Henry Dunant

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Dunant, Jean-Henri (1828-1910), Swiss merchant, humanitarian, and founder of the Red Cross. Dunant witnessed the battle of Solferino in Lombardy in June 1859 during the Italian campaign, an experience which turned him into a leading advocate of constraints on the conduct of war. Solferino saw particularly bitter fighting between the Austrian and Franco-Piedmontese armies, resulting in almost 40, 000 casualties. Appalled by the carnage and by the sight of injured men left to die in agony, Dunant organized immediate assistance for the neglected wounded of both sides. He published his impressions of the battle in Un souvenir de Solferino (1862), and set about devising formal procedures for neutral mediation during conflict for the alleviation of the suffering of the wounded. He also established the important principle of immunity from attack for medical teams. Dunant's efforts resulted in a network of national Red Cross organizations, the creation of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863, and the 1864 Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the field. After many years in obscurity, Dunant re-emerged to public acclaim at the turn of the century and was jointly awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.

— Paul Cornish

Jean Henri Dunant (1828-1910) was a Swiss merchant who, as a witness to the cruelties of the battle of Solferino, made public the inefficiency of the sanitary organizations in wartime and developed a vision for a relief society of trained volunteers that resulted in the founding of the Red Cross.

Jean Henri Dunant was born on May 8, 1828, in Geneva, Switzerland, to parents who belonged to the nobility. Combining Christian faith with a strong sense of charity, humanity, and justice, his parents taught their young son to respect and support those in need. He often accompanied his mother on her visits to the poor and sick in Geneva's suburbs, visits to dark streets that he would later recall as his first encounters with misfortune and misery. In these early years, the mother's generosity passed to the son, whose enthusiasm for improvement would accompany him throughout his life.

During his first years of adulthood, Dunant focused his efforts on the promotion of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). Founded in 1844 by London merchant George Williams, the YMCA had quickly spread to the Continent and subsequently to the United States and Canada. Eight years later, Dunant was among the cofounders of the YMCA in Geneva. He promoted (and in 1855 succeeded in) the unification of the various YMCA groups that existed in Europe and overseas.

Dunant's professional career began as a merchant and banker, an occupation that led him to Algeria from 1853-59. More than 20 years earlier, in 1830, Algeria had been conquered by France, and since then many young adventurers had sought their fortunes there. Dunant had similar intentions. He opened his own business of cornmills and marble quarries, financed by influential citizens of Geneva. Though he had acquired French citizenship in 1858, he continued to be harassed by the colonial bureaucracy in Algeria. To stop these impediments, he planned to speak to French emperor Napoleon III, personally.

In his leisure hours, Dunant observed the manners and habits of the North African people, praising their hospitality, codes of honor, and chivalry - qualities that, he believed, were deficient in the European nations. Devoting some time to reading, he was deeply impressed by Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and spoke strongly against slavery as it was practiced in the north of Africa. He especially condemned the transatlantic slave trade to the United States and remained perplexed by American members of the YMCA who tolerated what he considered the blatant violation of the message of Christianity.

In the summer of 1859, Dunant traveled to Italy. His suitcase contained a written homage to Napoleon III who, in alliance with Sardinia, was waging a war on Austria. On June 24, the two armies met at Solferino, a few miles west of the city of Mantua. The ensuing battle - though of small strategic or political significance - was one of the most devastating battles fought in terms of casualties. Nearly 40,000 wounded men begged for help on the battlefield at the fighting's end. Dunant, known as "the man in white" because of his tropical outfit, was attempting to arrange his meeting with Napoleon, but found himself instead witnessing the shocking scene:

Some, who had gaping wounds already beginning to show infection, were almost crazed with suffering. They begged to be put out of their misery, and writhed with faces distorted in the grip of the death-struggle. There were poor fellows who had not only been hit by bullets or knocked down by shell splinters, but whose arms and legs had been broken by artillery wheels passing over them.

Realizing that thousands of lives would be lost within the following days due to a lack of surgeons, medication, nurses, bandages, and food, Dunant headed for the French headquarters and successfully persuaded Marshal MacMahon to liberate all captive Austrian surgeons so that they might be allowed to tend their wounded. Three days later, permission was officially granted by Emperor Napoleon. Meanwhile, churches and private houses of nearby Castiglione were transformed into hospitals. But the number of convoys of wounded increased to such proportions that:

the local authorities, the townspeople, and the troops left in Castiglione, were absolutely incapable of dealing with all the suffering. Scenes as tragic as those of the day before, though of a very different sort, began to take place. There was water and food, but even so, men died of hunger and thirst; there was plenty of lint, but there were not enough hands to dress wounds; most of the army doctors had to go on to Cavriana, there was a shortage of medical orderlies, and at this critical time no help was to be had.

With the assistance of Don Lorenzo Barzizza, priest of Castiglione, Dunant gathered several hundred women who were willing to act as nurses, cooks, and laundresses to help the wounded - regardless of their background or nationality. Tutti fratelli (all brothers) became the slogan that helped save hundreds of lives.

Dunant tirelessly tended the wounded, organized supplies, and wrote letters to military headquarters, as well as to personal friends in Geneva, asking them to send clothes, bandages, medication, camomile to cleanse the wounds, and tobacco (to offer a distraction to the wounded and dying). After two weeks of immense struggle, Dunant left Castiglione, exhausted. In Milano, and later in his hometown Geneva, news of his efforts spread rapidly. High-ranking families invited him to their homes and palaces. Wherever he went, he was celebrated as a great benefactor to humanity.

To improve his business in Algeria, Dunant then moved to Paris, where memories of the wounded and dying continued to haunt him. In three years' time, he wrote and published an account of these last days of June 1859. In 1862, Un Souvenir de Solferino (A Memory of Solferino) was printed in Geneva at the author's expense and distributed among his friends and the courts in Europe. Solferino immediately attracted a wide circle of readers; within a few years, it was translated into 12 languages. Generals and field-marshals, along with princes and dukes, expressed their willingness to support Dunant's plan to improve the care of wounded soldiers.

One of the first to compliment him on his book was the lawyer Gustave Moynier of Geneva. Dunant, Moynier, and three other friends - the "Committee of Five," as they were called - drew up a memorandum, calling for an international conference to inquire into "the means of providing for the Inadequacy of the Sanitary Service of Armies in the Field." The memorandum suggested a solution: the institutionalization of a committee designed to answer the needs of troops wounded in battle. After the International Congress of Welfare in Berlin was called off, the Committee of Five decided to bring its cause before the Congress of Statistics which was to take place in Berlin.

One of Dunant's great admirers was the surgeon-mayor Doctor Basting who had translated Solferino into Dutch and who, like Dunant, would be participating in the congress. When they met for the first time, Dunant and Basting immediately discovered mutual interests and became close friends. Indeed, together with Basting, Dunant rewrote the memorandum only a few days before the opening of the congress, adding aspects which would be of the utmost importance. He requested that "the Governments of Europe agree that for the future the military staff and attendants, together with the officially recognized volunteer ambulance corps, be regarded as neutrals by the belligerents."

The Congress of Statistics in Berlin proved a big success for Dunant, and delegates of various European countries were invited to an International Congress in Geneva set for October 26, 1863. But Dunant's decision to alter the memorandum without consulting the other members of the Committee of Five led to a cool reception back in Geneva. Moynier, especially, reproved Dunant for his impetuosity and sought to curb it by appointing Dunant as secretary of the congress over which Moynier was to preside.

From October 26-29, 36 delegates of 16 countries discussed the issues promoted and presented by the Committee of Five. They passed a resolution consisting of ten articles and four recommendations. In times of peace, the various National Committees would store up requisites and enlist and train a Volunteer Ambulance Corps. It was also decided:

In times of war, the committees of the belligerent nations shall furnish the needful supplies to their respective armies. They will organize their Volunteer Ambulance Corps and arrange with the military authorities as to the places where the wounded are to receive attention…. The volunteer assistants will be placed under the orders of the military chiefs, and all shall wear, as a distinctive badge, a red cross on a white ground.

Among the points recommended were: the expressed protection by the government; the neutralization of the Ambulance Corps; and the adoption of a common flag for ambulances and hospitals. Thus, in October of 1863, part of Dunant's dream had come true. The Committee of the Red Cross was founded. The following year, in the Geneva Convention of 1864, the recommendations expressed were fully accepted and integrated into the resolutions. A first, important step toward a new humanitarian international law had been taken.

But as Dunant's star as the promoter of the Red Cross was rising, his career as a merchant and banker was coming to a crushing finale. Devoting himself to his humanitarian work, he had neglected his business obligations for years. The honors that were paid to him could not avert financial bankruptcy and the loss of his reputation. Expelled by his hometown Geneva, and hunted by creditors, Dunant thought it best to leave Switzerland. Even more devastating was his resignation from the Committee of the Red Cross. The other members, Gustave Moynier among them, no longer considered the bankrupt Dunant of value to their cause. Upon discovering years later that Dunant was still using the letterhead of the Red Cross for his correspondence, Moynier sharply rebuked him. Thus, one of Dunant's earliest supporters openly turned into his enemy.

Dunant then spent several years in Paris, where his work with the Red Cross had kept him in high esteem with both the royal family and the aristocracy. Acquaintances, however, became fewer as news of his financial breakdown spread. Still, in Paris, Dunant was more than welcome as an expert in organizing the French Red Cross. In the war of 1870-71, France was heavily defeated at Sedan by a superior German army. Napoleon III was taken prisoner by the Prussians. After the defeat, France proclaimed the downfall of the monarchy and the inauguration of the Third Republic. Following his release, Napoleon lived in exile in England, where he would then die in 1871.

Unexpectedly, Dunant's efforts were supported by the exiled emperor. Dunant was provided with financial aid for the Alliance Universelle de l'ordre et de civilisation, an institution founded to help the victims of the Siege of Paris and of the Civil War in France. Moreover, he was given a house in Paris to use as a home as well as an office. With brighter prospects in mind, in August of 1872 he went to England to win supporters for his new mission to institute a convention for prisoners of war. This enterprise proved quite successful. Among those who complimented him on the recent undertakings was Florence Nightingale, "the lady with the lamp," who had been working as a volunteer nurse during the Crimean War, 1853-56. Devastated by the poor conditions of the military hospitals and the lack of properly trained nurses, Nightingale reorganized military as well as civilian nursing in Britain.

This short period of recognition, however, could not prevent Dunant's slow drift into oblivion. In Europe, Gustave Moynier was celebrated as the founder of the Red Cross, while Dunant gradually lost what had been his hall-marks - his energy and his faith in humanity. He traveled in Europe, taking odd jobs offered to him by old friends, living on their generosity and a small annual pension of 1,200 Swiss francs provided by his family in Geneva.

In 1887, Dunant, prematurely aged and in poor health, moved to Heiden, Switzerland. There, in the hospital where he was treated for his various ailments, he lived a secluded life; few visitors ever broke the monotony and the silence of his room. Likewise, there were not many whom the former "Samaritan of Europe" wished to see. He had become pessimistic and distrustful. No longer hunted or offended, he began to recover his mental stability and was glad for the peaceful retreat in Heiden. A religious man, he spent most of his time speculating on Genesis and Salvation, considering their impact on human evolution.

One friend who remained loyal, despite Dunant's failure, was Rudolf Mueller from Stuttgart, Germany. When, in 1892, an International Congress of the Red Cross was about to take place in Rome, Italy, Mueller published an article in a German newspaper, recalling the beginnings of the Red Cross and referring to Dunant as its founder and promoter. Yet it was not until 1895 that Dunant again became a topic for the public in Europe.

Suddenly, after being presumed dead, Dunant was surrounded by previous and newly won admirers. Swiss journalist George Baumberger's article in a German magazine had revealed that Dunant was indeed alive but living a lonely life of poverty. Baumberger finished his article with an appeal to the readers that, in anyway possible, they support Dunant - a man who had done much for others and asked nothing for himself. Letters of sympathy and encouragement were sent to Dunant, often including money, to make his later years more comfortable. His biographer, Rudolf Mueller, reestablished Dunant's reputation by reminding his audiences of Dunant's situation in many speeches. Mueller and other friends vehemently fought the rumors that Solferino had not been written by Dunant but by a French officer. Dunant knew of these allegations, and freely admitted that in order to correctly record the military details he had consulted army officials; otherwise, Solferino had been completely his own doing.

In 1896, a Dunant fund was started, primarily to enable the "Father of the Red Cross" to live in dignity. In December 1901, the Nobel Committee awarded Dunant with its first Peace Prize, an honor which he shared with Frenchman Frederic Passy. From his hometown Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross sent the following message:

There is no man who more deserves this honour, for it was you, forty years ago, who set on foot the international organization for the relief of the wounded on the battlefield. Without you, the Red Cross, the supreme humanitarian achievement of the nineteenth century, would probably never have been undertaken.

One honor seemed to follow another, and, in 1903, the degree of Doctor honoris causa was conferred upon Dunant by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

On October 30, 1910, 82-year-old Jean Henri Dunant died peacefully in the hospital in Heiden. According to his own wishes, he was buried in Zurich.

Further Reading

de Lisle, Arnold. The Story of the Red Cross Movement. London: The Banner, 1904.

Dunant, Henry. A Memory of Solferino. Geneva: International Committee of the Red Cross, 1986.

Heudtlass, Willy. J. Henry Dunant, Gruender des Roten Kreuzes, Urheber der Genfer Konvention, Eine Biographie. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1977.

Huber, Max. The Red Cross, Principles and Problems. Geneva: A. Kundig Press, 1942.

Willemin, Georges, and Roger Heacock. "The International Committee of the Red Cross," in International Organization and the Evolution of World Society. Vol. 2. Martin Nijhoff, 1984.

Dunant as an elderly man.

Jean Henri Dunant (May 8, 1828 – October 30, 1910), aka Henry Dunant or Henri Dunant, was a Swiss businessman and social activist. During a business trip in 1859, he was witness to the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino in modern day Italy. He recorded his memories and experiences in the book A Memory of Solferino which inspired the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1863. The 1864 Geneva Convention was based on Dunant's ideas. In 1901 he received the first Nobel Peace Prize together with Frédéric Passy.

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Algeria 3 Battle of Solferino 4 The Red Cross 5 Forgotten period 6 Return to public memory 7 Nobel Peace Prize 8 Death and Memory 9 See also 10 References 10.1 English Books 10.2 German Books 11 External links

Early life and education

Dunant was born in Geneva, Switzerland as the first son of businessman Jean-Jacques Dunant and his wife Antoinette Dunant-Colladon. His family was very devoutly Calvinist and had significant influence in Geneva society. His parents strongly stressed the value of social work, and his father was active helping orphans and parolees, while his mother worked with the sick and poor.

Dunant grew up during the period of religious awakening known as the Réveil, and at age eighteen he joined the Geneva Society for Alms giving. In the following year, together with friends, he founded the so-called "Thursday Association", a loose band of young men that met to study the Bible and help the poor, and he spent much of his free time engaged in prison visits and social work. On November 30, 1852, he founded the Geneva chapter of the YMCA and three years later he took part in the Paris meeting devoted to the founding of its international organization.

In 1849, at age 21, Dunant was forced to leave the Collège Calvin because of bad grades, and he began an apprenticeship with the money-changing firm Lullin et Sautter. After its successful conclusion, he remained as an employee of the bank.

Algeria

Henri Dunant, around 1860.

In 1853, Dunant visited Algeria, Tunisia, and Sicily, on assignment with a company devoted to the "colonies of Setif" (Compagnie genevoise des Colonies de Sétif). Despite little experience, he successfully fulfilled the assignment. Inspired by the trip, he wrote his first book with the title An Account of the Regency in Tunis (Notice sur la Régence de Tunis), published in 1858.

In 1856, he created a business to operate in foreign colonies, and, after granted a land concession by French-occupied Algeria, a corn-growing and trading company called the Financial and Industrial Company of Mons-Djémila Mills (Société financière et industrielle des Moulins des Mons-Djémila). However, the land and water rights were not clearly assigned, and the colonial authorities were not especially cooperative. As a result, Dunant decided to appeal directly to French emperor Napoléon III, who was with his army in Lombardy at the time. France was fighting on the side of Piedmont-Sardinia against Austria, who had occupied much of today's Italy. Napoleon's headquarters were located in the small city of Solferino. Dunant wrote a flattering book full of praise for Napoleon III with the intention to present it to the emperor, and then traveled to Solferino to meet with him personally.

Battle of Solferino

Dunant arrived on Solferino on the evening of June 24, 1859, on the same day a battle between the two sides had occurred nearby. Thirty-eight thousand wounded, dying and dead, remained on the battlefield, and there appeared to be little attempt to provide care. Shocked, Dunant himself took the initiative to organize the civilian population, especially the women and girls, to provide assistance to the injured and sick soldiers. They lacked sufficient materials and supplies, and Dunant himself organized the purchase of needed materials and helped erect makeshift hospitals. He convinced the population to service the wounded without regard to their side in the conflict as per the slogan "Tutti fratelli" (All are brothers) coined by the women of nearby city Castiglione delle Stiviere. He also succeeded in gaining the release of Austrian doctors captured by the French.

The Red Cross

After returning to Geneva early in July, Dunant decided to write a book about his experiences, which he titled Un Souvenir de Solferino (A Memory of Solferino). It was published in 1862 in an edition of 1,600 copies and was printed at Dunant's own expense. Within the book, he described the battle, its costs, and the chaotic circumstances afterwards. He also developed the idea that in the future a neutral organization should exist to provide care to wounded soldiers. He distributed the book to many leading political and military figures in Europe.

Drawing of the five founders of the International Committee.

Dunant also began to travel through Europe to promote his ideas. His book was largely positively received, and the President of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, jurist Gustave Moynier, made the book and its suggestions the topic of the February 9, 1863 meeting of the organization. Dunant's recommendations were examined and positively assessed by the members. They created a five-person Committee to further pursue the possibility of their implementation and made Dunant one of the members. The others were Moynier, the Swiss army general Henri Dufour, and doctors Louis Appia and Théodore Maunoir. Their first meeting on February 17, 1863 is now considered the founding date of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

From early on, Moynier and Dunant had increasing disagreements and conflicts regarding their respective visions and plans. Moynier considered Dunant's idea to establish neutrality protections for care providers implausible and advised Dunant not to insist upon this concept. However, Dunant continued to advocate this position in his travels and conversations with high-ranking political and military figures. This intensified the personal conflict between Moynier, who took a rather pragmatic approach to the project, and Dunant who was the visionary idealist among the five, and led to efforts by Moynier to attack Dunant and his bid for leadership.

In October 1863, 14 states took part in a meeting in Geneva organized by the committee to discuss the improvement of care for wounded soldiers. Dunant himself, however, was only a protocol leader because of Moynier's efforts to diminish his role. A year later, a diplomatic conference organized by the Swiss Parliament led to the signing of the first Geneva Convention by 12 states. Dunant, again, was only in charge of organizing accommodation for the attendees.

Forgotten period

Dunant's businesses in Algeria had suffered, partially because of his devotion to his humanistic ideals. In April 1867, the bankruptcy of the financial firm Crédit Genevois led to a scandal involving Dunant. He was forced to declare bankruptcy and was condemned by the Geneva Trade Court on August 17, 1868 for deceptive practices in the bankruptcies. Due to their investments in the firm, his family and many of his friends were also heavily affected by the downfall of the company. The social outcry in Geneva, a city deeply rooted in Calvinist traditions, also led to calls for him to separate himself from the International Committee. On August 25, 1867, he resigned as Secretary and, on September 8, he was fully removed from the Committee. Moynier, who had become President of the Committee in 1864, played a major role in his expulsion.

In February 1868, Dunant's mother died. Later that year he was also expelled from the YMCA. In March 1867, he left his home city Geneva and would not return for the rest of his life. In the following years, Moynier likely used his influence to attempt to ensure that Dunant would not receive assistance from his friends and support. For example, the gold medal prize of Sciences Morales at the Paris World's Fair did not go to Dunant as originally planned but to Moynier, Dufour, and Dunant together so that the prize money would only go to the Committee as a whole. Napoléon III's offer to take over half of Dunant's debts if Dunant's friends would secure the other half was also thwarted by Moynier's efforts.

Dunant moved to Paris, where he lived in meager conditions. However, he continued to pursue his humanitarian ideas and plans. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), he founded the Common Relief Society (Allgemeine Fürsorgegesellschaft) and soon after the Common Alliance for Order and Civilization (Allgemeine Allianz für Ordnung und Zivilisation). He argued for disarmament negotiations and for the erection of an international court to mediate international conflicts. Later he worked for the creation of a world library, an idea which has echoes in future projects such as UNESCO.

In his continued pursuit and advocacy of his ideas, he further neglected his personal situation and income, falling further in debt and being shunned by his acquaintances. Despite being appointed an honorary member of the national Red Cross societies of Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Prussia and Spain, he was nearly forgotten in the official discourse of the Red Cross Movement, even as it was rapidly expanding to new countries. He lived in poverty, moving to various places between 1874 and 1886, including Stuttgart, Rome, Corfu, Basel, and Karlsruhe. In Stuttgart he met the Tübingen University student Rudolf Müller with whom he would have a close friendship. In 1881, together with friends from Stuttgart, he went to the small Swiss resort village Heiden for the first time. In 1887 while living in London, he began to receive some monthly financial support from some distant family members. This enabled him to live a somewhat more secure existence, and he moved to Heiden in July. He spent the rest of his life there, and after April 30, 1892 he lived in a hospital and nursing home led by Dr. Hermann Altherr.

In Heiden, he met the young teacher Wilhelm Sonderegger and his wife Susanna; they encouraged him to record his life experiences. Sonderegger's wife founded a branch of the Red Cross in Heiden and in 1890 Dunant became its honorary president. With Sonderegger, Dunant hoped to further promote his ideas, including publishing a new edition of his book. However, their friendship later was strained by Dunant's unjustified accusations that Sonderegger, with Moynier in Geneva, was somehow conspiring against Dunant. Sonderegger died in 1904 at the age of only forty-two. Despite their strained relationship, Dunant was deeply moved by the unexpected death. Wilhelm and Susanna Sonderegger's admiration for Dunant, felt by both even after Dunant's allegations, was passed on to their children. In 1935, their son René published a compilation of letters from Dunant to his father.

Return to public memory

Henry Dunant memorial in Heiden, Switzerland.

Henry Dunant Monument in Wagga Wagga, Australia

In September 1895, Georg Baumberger, the chief editor of the St. Gallen newspaper Die Ostschweiz, wrote an article about the Red Cross founder, whom he had met and conversed with during a walk in Heiden a month earlier. The article entitled "Henri Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross", appeared in the German Illustrated Magazine Über Land und Meer, and the article was soon reprinted in other publications throughout Europe. The article struck a chord, and he received renewed attention and support. He received the Swiss Binet-Fendt Prize and a note from Pope Leo XIII. Because of support from Russian tsarist widow Maria Feodorovna and other donations, his financial situation improved remarkably.

In 1897, Rudolf Müller, who was now working as a teacher in Stuttgart, wrote a book about the origins of the Red Cross, altering the official history to stress Dunant's role. The book also contained the text of "A memory of Solferino". Dunant began an exchange of correspondence with Bertha von Suttner and wrote numerous articles and writings. He was especially active in writing about women's rights, and in 1897 facilitated the founding of a "Green Cross" women's organization whose only section was briefly active in Brussels.

Nobel Peace Prize

In 1901, Dunant was awarded the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize for his role in founding the International Red Cross Movement and initiating the Geneva Convention. Norwegian military physician Hans Daae, who had received a copy of Müller's book, advocated Dunant's case on the Nobel committee. The award was jointly given to French pacifist Frédéric Passy, founder of the Peace League and active with Dunant in the Alliance for Order and Civilization. The official congratulations which he received from the International Committee finally represented the rehabilitation of Dunant's reputation:

"There is no man who more deserves this honour, for it was you, forty years ago, who set on foot the international organization for the relief of the wounded on the battlefield. Without you, the Red Cross, the supreme humanitarian achievement of the nineteenth century would probably have never been undertaken."

Moynier and the International Committee as a whole had also been nominated for the prize. Although Dunant was supported by a broad spectrum in the selection process, he was still a controversial candidate. Some argued that the Red Cross and the Geneva Convention had made war more attractive and imaginable by eliminating some of its suffering. Therefore Müller, in a letter to the committee, argued that the prize should be divided between Dunant and Passy, who for some time in the debate had been the leading candidate to be the sole recipient of the prize. Müller also suggested that if a prize were to be warranted for Dunant, it should be given immediately because of his advanced age and ill health.

By dividing the prize between Passy, a pacifist, and Dunant, a humanitarian, the Nobel Committee set a precedent for the conditions of the Nobel Peace Prize selection which would have significant consequences in later years. A section of Nobel's will had indicated that the prize should go to an individual who had worked to reduce or eliminate standing armies, or directly to promote peace conferences, which made Passy a natural choice for his peace work. On the other hand, the arguably distinct bestowal for humanitarian effort alone was seen by some as a wide interpretation of Nobel's will. However, another part of Nobel's testament marked the prize for the individual who had best enhanced the "brotherhood of people," which could be interpreted more generally as seeing humanitarian work like Dunant's as connected to peacemaking as well. Many recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in later years can be assigned to either of these two categories first roughly established by the Nobel committee's decision in 1901.

Hans Daae succeeded in placing Dunant's part of the prize money, 104,000 Swiss Francs, in a Norwegian Bank and preventing access by his creditors. Dunant himself never spent any of the money during his life time..

Death and Memory

Grave of Henry Dunant.

Among several other awards in the following years, in 1903 Dunant was given an honorary doctorate by the medical faculty of the University of Heidelberg. He lived in the nursing home in Heiden until his death. In the final years of his life, he suffered from depression and paranoia about pursuit by his creditors and Moynier. There were even days when Dunant insisted that the cook of the nursing home first taste his food before his eyes to protect him against possible poisoning. Although he continued to profess Christian beliefs, in his final years he spurned and attacked Calvinism and organized religion generally.

According to his nurses, the final act of his life was to send a copy of Müller's book to the Italian queen with a personal dedication. He died on October 30, 1910, outliving his nemesis Moynier by just two months. Despite the ICRC's congratulations at the bestowal of the Nobel prize, the two rivals never reached a reconciliation.

According to his wishes, he was buried without ceremony in the Sihlfeld Cemetery in Zürich. In his will, he donated funds to secure a "free bed" in the Heiden nursing home always to be available for a poor citizen of the region and deeded some money to friends and charitable organizations in Norway and Switzerland. The remaining funds went to his creditors partially relieving his debt; his inability to fully erase his debts was a major burden to him until his death.

His birthday, May 8, is celebrated as the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day. The former nursing home in Heiden now houses the Henry Dunant Museum. In Geneva and other places there are numerous streets, squares, and schools named after him. The Henry Dunant Medal, awarded every two years by the standing commission of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is its highest decoration.

His life is represented, with some fictional elements, in the film D'homme à hommes (1948), starring Jean-Louis Barrault, and the period of his life when the Red Cross was founded in the international film coproduction Henry Dunant: Red on the Cross (2006).

See also

• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

References

English Books

• Henry Dunant: A Memory of Solferino. ICRC, Geneva 1986, ISBN 2-88145-006-7
• Pierre Boissier: History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume I: From Solferino to Tsushima. Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva 1985, ISBN 2-88044-012-2
• Caroline Moorehead: Dunant's dream: War, Switzerland and the history of the Red Cross. HarperCollins, London 1998, ISBN 0-00-255141-1 (Hardcover edition); HarperCollins, London 1999, ISBN 0-00-638883-3 (Paperback edition)

German Books

• Eveline Hasler: Der Zeitreisende. Die Visionen des Henry Dunant. Verlag Nagel & Kimche AG, Zürich 1994, ISBN 3-312-00199-4 (Hardcover edition); Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München 2003, ISBN 3-423-13073-3 (Paperback edition)
• Martin Gumpert: Dunant. Der Roman des Roten Kreuzes. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt 1987, ISBN 3-596-25261-X
• Willy Heudtlass, Walter Gruber: Jean Henry Dunant. Gründer des Roten Kreuzes, Urheber der Genfer Konvention. 4. Auflage. Verlag Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-17-008670-7

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Henri Dunant

• (French) Société Henry Dunant
• (French) Biography of Henry Dunant (original)
• Nobel website biography of Henri Dunant
• Red Cross Movement and Nobel Prizes
• Complete text of "A Memory of Solferino"

v • d • e Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize Henry Dunant/Frédéric Passy (1901) · Élie Ducommun/Charles Gobat (1902) · William Cremer (1903) · Institut de Droit International (1904) · Bertha von Suttner (1905) · Theodore Roosevelt (1906) · Ernesto Moneta/Louis Renault (1907) · Klas Arnoldson/Fredrik Bajer (1908) · A.M.F. Beernaert/Paul Estournelles de Constant (1909) · International Peace Bureau (1910) · Tobias Asser/Alfred Fried (1911) · Elihu Root (1912) · Henri La Fontaine (1913) · International Committee of the Red Cross (1917) · Woodrow Wilson (1919) · Léon Bourgeois (1920) · Hjalmar Branting/Christian Lange (1921) · Fridtjof Nansen (1922) · Austen Chamberlain/Charles Dawes (1925) Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

Persondata
NAME	Dunant, Jean Henri
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Henry Dunant or Henri Dunant
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Inspiration for Red Cross and first Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
DATE OF BIRTH	May 8, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH	Geneva, Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH	October 30, 1910
PLACE OF DEATH	Heiden, Switzerland

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