The Bilthoven Meetings were a series of gatherings of pacifism activists in the town of Bilthoven in the Utreacht province of Netherlands. The activists gathered under the name of Movement Towards a Christian International (later renamed to International Fellowship of Reconciliation) The meetings took place at the house of Kees Boeke, a Quaker missionary and pacifist.
The meeting laid the groundwork for an important network of men and women from numerous countries which were integral to the pacifist movement of the 20th century. These meetings resulted in the creation of three international peace organisations between 1919 and 1921:
- The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR)
- The Service Civil international (SCI)
- The War Resisters' International (WRI)
The three meetings
The International Fellowship of Reconcilliation (October 1919)
The first of three meetings took place in 1919. An invitation was sent from Ernest and Eveline Fletcher, Kees Boeke and Henry Hodgkin for participants to attend an international peace conference to take place between 4-19 October 1919. Fifty participants attended this meeting. Among them people from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Switzerland and the USA. Notable attendees include Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze , JB Hugenholz, Mathilda Wrede, Lilian Stevenson, Leonhard Ragaz, Pierre Cérésole. Many of the participants were conscientious objectors who were detained during the war. Cérésole was appointed as conference secretary due to his extensive language skills.
Service Civil International (August 1920)
The second Bilthoven meeting took place in July of 1920. Here Pierre Cérésole suggested the forming of a fraternal workcamp to partake in reconstruction efforts following the destruction of World War I.The work was to be organised in a way similar to the reconstruction efforts of the Quakers in Poland and France. This suggestion was positively received by those at the meeting, notably a German man who's brother had been involved in the destruction of Northern France and now wished to be involved in the reconstruction.
The first reconstruction campaign took place in November 1920 in the village of Esnes which had been destroyed in 1916 during the Battle of Verdun. This French village was chosen as a gesture to foster reconciliation between French and German citizens. For the project, Cérésole enlisted the help of English Quaker Hubert Parris for his experience in organizing relief work.[1] The project did not last long due to resentment from local French towards the German volunteers as the scars of World War I were still fresh. Despite this it became the first of many projects. Inspired by the efforts of the volunteers, Cérésole conceptualized a voluntary service as an alternative to countries' mandatory military service. This became known as Service Civil International (SCI).
War Resisters' International (March 1921)
A short conference with representatives of radical European peace organizations took place in Bilthoven from 22-25 March , 1921. Together with Helene Stöcker, they founded the "PACO" movement, which in 1923 changed its name to War Resisters International).
Following the conference the founders of "PACO" took part in an International Anti-Militarist Union (IAMV) in The Hague on the 26 March.
The formation of pacifist networks
Before the First World War, there were already some pacifist networks such as the International Permanent Peace Bureau (since 1891) and the IAMV (since 1904). The trauma caused by the war, in which 8 million had died, increased the anti-war mood. In this context, the Bilthovenen meetings brought together three complementary attitudes of the organisations in the emerging international peace movement:
- the Christian pacifism of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
- the alternative to military service of the Service Civil International
- conscientious objection by War Resisters International.
These pacifist networks built relationships with other international movements of the time, which also campaigned for a more just world. These were involved is areas such as an undogmatic spirituality represented by the Quakers, communication and understading through Esperanto, Montessori education and the role of women with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Category:20th century in the Netherlands Category:1920s Category:1910s Category:Interwar period Category:Pacifism Category:De Bilt