Esperanto The International Esperanto-InstituteAuthor: David Poulson Introductory note for new visitors to the Esperanto Topic. If you have only just begun to take an interest in Esperanto and wish to know some basic information about this fascinating subject, please start your reading at the first article of this series. Having already completed 82 articles, I am now at the stage of writing articles for those readers who have learned quite a lot about the Esperanto language and movement already, and who are now wanting to find out more than just the basic introductory information. To get to the beginning of this series Then, after you have read the first article, click on the link at the top of the page which says "Articles" to find the rest of the series, which is listed in reverse chronological order. __________________________________________________ I would like to begin this article by thanking two of my readers who wrote to me recently and very kindly provided me with useful information and details of two relevant publications, neither of which I have read. Albert Reiner from, I think, Austria, recommended this pamphlet: Esperanto mono. Ilustrita historio pri universala monosistemo.' (2-a eldono) de Hans Jankowski. And Darold Booton from the USA sent to me this entry from the catalogue of the ELNA book service: SMIDELIUSZ, Katalin ed. Memorlibro Omagxe al Andreo Cseh, Illustrated. 1995. 128p. 235x165. Paper. Hungary. ISBN 963 650 215 3 $19.00 Everybody who has any interest in teaching Esperanto by means of the Cseh method should become familiar with its inventor. This collection of short essays presents the man and the method in warm and personal vignettes. Published in recognition of the hundredth anniversary of Cseh's birth. Darold also wrote that he had found this book interesting enough to read a second time. My thanks to Darold and Albert, and to all other readers who, from time to time, send me useful comments and information. (Especially S-o Atilio Orellana Rojas - see below). ________________________________________ THE INTERNATIONAL ESPERANTO-INSTITUTE Origin On the 24th of May, 1930, Andreas Cseh and a Dutch couple, J. C. and J.R.G. Isbrucker, founded the International Cseh-Institute of Esperanto at Arnhem in the Netherlands. In 1933, the location of the Institute was changed to The Hague, where it has remained ever since, and in 1952 its name was changed to the International Esperanto-Institute, (IEI.) Contact details are as follows. Present Director: S-o Atilio Orellana Rojas, to whom I am greatly indebted for sending me much information and making it possible for me to write this series of articles on Cseh and his work. Email address: iei@001@worldonline.nl Postal address: IEI, Riouwstraat 172, NL-2585 HW Den Haag, Nederlando Aim of the Institute IEI is a government-approved cultural foundation the aim of which was stated to be: ?disvastigi Esperanton pere de Cseh-metodaj kursoj, prepari taugan instruantojn, jelpi ilin kaj la kursarangxatajn Esperantistajn organizajxojn per la necesa instrumaterialo kaj konsilado.? (For non-Esperanto speakers this means that the Institute would work with other Esperanto organisations to arrange courses and train teachers in the Cseh-method of teaching Esperanto. Suitable course materials and advice would be provided.) This objective has not changed and the Institute has been training Esperanto teachers for more than 70 years. History. The first Director of the IEI was Andreas Cseh himself, assisted by Julia Isbrucker, and supported by a committee, or council. Some of the members were very well-known figures in the Esperanto movement, for example, Edmond Privat, Felix Zamenhof and Leon Zamenhof. Corresponding secretaries were appointed in Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Norway and Sweden. The Institute certainly had a right to call itself ?International!? Not only the organizational infrastructure was impressive. The Institute?s first activity was also a great success. A ?Pedagogia Seminario? was organized to take place in August, just before the start of the 1930 Universala Kongreso, which, that year, was held in Oxford. This ?Workshop on Teaching Methods? (as I suppose we might call it in contemporary English) attracted 200 participants from 20 different countries. And, when the Workshop came to an end, they all travelled together to Oxford. Since this event took place less than 3 months after the Institute was founded, it seems to me to have been an impressive tour de force. Andreas Cseh was not one to rest on his laurels. I have described in my previous article how, during the next five or six years he travelled to many different countries and taught his methods to many people. 300 Esperanto teachers qualified to receive IEI Diplomas during this time and there were some very famous names among them. Lidia Zamenhof, who is well known to readers of this topic, was one of them, Julia Baghy was another, and, probably not so well remembered now, are Carl Stop-Bowitz and the Estonian couple Erika and Henrik Seppik. Unfortunately, in 1939, the outbreak of World War II and the invasion and occupation of Holland, severely curtailed the activities of the IEI. However, both the Institute and its founder continued to operate as best they could and they both survived the war and in the 1950?s the Institute resumed and even diversified it?s international programme. I will provide details of it?s post-war activity in my next article, which will appear on Friday, June the 1st. |