Walter Bion

Walter Bion around 1890

Walter Bion (born April 29, 1830 in Affeltrangen , Canton Thurgau , † September 3, 1909 in Zurich ), born as Hermann Walter Bion , known as "Father Bion", was a Swiss Reformed theologian and social worker , the "father of the holiday colonies". He founded holiday colonies and open-air schools for ailing children from poor families, who subsequently found imitators worldwide, usually referred to as forest schools in Germany . Hans-Ulrich Grunder called this private form of expression of child recreational care a “world-class Swiss idea”.

family

Bion's family was of French origin. After the edict of Nantes was repealed, part of the family fled to Heidelberg via Alsace ( Metz and Strasbourg ) , while Bion's ancestor, the textile entrepreneur Peter Bion (1684–1735), came to St. Gallen from there , where he founded the cotton industry .

He was born the son of the theologian, politician and editor Wilhelm Friedrich Bion (1797–1862) and his wife Susanna, née Keller. His father was a writer of popular folk plays and a celebrated popular speaker. Hermann Walter Bion married Katharina Luise Tobler from Trogen .

He found his final resting place in the Sihlfeld cemetery in Zurich .

Life

Walter Bion studied philosophy and theology at the University of Zurich and at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen . As a student of Ferdinand Christian Baur , he became a leading representative of religious liberalism and also a member of the Swiss Zofinger Association . From 1851 he was a pastor, first in Rehetobel , from 1856 in Trogen ( Canton Appenzell ) and from 1873 to 1902 at the Predigerkirche in Zurich. On July 1, 1862, he stopped at the public execution of Johann Ulrich Schläpfer in Trogen the state speech . In the canton of Appenzell and in Zurich, he successfully endeavored to promote the school system, voluntary poor relief and nursing care, with the well-being of children always being the focus of his efforts. In this, he was an ideal successor to his father, who had already been committed to expanding schools and organizing leisure activities for children and young people. Walter Bion was the founder of the hospital in Trogen and the nurses' house for the Red Cross in Zurich- Fluntern , as well as co-founder of sanatoriums for children with rickets and lungs. He also initiated the Zurich Volkshaus .

Bion was appalled by the generally poor health of many children from poor families and the mostly catastrophic hygienic conditions in which they lived. He wanted to give them direct access to nature and fresh air with open-air exercises (gymnastics) for physical strengthening. In 1876, he founded a first holiday colony in the canton of Appenzell, financed by donations, his “Zurich Model”, for the two-week stay of 68 children between 9 and 12 years old, with therapeutic educational approaches.

With this, Bion pursued the goal of not only taking health aspects into account, but at the same time meeting educational requirements. During their convalescence, children should not lose touch with the level of learning their classmates have reached in the meantime. He described this as “the most effective means of defending unjust social claims” and at the same time wanted to “courteously satisfy just (social claims)”. For this purpose he initiated international congresses for holiday colonies to promote this idea in favor of children, for example in Berlin in 1881, in Bremen in 1885 and in Zurich in 1888. In 1899, 29 Swiss municipalities organized holiday colonies based on the Bion model for around 3,500 children. By 1914, a total of 418 holiday colonies for children had been established in 203 cities of the German Reich. Today such facilities exist in America and Japan alongside Europe, and the duration of such holiday colony stays has usually extended to four to six weeks.

Functions (selection)

Central President of the Swiss Association for Free Christianity
President of the Swiss Kindergarten Association

Awards and honors

The French Ministère de l'Instruction publique et des Beaux-arts appointed him in 1887 in recognition of his great contributions to the education of the Officier d'Académie , the University of Zurich awarded him the academic title of Honorary Doctor of Medicine, and the University of Geneva awarded in 1909 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology.

Three years after his death, a street in Zurich was named after him as Bionstrasse .

literature

Swiss Association for Free Christianity (Ed.): Gottfried Bosshard: Hermann Walter Bion - A picture of life. Beer, Zurich 1913.
Hans-Ulrich Grunder: The holiday colony - a Swiss idea. In: Christian Büttner, Aurel Ende (ed.): Yearbook of Childhood. Vol. 7. Beltz, Weinheim 1990, ISBN 3-407-34047-8 .
Thilo Rauch: The holiday colony movement - On the history of private welfare in the German Empire. Springer, Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 978-3-8244-4118-1 .

Web links

Max Ulrich Balsiger: Bion, Hermann Walter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

↑ Gottfried Hausmann: Hermann Walter Bion . In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 2 (1955), p. 250, at: deutsche-biographie.de, accessed on May 15, 2016.
↑ Hans-Ulrich Grunder: The holiday colony - A Swiss idea. In: Christian Büttner, Aurel Ende (ed.): Yearbook of Childhood. Vol. 7. Beltz, Weinheim 1990, ISBN 3-407-34047-8 .
^ Thomas Fuchs: Bion, Wilhelm Friedrich. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
↑ Max Ulrich Balsiger: Bion, Hermann Walter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
^ Thilo Rauch: The holiday colony movement. On the history of private welfare in the German Empire . DUV Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 3-8244-4118-7 , p. 58.
^ Stand speech, held on July 1st at the place of execution in Trogen by Pastor Bion.
↑ Michel Heluwaert: Jeunesse & Sports 1936-1986 du militant au fonctionnaire. Editions L'Harmattan, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-296-26422-9 . P. 26 f.
↑ Send children on holiday adventure. From: connexionfrance.com, accessed May 15, 2016.
↑ L'histoire des colonies de vacances démarre dès la fin du 19ème siècle. From: colonie-de-vacances.com, accessed May 15, 2016.
^ Thilo Rauch: The holiday colony movement - On the history of private welfare in the empire. Springer, Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 978-3-8244-4118-1 , p. 167.

personal data
SURNAME	Bion, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bion, Hermann Walter (birth name); Father Bion (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss pastor and social worker
DATE OF BIRTH	April 29, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH	Affeltrangen , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH	September 3, 1909
Place of death	Zurich , Switzerland

[1] Gottfried Hausmann: Hermann Walter Bion . In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 2 (1955), p. 250, at: deutsche-biographie.de, accessed on May 15, 2016.

[2] Hans-Ulrich Grunder: The holiday colony - A Swiss idea. In: Christian Büttner, Aurel Ende (ed.): Yearbook of Childhood. Vol. 7. Beltz, Weinheim 1990, ISBN 3-407-34047-8 .

[3] Thomas Fuchs: Bion, Wilhelm Friedrich. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

[4] Max Ulrich Balsiger: Bion, Hermann Walter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

[5] Thilo Rauch: The holiday colony movement. On the history of private welfare in the German Empire . DUV Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 3-8244-4118-7 , p. 58.

[6] Stand speech, held on July 1st at the place of execution in Trogen by Pastor Bion.

[7] Michel Heluwaert: Jeunesse & Sports 1936-1986 du militant au fonctionnaire. Editions L'Harmattan, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-296-26422-9 . P. 26 f.

[8] Send children on holiday adventure. From: connexionfrance.com, accessed May 15, 2016.

[9] L'histoire des colonies de vacances démarre dès la fin du 19ème siècle. From: colonie-de-vacances.com, accessed May 15, 2016.

[10] Thilo Rauch: The holiday colony movement - On the history of private welfare in the empire. Springer, Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 978-3-8244-4118-1 , p. 167.