Anne-Marie Im Hof-Piguet

Anne-Marie Im Hof-Piguet (1916-2010) was a Swiss helper and human rights activist. Anne-Marie Im Hof-Piguet grew up in the Vallée de Joux , in 1940 she graduated with a degree in history from the University of Lausanne . In the years 1942-1944 she worked for the child support of the Swiss Red Cross at the Château de Bellevue in Montluel and the Château de la Hille near Toulouse. When the Nazis occupied southern France, Im Hof-Piguet saved twelve Jewish children and adults by helping them illegally cross the border into Switzerland. The escape route ran from La Hille to Chappelle-des-Bois via Toulouse, Lyon, children's colony Montluel, Champagnole. From Chapelle-des-Bois they crossed the rocky path Gy de l'Echelle at the Mont Risoux to the meeting point on the Swiss side in the hut " Hôtel d'Italie" . The Jewish refugees were picked up by Im Hof-Piguet's father, the forest inspector Henri-Joseph Piguet. Her mother accompanied the refugees to Zurich as a refugee pastor.

After the Second World War, Anne-Marie Im Hof- Piguet worked as a teacher in the cantons of Vaud and Basel-Stadt.

• In 1947 she married the historian Ulrich Im Hof, established a family and worked as a teacher in Berne.
• In 1959, she was co-founder of Swiss contact Foundation for Development Cooperation in Zurich (Stiftung für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit in Zürich).
• In 1985 she published her memoirs, where she described her experiences as a Red Cross helper.
• With the prize money of the Doron Prize of 1998, she launched the Academy of Human Rights as an educational and meeting center.

Honors:

• In 1990 she was honored as a righteous among the peoples;
• in 1992 she received the Doron Foundation Prize;
• in 1998, she received the Human Rights Prize of the Swiss Section of the International Society for Human Rights.