of Bihar .
In 1936, Pierre Cérésole joined the Quaker religious society . In 1941 he married Lise David and spent the last years of his life near Lausanne. In protest against the looming Second World War , he practiced civil disobedience several times. He was jailed six times over the age of 60. After his last stay in prison in February 1945, Cérésole suffered a heart attack. After a long illness he died on October 23, 1945 in Le Daley (Switzerland).
literature
- Marc Perrenoud: Cérésole, Pierre. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Claus Bernet : Pierre Cérésole. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 24, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-247-9 , Sp. 432-443.
Web links
- List of publications by and about Pierre Cérésole at the SCI International Archives , La Chaux-de-Fonds
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cérésole, Pierre |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss pacifist, Quaker, mathematician and founder of the Service Civil International |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 17th August 1879 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lausanne |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 23, 1945 |
| Place of death | Le Daley near Lausanne |