Yule Kilcher

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Yule Forenorth Kilcher (born March 9, 1913 in Laufen BL as Julius Jacob Kilcher ; † December 9, 1998 in Homer, Alaska ) was a Swiss - American farmer, journalist and politician ( Democratic Party ). He was a member of the Constitutional Council (Constitutional convention) , of the Constitution of Alaska drew up in 1956, and belonged from 1963 to 1966 the Alaska Senate on.

Life

View of Kachemak Bay near Homer, Alaska

Julius (also Jules ) Jacob Kilcher was born on March 9, 1913 in Laufen , then in the canton of Bern , as a citizen of the Solothurn community of Nunningen . He grew up with his four siblings in Zuchwil near Solothurn . After graduating from the Solothurn Cantonal School in 1932, he studied comparative philology and archeology in Berlin , Bern , Grenoble and Aix-en-Provence . In a résumé that he sent to the Solothurner Zeitung in 1963 , Kilcher writes that afterwards he pursued “journalism in North Africa, Poland, America, Scandinavia (was also a woodcutter there)”. In Sweden and the Carpathians he learned to build log houses . In 1936 he went to Alaska with the intention of “founding an idealistic community there” . He changed his name to Yule Forenorth Kilcher . The government gave him 267  hectares of land in Homer on the Kenai Peninsula for cultivation. In 1939 he temporarily returned to Switzerland, where he tried to persuade like-minded people to emigrate to Alaska. Since 1940 he lived permanently in Alaska. In 1941 he married Ruth Weber from Pratteln , who was an American citizen . Kilcher aspired to a self-sufficient life as a self-sufficiency in nature. The extended family with eight children lived without electricity or running water. Yule Kilcher documented “our good and hard life”, as he put it, on 16mm film and presented these films on tours through Europe in 1947/48 and 1956 to 1958.

In 1955, Yule Kilcher was elected to the Constitutional Convention drafting the Constitution of Alaska , where he represented the Kenai Peninsula. He advocated simplifying the spelling of the administrative unit borough in boro , as there was no reason to keep the "nostalgic" spelling with ugh . The request was rejected.

From 1963 to 1966 Yule Kilcher part as representatives of the Democratic Party of the Alaska Senate on. He assigned himself to the “radical wing” of the party. Kilcher described himself as a “man of the people” and “a kind of Alaskan black boy !”. In the Senate he campaigned for nature conservation . In 1968 he took part in the expedition that first crossed the Harding Icefield from Homer to Seward . The name of the Exit Glacier has its origin in this expedition, as it left the ice field over the glacier.

The Kilchers divorced in 1969. Yule Kilcher died in 1998. The then Governor of Alaska, Tony Knowles , ordered mourning flags to be displayed on the day of the funeral .

family

Yule Kilcher's granddaughter Jewel

The American singer Jewel Kilcher (* 1974), better known only by her first name Jewel , is a daughter of Yule Kilcher's son Attila Kuno "Atz" Kilcher, who made a career as a singer-songwriter himself. In her autobiographical book Chasing down the dawn , Jewel describes her grandfather Yule as a brilliant scholar who spoke eight languages, a "nature boy" and a politician. Despite his charisma, his charm and his intelligence, he had shown narrow-minded and tough behavior, especially towards his family members. Since he regretted this hardship towards the end of his life, a reconciliation with her father had become possible. The actress Q'orianka Kilcher (* 1990) is also one of Yule's descendants. Yule Kilcher's youngest daughter, Catkin Kilcher Burton, served 31 years in the United States Marine Corps and is a holder of the Legion of Merit . She ended her military career with the rank of colonel . As of 2012 she worked for the Republican Party .

The Kilcher family's unusual lifestyle has received repeated media coverage. As early as 1984, the Swiss documentary The Difficult School of the Simple Life by Alfi Sinniger portrayed Yule Kilcher and his family. The reality TV series Alaska: The Last Frontier of the Discovery Channel is dedicated to the life of the Kilchers in Alaska and will be broadcast in its 9th season as of 2019. In 2012, Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) showed the program Rousseau's Children - A Reality Check in Alaska's Wilderness in its documentary series DOK , in which connections are made between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the way of life of the Kilcher family. In a review by the Tages-Anzeiger , it was criticized that the promised connection “remained unclear”.

literature

  • Manuela Nipp: Yule Kilcher . In: Personal Lexicon of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft . ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Yule Kilcher: Political career in the far north. A Solothurn Senator in Alaska . In: Solothurner Zeitung . No. 9 , January 12, 1963 (article consists mainly of excerpts from a letter from Yule Kilcher to the Solothurner Zeitung, no page count).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Manuela Nipp: Yule Kilcher . In: Personal Lexicon of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft . Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  3. ↑ SF1 shows a documentary film about the Zuchwil family who emigrated to Alaska . In: Solothurner Zeitung . June 5, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b Lukas Meyer-Marsilius: TV review: Dropouts in Alaska - for 70 years . In: Tages-Anzeiger . June 7, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2019.
  5. ↑ The “Personal Lexicon of the Canton of Basel Land” (accessed on December 1, 2019) writes “a total of eight children” and the AP obituary also states the number of children as eight; Yule Kilcher himself wrote in the Solothurner Zeitung in 1963 that he had "8 children". However, the Alaska State Legislature website (accessed December 1, 2019) lists nine names.
  6. ↑ a b Yule F. Kilcher ( English ) In: Creating Alaska . University of Alaska. Accessed December 1, 2019.
  7. ^ Committee / Member Information: Yule Kilcher ( English ) The Alaska State Legislature. Accessed December 1, 2019.
  8. ↑ Simon Montlake: A reporter bids farewell to Exit Glacier ( English ) In: The Christian Science Monitor . June 29, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2019.
  9. ^ Kilcher Family Homestead ( English ) Alaska.org. Accessed December 1, 2019.
  10. ^ Jewel: Chasing down the dawn. Stories from the road . HarperEntertainment, New York 2000, ISBN 0-06-019200-3 , pp. 13 .
  11. ↑ Tom Kizzia: Another Family Star ( English ) In: Anchorage Daily News . November 26, 2004. Archived from the original on February 6, 2006. Retrieved on December 1, 2019.
  12. ↑ Honoring our Board ( English ) Alaska Humanities Forum. September 6, 2017. Accessed December 1, 2019.
  13. ^ Rousseau's Children - A Reality Check in Alaska's Wilderness . In: DOK . Swiss radio and television. June 6, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2019: "After thirty years with the Marines, she is campaigning for the Republican Party in Alaska (43: 56-44: 02)"
  14. ↑ The difficult school of simple life . In: Filmdienst . Accessed December 1, 2019.
  15. ↑ Alaska: The Last Frontier ( English ) In: Internet Movie Database . Accessed December 1, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Kilcher, Yule
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kilcher, Yule Forenorth; Kilcher, Julius Jacob (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss-American farmer, journalist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Running BL
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1998
Place of death Homer, Alaska