Henriette Ith

Henriette Ith (, 31 August 1885 – 12 January 1978), also known as Henriette Rémi or Henriette Danniel, was a Swiss Esperantist and pacifist. Born to a family of watchmakers in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, she first studied languages and photography, opening a studio in Berlin. After marrying and working in a German military hospital during the First World War, Ith became a socialist and political activist for social democracy for several years before moving to Geneva, Switzerland. Here, she became involved in the Esperanto movement, teaching and translating in the language, and directing a magazine in it.

In later life, Ith remarried and studied psychology, becoming a pacifist. Ith remained participating in left wing circles, although to a lesser extent than during her post-war period. In 1942, Ith published a book,  ("Men without Faces"), recounting her experiences during the First World War; publishing pseudonymously as Henriette Rémi, her identity as its author was lost for half a century.

Life

Early life 
Ith was born Henriette Wille to Charles and Jenny () Wille on 31 August 1885 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, one of five children. She was from a bourgeoisie family of watchmakers originating from La Sagne, Neuchâtel. Her surname, Wille, was a corruption of the French Vuille, from an error made by a birth registrar sometime in the 18th century. Wille was one of five children, and was initially educated by her mother. After secondary school, from 1902 to 1904, WIlle lived in Zürich and England, improving her knowledge of English and German. Wille then studied photography and opened a photography studio in Berlin, before returning to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1908. In 1914, she married German officer Hans Danniel, taking German citizenship (and thereby losing her Swiss citizenship).

First World War 
As World War I began in 1914, Hans Danniel was called to fight on the front lines – she saw him only during his military leave until 1915, when he was wounded and transferred to a military hospital in Verden an der Aller, and she was able to visit him. During this period, Ith became a nurse for soldiers who had sustained major facial injuries (referred to as "", "broken mouths"), working to provide morale support to them at the hospital where her husband was recovering. After her experiences in the war, she felt a duty to change the what she saw as a failed bourgeoisie societal system which allowed such tragedies as those she had experienced. Separating from her husband, who had become a German nationalist during the war, she joined the Internationaler Jugendbund, a group of young socialists. As part of this, Ith was required to become an asceticist, adhering to vegetarianism, teetotalism, and celibacy, as well as becoming an atheist. She joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (all members of her group were required to join a left-wing political party) in 1920, but left the Jugendbund in 1924, due to exhaustion from her activity for the group. During this period, Ith also transcribed Rudolf Christoph Eucken's book  ("Meaning and Value") into braille.

Work with Esperanto 
After leaving the Jugendbund, Ith moved to Geneva, and learnt Esperanto, which she found useful as an international auxiliary language. Ith began to teach the language and became active in the Esperanto community. She became secretary to Pierre Bovet (who was editor of the magazine Esperanto), and worked with Adolphe Ferrière as his editor and secretary, contributing to his work in education reform and translating several of his book. When the International Bureau of Education was founded by Bovet and Édouard Claparède, both of whom she knew, in 1925, Ith became a member of it, and taught Esperanto to the staff there to ease communication ahead of the 1929 International Congress on Education. Ith later became a translator for the association Bulteno, and was paid by the  (International Association of Esperanto Teachers). Ith also taught Esperanto to children to observe its effects, believing that lasting peace came more from the education of individuals than the wealth of a state. She was also one of the principal organisers for the 1927 conference  ("Peace through School"), which was held in Prague.

Between 1928 and 1932, Ith was chief editor of the Esperanto translation of a journal published by the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund, wanting to better show Esperantists that the Kampfbund supported social democracy in place of communism. However, while she was editor, she seldom signed her articles with her name, due to her position as a German citizen with limited residency permit in Switzerland; her connections with the Kampfbund created a risk of deportation.

Life in Geneva 
Her work with Esperanto and in politics brought her into trouble with the Swiss authorities; when she requested to have her Swiss citizenship reinstated in 1928, it was denied on the basis of bad reputation. This would have meant that she would have to leave Switzerland with the expiration of her residence permit, so to regain her citizenship, she married the Swiss anarchist , who was seventeen years younge than her, less than five months after having cizitenship refused, thus effectively being naturalised Swiss. Émile was a conscientious objector, and would be imprisoned multiple times for charges related to this, for example for refusing to do military service. The Iths studied psychology together at the University of Geneva as free students, and also frequented their local Quakers, as several of their relatives had joined the movement, promoting anti-violence. Partly as a result of this contact with the pacifist movement, as well as after recommendations by friends Ith also became interested in the work of Mahatma Gandhi and Hindu philosophy. They joined several pacifist organisations, such as the  (International women's union for international concord) and the  (International movement for reconciliation).

Ith may have participated in the Kampfbund's protest against the Rise of Nazism in the early 1930s, but otherwise was politically quiet for the remainder of her life. However, Ith was still active in left-wing circles, corresponding with other activists about topics such as consciencious objection; in 1964, she wrote an article for L'Essor about the stigma associated with refusal to do military service. Although not part of any political party, Ith often visited left-wing figures, such as educator  and Edmond Privat. Aside from her activism for pacifism, Ith was also a proponent for women's rights, freethought, progressive education, and social equality; she also became an activist for the local labour movement. Until the age of eight-four, she was employed by a Genoise couple, and died on 12 January 1978 in Geneva.

Hommes sans Visages 
In 1942, prompted by the onset of the Second World War, Ith released a testimony of her experiences of military hospital life during World War One. Ith began writing this in 1939, and released it under the title  ("Men without Faces") under the pen name Henriette Rémi, with publication limited to Romandy. This limited release was a result of its timing: in 1939, Ith had wanted to warn of the horrors that were about to be experienced, but by the time of the book's completion, the Swiss press did not want to publish pacifist material. After its publication, the identity of Ith as the book's author was lost, although the book was citied by several historians; consensus had determined Henriette Rémi to be a Frenchwoman, instead of being written from a German perspective. Ith wrote her book in French, gallicising personal names to better allow a Francophone audience to feel empathy for her characters.

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1885 births
1978 deaths
20th-century Swiss educators
20th-century Swiss women writers
Esperanto educators
People from La Chaux-de-Fonds
Swiss Esperantists
Swiss pacifists
Swiss socialists
University of Geneva alumni