Edmond Privat

Théophile Edmond Privat ( born August 17, 1889 in Geneva, † August 28 1962 in Rolle VD) was a Swiss journalist, historian, since 1934 Professor of English in Ticino, from 1945 until his passing in 1959 professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature at the University of Neuchâtel.

The pacifist Private was a friend of Romain Rolland and Mahatma Gandhi, whom he accompanied in 1932 on a trip to India. In Poland he is known among other things for his dissertation of 1918, which dealt with the Polish independence movement.

From 1924 to 1928 was chairman of the private Esperanto Association. In addition to other functions in the Esperanto movement, he edited from 1920 to 1934, the magazine Esperanto.

After private dedicated for several decades, especially in the Esperanto movement, he sat down since 1931/1932 also reinforced outside this movement for political and religious goals. He was a member of the Socialist Party of Switzerland. As such, he wrote articles for the newspaper La Sentinelle. In 1936 he became a Quaker.

Private was Weltföderalist. Under the impact of the two world wars he spoke of the "dangerousness of national sovereignty." Towards the end of his life he said in his autobiography that from the many utopias, for which he has fought, only two remained unrealized, and that " the general introduction of a world language and the establishment of a genuine federal world government."

Works

The International Esperanto Museum (Vienna ) lists in its catalog over eighty publications by owner. This includes textbooks such as Esperanto in fifty lessons ( 2nd edition Revell, New York City, 1908. ) And Esperanto: langue auxiliaire international ( Atar, Geneva c1930 ). As a historian, wrote about the private Vivo de Zamenhof Biography of Ludwig Zamenhof ( Brita Esperanto Asocio, London 1920; Hirt, Leipzig 1923, among others ), also in English ( 1931), Dutch (1934 ) and Polish ( 1957) was translated. In historiography de la lingvo Esperanto he presents the history of Esperanto in two volumes represent the beginnings of 1887-1900 ( Universala Esperanto Asocio, Geneva 1912; Hirt, Leipzig, 1923 ) and 1900-1927 ( Hirt, Leipzig 1927). In 1958 he published a biography of Gandhi, Vie de Gandhi ( Denoël, Paris 1958).