Ferdinand Buisson

Ferdinand Edouard Buisson ( born December 20, 1841 in Paris, † February 16, 1932 in Thieuloy - Saint-Antoine, Oise ) was a French pedagogue and politician. As a champion of the League of Nations idea, co-founder and longtime chairman of the French League for Human Rights, he received in 1927, together with Ludwig Quidde the Nobel Peace Prize.

Life and work

Ferdinand Buisson was born in 1841, his father was investigating judge in Paris. He attended high school in Saint- Étienne, and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris afterwards. In 1868 he completed his studies, but received for his conscientious objection Treueeids against Napoléon III. any employment in France and went as a teacher to Neuchâtel in Switzerland. Here he took part in the 1867 Geneva Peace Conference on the International League for Peace and Freedom was founded.

In 1870, after the fall of Napoleon III. , Buisson returned to France and was due to his friendship with the minister of education Jules Simon Head of the school in Paris. From this position, however, he was forced to resign due to his open criticism of the church after a short time. Under the successor of Simon Jules Ferry, the school system was reformed in 1879 and this continued Buisson in the position of Inspector General for the education one, in which he worked 17 years and several books published. From 1896 to 1906 he was professor at the Sorbonne and publisher of a dictionary of pedagogy. From 1902 to 1914, and from 1919 to 1923 Buisson was elected as a Member of the Parti radical in the French government.

Besides his work Buisson was always the peace movement connected and stood up for human and civil rights. He sat down heavily for the resumption of the process to Alfred Dreyfus, known as the Dreyfus Affair, a. From 1913 to 1926 Buisson was President of the French League for Human Rights, which began after its establishment for the relief Dreyfus. Buisson said in this function especially for the rights of persecuted minorities. Its position for the observance of human rights, especially in the First World War, even in wartime popular, he vehemently demanded. Strong criticism of him earning the Treaty of Versailles, however, the League of Nations was despite some criticisms in his eyes a chance for an international peace work. 1924 Buisson said before the German Reichstag for a Franco- German reconciliation and accompanied the speech with a "Peace Journey" by Germany. In 1927 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the German pacifist Ludwig Quidde.

In Berlin - French beech wood, the street was renamed after him 49 in which the Ludwig- Quidde Street ( former street 64 ) opens, so that they are reunited after their death.

Works

• Dictionnaire de Pédagogique et d'instruction primaire. Alcan, Paris 1929
• Education et Republique. Kimé, Paris, 2003, ISBN 2-84174-293-8