Metadata: Estate of August Bohny-Reiter
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Reference number:
- NL August Bohny-Reiter
- Title:
- Estate of August Bohny-Reiter
- Title (official language):
- Nachlass August Bohny-Reiter
- Creator/accumulator:
- Bohny-Reiter, August
- Date(s):
- 1919/2006
- Language:
- German
- French
- Extent:
- 1.25 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The main parts of the collection are the documents on Bohny-Reiter’s work as a refugee helper in France. It contains photo albums from the colonies in France depicting the children, the staff, and the colonies. These photos are supplemented by correspondence, teaching materials as well as letters and drawings by refugee children. There is also a photo album and reports of August Bohny-Reiter’s involvement in the Buchenwald campaign in 1945. In addition, there is a section with general correspondence.
- Archival history:
- The collection was handed over to the AfZ in 2009 by Helena Kanyar, who had ordered the documents beforehand. The section "Biographical Material" was supplemented by additional deliveries since many personal documents were still with August Bohny-Reiter.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
August Bohny-Reiter was born in Basel on 9 July 1919 and died on 18 August 2016 in Basel. From 1939 to 1941, he attended a teacher training seminar and served in the military. On 7 May 1941, Bohny-Reiter became involved in the Swiss Working Group for War-Damaged Children (SAK) under Maurice Dubois. Bohny-Reiter began his work in the Pringy Colony under the direction of Ruth von Wild and later became director of the Talloires Colony. On 30 September 1941 Bohny-Reiter arrived in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon in southern France where he co-founded and managed the houses Abric, Faidoli, Atelier Cévenol, and Ferme Ecole. Bohny-Reiter cooperated with local refugee helpers, above all Pastor André Trocmé and rescued numerous children from raids and deportations. On 3 March 1944 Bohny-Reiter was married in Basel and returned to Switzerland after the liberation of France in December 1944. Bohny-Reiter was the father of four children (Jörg (9 March 1945), Verena (7 June 1946 - 20 December 2017); Hans Rudolf (23 April 1948 - 1974) and Christoph (31 May 1951 - 13 March 1997)). In 1945, he began the construction of a children's village, managed the Buchenwald action on the Zugerberg, and organised the transport of malnourished Dutch children to Ticino. From 1946 onward, he began teaching children with behavioural problems and became a speech therapist. From 1979 to 1995, Bohny-Reiter was president of the Swiss Central Association for the Blind (SZB) and in 1990 he was honoured at Yad Vashem as a “Righteous among the Nations“. In 1994, he was awarded the Moral Courage Award.
Bohny-Reiter’s book ‘Unvergessene Geschichte’ from 2009 can be found in the AfZ library. The events in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon have been the basis for three films : “Les Camisards“ (1972), “Les armes de l`esprit“ (1989), and “La colline aux mille enfants“ (1994). These films are not included in the collection.
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://onlinearchives.ethz.ch/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2019
