page_title: Albert Schweitzer
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Albert Schweitzer / Later life
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Weimar, Albert-Schweitzer-Gedenkstätte ADN-ZB Deutsche Demokratische Republik 25.4.1984 Das Musäushaus in Weimar - Gedenkstätte für Albert Schweitzer Das Musäushaus, 1754 am Rande des historischen Stadtkerns von Weimar (Bezirk Erfurt) im malerischen Winkel des Kegelplatzes erbaut, wurde nach umfassender Restaurierung im April 1984 vm Albert-Schweizer-Komitee der DDR als Gedenkstätte für den großen Humanisten und Arzt Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) eröffnet. Der durch seine "Volksmärchen der Deutschen " (1786) bekannt gewordene Dichter Johan Carl August Musäus (1735-1785) bewohnte das Haus in seinen letzten Lebensjahren, es steht heute unter Denkmalschutz. Die Ausstellung im Obergeschoss der Gedenkstätte folgt dem Lebensweg Albert Schweitzers und den Hauptgebeiten seines Wirkens u.a. im Tropenhospital Lambarene, auf Vortragsreien durch verschiedene Länder und seinem konsequenten Eintreten für den Frieden, wofür er 1953 den Nobelpreis erhielt. Gewürdigt werden auch seine Leistungen als Philosoph, Theologe und Organist. Im Erdgeschoß des Hauses liegen u.a. Vortragsräume. Der überdachte stille Hof hinter der Gedenkstätte gibt Besuchern die Gelegenheit, sich in der warmen Sommerzeit ein wenig auszuruhen. Die Errichtung der Albert Schweitzer-Gedenkstätte reiht sich würdig in die mannigfaltigen Bemühungen des sozialistischen deutschen Staates ein, den großen Humanisten zu ehren. Die Stadt Weimar, jährlich von Tausenden in-und ausländischen Gästen besucht, bietet sich für dieses Vorhaben als Sinnbild wertvoller humanistischer Tradition aus der Geschichte des deutschen Volkes und der Menschheit an, denen Schweitzer sich aufs engste verbunden wußte und deren Erschließung er einen wesentlichen Teil seiner seiner Lebensarbeit widmete. Es geht um Weimar als Wirkungsstätte von Johann Sebastian Bach, von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller und Johann Gottfried Herder.
context_page_description: Albert Schweitzer OM was an Alsatian polymath. He was a theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view. His contributions to the interpretation of Pauline Christianity concern the role of Paul's mysticism of "being in Christ" as primary and the doctrine of Justification by Faith as secondary.
  He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", becoming the eighth Frenchman to be awarded that prize. His philosophy was expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, which up to 1958 was situated in French Equatorial Africa, and after this in Gabon. As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ Reform Movement.
context_section_description: After the birth of their daughter (Rhena Schweitzer Miller), Albert's wife, Helene Schweitzer was no longer able to live in Lambaréné due to her health. In 1923, the family moved to Königsfeld im Schwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, where he was building a house for the family. This house is now maintained as a Schweitzer museum.
  From 1939–1948, he stayed in Lambaréné, unable to go back to Europe because of the war. Three years after the end of World War II, in 1948, he returned for the first time to Europe and kept travelling back and forth (and once to the US) as long as he was able. During his return visits to his home village of Gunsbach, Schweitzer continued to make use of the family house, which after his death became an archive and museum to his life and work. His life was portrayed in the 1952 movie Il est minuit, Docteur Schweitzer, starring Pierre Fresnay as Albert Schweitzer and Jeanne Moreau as his nurse Marie. Schweitzer inspired actor Hugh O'Brian when O'Brian visited in Africa. O'Brian returned to the United States and founded the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation (HOBY).
  Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 1952, accepting the prize with the speech, "The Problem of Peace". From 1952 until his death he worked against nuclear tests and nuclear weapons with Albert Einstein, Otto Hahn and Bertrand Russell. In 1957 and 1958, he broadcast four speeches over Radio Oslo which were published in Peace or Atomic War. In 1957, Schweitzer was one of the founders of The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. On 23 April 1957, Schweitzer made his "Declaration of Conscience" speech; it was broadcast to the world over Radio Oslo, pleading for the abolition of nuclear weapons. His speech ended, "The end of further experiments with atom bombs would be like the early sunrays of hope which suffering humanity is longing for."
  Weeks prior to his death, an American film crew was allowed to visit Schweitzer and Drs. Muntz and Friedman, both Holocaust survivors, to record his work and daily life at the hospital. The film The Legacy of Albert Schweitzer, narrated by Henry Fonda, was produced by Warner Brothers and aired once. It resides in their vault today in deteriorating condition. Although several attempts have been made to restore and re-air the film, all access has been denied.
  In 1955, he was made an honorary member of the Order of Merit (OM) by Queen Elizabeth II. He was also a chevalier of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.
  Schweitzer died on 4 September 1965 at his beloved hospital in Lambaréné, now in independent Gabon. His grave, on the banks of the Ogooué River, is marked by a cross he made himself.
  His cousin Anne-Marie Schweitzer Sartre was the mother of Jean-Paul Sartre. Her father, Charles Schweitzer, was the older brother of Albert Schweitzer's father, Louis Théophile.
  Schweitzer was a vegetarian. An account written by Edgar Berman suggests that Schweitzer consumed fried liver at a Sunday dinner in Lambaréné.
  The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship was founded in 1940 by Schweitzer to unite US supporters in filling the gap in support for his Hospital when his European supply lines were cut off by war, and continues to support the Lambaréné Hospital today. Schweitzer considered his ethic of Reverence for Life, not his hospital, his most important legacy, saying that his Lambaréné Hospital was just "my own improvisation on the theme of Reverence for Life. Everyone can have their own Lambaréné." Today ASF helps large numbers of young Americans in health-related professional fields find or create "their own Lambaréné" in the US or internationally. ASF selects and supports nearly 250 new US and Africa Schweitzer Fellows each year from over 100 of the leading US schools of medicine, nursing, public health, and every other field with some relation to health (including music, law, and divinity). The peer-supporting lifelong network of "Schweitzer Fellows for Life" numbered over 2,000 members in 2008, and is growing by nearly 1,000 every four years. Nearly 150 of these Schweitzer Fellows 
caption: Albert Schweitzer Memorial and Museum in Weimar (1984)
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