Rodolfo Olgiati
Rodolfo Olgiati (born June 30, 1905 in Lugano ; † May 31, 1986 in Bern ) was a Swiss educator and humanitarian activist.
Life
Olgiati attended schools in Chur and Bern. After graduating from high school, he studied mathematics and physics at the ETH Zurich and graduated as a qualified subject teacher. During this time he made the acquaintance of Leonhard Ragaz . From 1929 to 1932 he was a teacher at the Odenwald School in Heppenheim . In 1933 he worked in the Faithfull Home for the difficult-to-educate in England. From 1934 to 1935 he worked for Fritz Wartenweiler in the young men courses . In 1935 he became secretary of the international community service .
During the Spanish Civil War he campaigned for the rescue of children at risk and, together with Fritz Wartenweiler, Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann and others, founded the Swiss Working Group for Children of Spain (SAS) / Ayuda suiza para los ninos Espana in February 1937 as an umbrella organization of 14 aid organizations, the was subject to the Voluntary International Civil Service in Valencia and Madrid . As central secretary, he developed a new concept for child aid. Instead of bringing children in need to Switzerland for a rest period, help should be provided on site. This included the evacuation of children, women, the sick and elderly people from the front, the transport of relief supplies to the frontline areas and the establishment of children's and mothers' homes as well as the construction of canteens.
In Spain he met Irma Schneider , his future wife, who, as a former teacher at the Swiss school in Barcelona , ran the canteen for pregnant and breastfeeding women in Madrid.
When the war misery spread to more and more countries (Finland, Poland, Benelux, France) at the beginning of the Second World War , in January 1940 he helped bring 17 organizations together under the umbrella organization Swiss Working Group for War-Damaged Children (SAK) . As central secretary, from 1940–1941 he campaigned for the humanitarian work of the SAK in the "free zone" in southern France and Switzerland, coordinated the activities of the volunteers and conducted negotiations with the authorities in Bern.
In January 1942 the Swiss Red Cross and the SAK founded the Swiss Red Cross, Children's Aid , in order to be able to expand children's aid to all of Europe. Olgiati brought his organizational experience to the SRK Kinderhilfe as central secretary from 1942 to 1943, with the important decisions now being made by the executive committee of the greatly enlarged organization, in which the SAK and SRK were represented equally, along with representatives of the Federal Council. At the end of 1943 he resigned and in 1944 the SAK was dissolved.
From the end of 1944 to 1948 he was the operational head of Swiss donation , and from 1948 onwards, Swiss European Aid (SEH) . In particular, he initiated aid for Germany and helped to reduce reservations about the northern neighbor. From 1949 to 1970 he was a member of the International Red Cross ICRC in Geneva , where he moved his residence. In 1958 he took over the management of the newly founded Evangelical Homestead in Wartensee . In the same year, together with Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann and seventy people from different ideological backgrounds, he founded the Swiss Aid Organization for Non-European Areas (SHAG) , which has been Helvetas since 1965 .
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Olgiati's work is part of the humanitarian tradition of Swiss foreign policy . The idea of humanitarian Switzerland as an island of peace and a safe haven for refugees was born with the founding of the Red Cross in 1863 and the internment of the Bourbaki army during the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.
As the head of the central office for Swiss donations in Bern, Olgiati was responsible for coordinating all Swiss relief efforts in 18 European countries damaged by war. Olgiati was responsible for the numerous country offices, in which specialists dealt with the relief operations, and for the many delegates who ensured their preparation and implementation in the target countries.
In 1947, Olgiati pointed out in the newsletter for the Swiss donation that it was time to move on from post-war aid to peace work. He recognized the new task of Swiss aid work in supporting the economically underdeveloped countries outside Europe. Olgiati is considered to be the first Swiss who put aid work in a global context and spoke of the well-being of all peoples.
He was an active member in numerous humanitarian organizations such as the Swiss Refugee Aid , the Swiss European Aid , the Swiss Aid Organization for Non-European Areas (later Helvetas ) and he was committed to the introduction of community service .
Humanitarian campaigners Olgiati
Well-known personalities who worked with Olgiati. They represent many helpers and countless donors and sympathizers who made these humanitarian actions possible:
Award
- 1959 Dr. med. hc from the University of Basel
Primary literature
- It didn't start in Spain , in 1944.
- Ernst Wetter and Rodolfo Olgiati: Activity report The Swiss donation 1944–1948 , 1949.
- Workplaces of a future , Herbert Lang, Peter Lang Verlag Bern, Frankfurt / M. 1975. ISBN 3-261-01444-X .
Secondary literature
- In memory of Rodolfo O.-Schneider, b. June 30, 1905, died May 31, 1986, [1986]
- Antonia Schmidlin: Another Switzerland. Helpers, children of war and humanitarian policy 1933–1942. Chronos Verlag, Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-905313-04-9 .
- Markus Schmitz and Bernd Haunfelder : Humanity and Diplomacy. Switzerland in Cologne 1940–1949 . Verlag Aschendorff, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-402-05385-3 .
- Working group of the association "Swiss Children": The miracle of a journey. The "Swiss Children" and their trip to fairy tale land . Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2003, ISBN 3-86136-080-2 .
- Markus Schmitz, West Germany and Switzerland after the war. The reorganization of bilateral relations 1945–1952 . Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-03823-037-5 .
- Bernd Haunfelder, children's trains to Switzerland. The Germany Aid of the Swiss Red Cross 1946–1956 . Verlag Aschendorff, Münster 2007, ISBN 3-402-12730-X .
- Bernd Haunfelder, need and hope. German children and Switzerland 1946–1956 . Verlag Aschendorff, Münster 2008. ISBN 978-3-402-12776-6 .
- Switzerland and the refugees at the time of National Socialism. ISBN 3-0340-0617-9 .
- Björn Erik Lupp: From class solidarity to humanitarian aid. The Refugee Policy of the Political Left 1930–1950. ISBN 3-0340-0744-2 .
- Luis M. Expósito: La conexión Burjassot . Ayuda Suiza durante la Guerra Civil (1937-1939) , 2011.
- Serge Nessi: The Children's Aid of the Swiss Red Cross 1942–1945 and the role of the doctor Hugo Oltramare . Preface by Cornelio Sommaruga . Karolinger Verlag, Vienna / Leipzig 2013, ISBN 978-3-85418-147-7 (French original edition: Éditions Slatkine, Genève 2011, ISBN 978-2-8321-0458-3 ).
- Antonia Schmidlin: Rodolfo Olgiati. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 2, 2009 , accessed December 20, 2019 .
Web links
- Commemorative plaque for SCI volunteers in Burjassot, which were active for the Ayuda Suiza a los niños de España during the Spanish Civil Ware (1937-1939) .
- Holdings: Olgiati, Rodolfo (1905–1986) in the finding aids of the Swiss Social Archives
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Olgiati, Rodolfo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss educator and humanitarian activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 30, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lugano |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 31, 1986 |
| Place of death | Bern |