Maria Berta Magdalena Meierhofer (1909–1998) was a Swiss children's psychiatrist and pedagogue. She was one of the early supporters of the Pestalozzi Children's Village and is known for the Marie Meierhofer Institute for Children.
Early life
Marie Meierhofer was born on 21 June 1909 in a hospital in Zürich. She grew up in
Turgi
Turgi is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, located in the Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'').
In 2002, Turgi received the Wakker Prize for the preservation of its architectural heritage.
History
...
,
Canton Aargau
Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...
as the daughter of Albert Meierhofer, the founder of Bronzewarenfabrik AG Turgi and the artist Marie Lang, the second wife of Albert. She had five siblings, but her younger brother Robert died when she was eight. The families home, the "Little Appletree" was situated in an
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...
and had a
central heating
A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces.
...
and
running water
Tap water (also known as faucet water, running water, or municipal water) is water supplied through a tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used for drinking, ...
in all bed chambers which was very modern for the time.
Education
She was one of the first female students in the high school of Turgi, which only opened in 1921. In April 1930, Marie Meierhofer and her family moved to Zurich. But after her father became ill and upon the advice of the medic
Maximilian Bircher-Benner
Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, M.D. (22 August 1867 – 24 January 1939) was a Swiss physician and a pioneer nutritionist credited for popularizing muesli and raw food vegetarianism.
Biography
Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner was born on 22 Au ...
, he agreed to her medical studies, which she began at the
University of Zürich
The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
. Meierhofer also studied in Rome and Vienna, and graduated in 1935. Following, she worked for three years in the psychiatric hospital Bürghölzli in Zürich after which she presented her doctoral dissertation in 1937. In 1938 she obtained her Doctorate following which she worked at the from 1939 until 1942.
Professional life
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and on behalf of the
Swiss Red Cross
The Swiss Red Cross (German: ', French: ', Italian: ', Romansh: '), or SRC, is the national Red Cross society for Switzerland.
The SRC was founded in 1866 in Bern, Switzerland. In accordance with the Geneva Red Cross Agreement and its r ...
, Marie Meierhofer cared for war-affected children in
Cruseilles
Cruseilles (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Corzelyes''; Savoyard dialect: ''Croueselyes'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeaste ...
in 1942/43 and in
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, Children of Jewish descent and older young people had to be hidden from the Nazi. She smuggled medicine and food across the green border to France.
Meierhofer and Walter Corti discussed ways to educate the children surviving World War II, following which she became one of the early and main supporters for the founding of the Pestalozzi Children's Village in
Trogen Trogen may refer to:
People
* Karl-Erling Trogen (born 1946)
Places
* Trogen, Switzerland
Trogen is a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The town is the seat of the canton's judicial authorities.
History
The ...
in 1946. Meierhofer had a leading role in the development of the educational plan for the village.
Between 1948 and 1952 Marie Meierhofer was the city doctor of Zurich. At that time, she encountered the nurseries and orphanages she wanted to build and was not satisfied with how the children were treated. After she resigned from her job in Zurich and upon invitation by the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
followed up on her studies in France and the United States. It is because of Marie Meierhofer's initiative that the "Institute for Psychohygiene in Childhood" was founded in 1957, and is called the "Marie Meierhofer Institute for Children" since 1977.
Research
Between 1958 and 1961 and from 1971 to 1974 Meierhofer conducted research that showed a cognitive deficient development of children that grew up in state owned institutions compared to children who grew up in families. Meierhofer also produced a documentary on her research on over three-hundred children from twelve orphanages in Zurich.
Personal life
She had five siblings, of which Hans was from Alberts first wife and Eduard and Adèle were foster children. She had two younger sisters called Emmi and Albertine but lost her brother Robert through death at the age of eight. Marie wasn't home when Robert drowned in the pool. From that day on, however, she felt somehow responsible for the tragic death. Her lifelong effort to help disadvantaged children was greatly enhanced by this event. When Marie Meierhofer was 16, her mother died in a plane crash, and at the age of 22 she lost her father, who died on a
white water rafting
Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...
trip, in the river
Ticino
Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...
at the age of sixty-eight. Meierhofer had an adoptive son Edgar, who was one of her patients. Edgar died at the age of 26 from a congenital kidney disease. She died on the 15 August 1998 in Unterägeri in Canton Zug and was buried in the cemetery in Turgi.