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BIOGRAPHY
BEFORE THE WAR
Albert Schweitzer became famous because of Lambaréné, the hospital in Gabon in Central-Africa, where he spent the main part of his life. Schweitzer was born on 14 January 1875 in Kaysersberg, a small town in the Elzas. Albert Schweitzer was a sickly child, something that wasn’t obvious in adulthood. Oddly, he was also behind in developing his reading and writing skills. While growing up, he therefore forced himself to focus on topics that were challenging for him, such as Hebrew. Musically, Schweitzer was gifted. He composed a psalm at the age of seven.
Schweitzer decided that he wanted to dedicate himself to the wellbeing of humanity. Aged thirty in 1905, Schweitzer takes up medicine as a fourth study topic at the University of Strasbourg with the intention to work as a doctor in Africa. After finalising his medical degree in 1913, Schweitzer departs for Lambaréné in Gabon with his wife, Hélène Bresslau, to build a hospital near the missionary of the American Presbyterian Church that was established in 1872. Schweitzer worked from a shed that was modified into a hospital and in this shed he treated and operated on thousands. Schweitzer was the first doctor in the region and remained to be the only doctor in the hospital for years.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
In 1914 the First World War broke out and as Schweitzer was a German national on French soil, he was officially taken as a prisoner of war. Schweitzer and his wife have to stop their wor. After a few months of house detention, he was allowed to continue his work and care for the people in need of medical attention. However, in 1917 Schweitzer and his wife are taken to France as prisoners of war and were kept in a monastry in Garaison. Later, in 1918, they were brought to an old monastry with a hospital in St Remy in the Provence, the same hospital where Vincent van Gogh was admitted for some time. Schweitzer used this imposed break to continue work on “Culture and Ethics”. Schweitzer considered the World War to be the sign that current civilisation was falling, he considered it evidence to support his thinking that the disinterested, non-thinking human kind is driven by a struggle for power and knowledge to the disadvantage of others. Schweitzer tried to reintroduce ideas on the agenda such as ‘love’, ‘dedication’, ‘compassion’ and ‘solidarity’ to stimulate humanity to living life to a higher order.
AFTER THE WAR
After the end of the war in 1918, Schweitzer was employed as a medical assistant in the hospital in Strasbourg. He also took up his old job as assistant pastor in the St Nicolai Church. In 1923, he finalises his book “Culture and Ethics”. Already in 1919, he was invited by Nathan Söderblom to speak at the University of Uppsala (Sweden) about culture and ethics as well as to perform organ concerts after Easter in 1920. Because of these readings, Schweitzer was able to share his philosophy with the public. The audience responded enthusiastically and many more lectures throughout Europe followed. His lectures and concerts served a second purpose beyond gaining support for his philosophy. They also allowed for the collection of monetary funds for his work in Lambaréné as most of his own money was already spent.
In 1924 Schweitzer and his wife returned to Lambaréné. Upon arrival it appears that nothing of what he had build before the War remained. The Government provides him with 75 acres of land to build new barracks. The hospital grew from a few barracks to a small village rapidly. From then, Schweitzer received support from European doctors and nurses. After a while, Schweitzer starts to regularly travel to Europe for lectures or concerts. Steadily, his work became famous and received large recognition. Besides his philosophy, his work in Africa became an inspiration.
FROM 1939
Between 1939 and 1948 Schweitzer was forced to stay in Lambaréné because of the war situation. From 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War, Schweitzer was free to travel again, not only to Europe but also to the United States. Schweitzer continued to combine his travel and his work in Lambaréné until his death in 1965. In the last years of his life, Schweitzer takes up study again, this time in nuclear physics. He considered it his duty to warn the world about the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests. In 1952, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He used the money to build a separate village for sufferers of leprosy, the 'Village de Lumière', Village of the Light. In 1954, Schweitzer was awarded membership of the exclusive Order ‘Pour le Mérite’.
Schweitzer's main contribution to twentieth century thinking was his positive view on humanity. He warned for everything that could compromise the quality of life and deeply respected those factors that enhanced the quality of life. ‘If one has to choose between life and death, choose life’. When he paddled on the river in a canoe, he received a vision about choosing for life. ‘ Life is living that life amidst life that wants to live’.
Schweitzer passed away on 4 September 1965 in Lambaréné, at the age of ninety.
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