Today, I am thankful for those “riches to rags” stories that embody the power of humanitarianism.
In the past, I’ve shared my adoration for Horatio Alger, the author of adolescent novels intended to inspire young, impressionable youth to a life-long pursuit of respectability, wealth, and happiness. During the late 19th Century, Alger chronicled many tales that highlighted the ‘rags to riches’ mindset of America during the Industrial Revolution. However, not all stories fall in this category. In fact, at around the same time Alger authored his fictional accounts of the rise from poverty, one man in Switzerland was living out his own story, but, in this particular case, he went from substantial wealth to severe poverty. Nevertheless, along the way, he would be remembered as one of the world’s most revered humanitarians and social activists.
On this day (May 8) In 1828, Henry Denant was born into a wealthy, yet devout family in Geneva Switzerland. Despite coming from prosperity, both parents instilled in young Henry the importance of social work. The Denant family led by example, pursuing unselfish acts to support those who were orphaned, sick, or impoverished m. As a young man, Henry followed in their footsteps, founding a “Thursday Association” of young, altruistic men who cared for the poor and visited the incarcerated. He even established the Geneva chapter of the YMCA, where he witnessed firsthand the value and impact an international organization can afford.
Over time, he became a successful banker, and he used his lucrative business to build new infrastructure in the French colonies. However, in his endeavor to establish a functioning wheat mill in Algeria, he was stymied by the lack of clarity regarding land rights. Seeking to address the issue head-on, he travelled from the African colony to Italy to discuss the matter directly with Emperor Napoleon III. When he arrived in the town of Solferino in 1859, he discovered something worse than political red tape. Instead, he stumbled upon a bloody battle in the countryside outside of the Italian town between French and Austrian troops. After an intense, somber day of fighting, more than 40,000 troops lay wounded in the fields. Dismayed to see that no one was coming to their aid, he rallied the civilians in the surrounding towns, including women and children, to care for the inflicted on both sides, irrespective of loyalty or affiliation. He purchased medical supplies with his own savings and built make-shift hospitals. He even negotiated the release of Austrian medical staff captured by the French army.
When he travelled home to Switzerland, he chronicled these horrors in a book, which he utilized to campaign for an international organization to care for wounded troops. In due time, he was one of 5 pioneers chosen to establish the International Committee of the Red Cross (eventually known simply as the Red Cross) in 1863. The next year, he aided in the establishment of the first Geneva Conference, which outlined guidelines for wounded soldiers in all future international conflicts. Unfortunately, Denant’s dedication to this endeavor led him to neglect his own business, which fell into disrepair. A corporate scandal led to his bankruptcy. Financially ruined and publicly disgraced, Denant left Geneva, never to return. He ended up in France, homeless, spending nights on park benches. Late in life, he ended up back in a Swiss nursing home in Heiden, courtesy of a family benefactor.
There in Heiden, a journalist named Georg Baumberger, who had read his earlier book on the battle of Solferino, discovered Denant. He heralded his worldly contributions in an article for a local German newspaper. The story was picked up by other media outlets in Germany and throughout Europe, and Denant’s good name was publicly restored. So much so that in 1901 Henry Denant would be recognized as the first ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. The elderly recipient never spent a cent of the prize money he received. Instead, all of the award’s renumeration went to pay off his debts and support charitable measures – including funds to maintain an ‘empty’ bed in the nursing home in which he died for anyone who might benefit from it.
Denant died a poor man, but his life has enriched the world. Today, the Red Cross is an international humanitarian organization with close to 100 million volunteers focused on natural disaster relief, emergency preparedness, and compassionate support. Happy World Red Cross & Red Crescent Day to all. Many thanks to the agency ‘always there in times of need.’
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