Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Born in 1746 in Zurich, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi remains an internationally acknowledged educator and pedagogue. One of his main concerns was reforming the basic education system. Success did not always come easy to Pestalozzi. Before he became famous as a writer and educator he tried himself at farming and at educating the poor.

In Stans in 1799, he ran an orphanage. However, only after a short time he had to give it up because the French army which had moved into Switzerland in 1798 required the accommodation as a military hospital. One of Pestalozzi’s key texts – the Letter from Stans – dates back to that time. In this work Pestalozzi stresses the importance of home education and the need to extend it to public education and school. Pestalozzi's concept of education requiring to be based on the domestics of life was adopted for the Children’s Village. Thinking of Pestalozzi when looking for a name for the Foundation was no pure chance in 1946: It was his 200. jubilee year.