Edmond Kaiser – Champion of Humanitarian Causes
Half a century ago…
Switzerland commemorated the centenary of the birth, on the 2nd of January 1914, of Edmond Kaiser, a great humanitarian activist and founder of ‘Terre des Hommes’ and other children’s organisations. Edmond Kaiser organised ‘Terre des Hommes’ in 1959, after having learned of the condition of children in Algeria. It is now one of Switzerland’s best-known charities, with worldwide operations to aid children that are suffering from poverty, illness and war. Born in Paris, Kaiser lived in Switzerland in his childhood. He returned to France to work with the French resistance in World War II. In 1947 he returned to Lausanne where later he started his charitable work. In 1960 he adopted Swiss nationality. Describing his work in a newspaper interview in 1994, he said, “If someone is crying on the ground, we try to pick them up, just like we would care for an injured bird, love it and then help it fly again.”
Hans Brunner, the leading voice of the Yodel Club Edelwyss, remembers the production of the choir’s first record, 50 years ago this year.
Average Swiss wealth hits record high The average Swiss adult is worth a world-beating A$561,000 (CHF467,000), seeing off competition from Australia, Norway and Luxembourg, according to the 2013 Credit Suisse Wealth Report. Australia (A$430,000), Norway (A$405,000) and Luxembourg (A$336,000) all experienced an increase in wealth per adult and retain their respective second, third and fourth places. The United States, Sweden, France, Singapore, Belgium and Denmark are close behind, with average wealth per adult in the A$250,000 to A$300,000 range. A year ago, Japan moved up to fourth place in the table, but it has now been demoted and no longer ranks among the top ten countries.
The members of the choir featured on that first record were: Hans Brunner (Yodel), Arnold Eugster, Bill Fix, Willy Fiechter, Sigi Hirtrieter, Fred Koller, Walter Rutishauser, Emil Schwob, Max Tschudin and Fred Zwygart. A copy of the record was sent by Bill Fix to Hans W. Schneller, a highly respected composer of yodel songs in Switzerland. His response was: “Ich habe nun die Schallplatte des Swiss Yodel Club ‘Edelwyss’ Melbourne abgehört und freute mich ganz besonders an dem ausgezeichneten Jodler. Dass es so was in Australien gibt? Dieser Kamerad gehört bestimmt nach Oerlikon!…Weitaus am besten ist wohl der ‘Bärgmorge’ (Mueller-Egger) gelungen”… Hans had a compilation CD made of all the old recordings, including the eight songs featured on that first record. In case you’re interested, he might have one left… Listen to Hans’ recently recorded interview on ‘Echo Helvetia’ with Adrian Plitzco, where he looks back at his successful yodelling career and where you can listen to some of those old recorded songs: http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/german/highlight/page/ id/335303/t/Echo-Helvetia-Hans-Brunner-master-of-yodel/in/ english
Second place for Swiss in life expectancy Swiss women can expect to live to an impressive 85.1 years and Swiss men to 80.7, overtaken only by Japanese women (87) and Icelandic men (81.2). Women in Japan have the longest life expectancy in the world at 87 years, followed by Switzerland, Spain and Singapore. Female life expectancy in all the top ten countries was 84 years or longer. Life expectancy among men is 80 years or more in nine countries, with the longest male life expectancy in Iceland, Switzerland and Australia. swissinfo.ch
Hans Brunner, the man with the golden voice, with his ‘Oscar’. The bronze yodeler statue weighting nearly 4 kilograms was especially created for Hans by Ernst Fries.
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