PIERRE WEIL


Biographic Summary

The formation of a pacific spirit: childhood and adolescence

Pierre Weil, born on the 16th of April, 1924, in Strasbourg, had contact, since his childhood, with religious conflicts in his own family, which had three religions; he also experienced conflicts and saw wars between France and Germany, these conflicts were worsen the fact that he was an Alsatian. These conflicts contributed to Pierre Weil becoming a lover of Peace.

In his autobiography, published in Brazil under the title of "The Silent Revolution", he tells us how he gradually has dedicated himself to Peace and, more specifically, to the Education for Peace. At the age of 8 years old he amuses himself with cousins of him, creating the catholic association of jewish protestants. At the age of 14 years old he writes in his diary: "My country is not only France, my country is mainly the Earth." At the same age, during the II World War, he proposes the "idea of eliminating the frontiers, of creating a Europe with only one currency; the adults to whom he talks receive his ideas with a funny scepticism. On the occasion of the defeat, he organises a reception center with a canteen for the refugees

His consciousness of a young Frenchman leads him to enrol, at the age of 17 years old, as a "maquis" , to give his contribution for expelling the Nazis of the French territory. Invited to choose one of the machine guns that were offered to him, he refuses the idea of killing, he refuses to get armed and he proposes to participate as a male nurse. Thus, he discovers his non-violent nature, even before he had contact with Gandhi. One day, while his comrades were preparing themselves to explode a railway bridge, as he was walking over the trail, he imagines himself as the organiser of a future school with all of the modern educational facilities, dedicated to the service of Peace.

From this day on, one can say that the fate, not so say the mission of Pierre Weil, becomes clear and precise.