30 September 2015. On Saturday 26 September, the commemoration,”100 years of solidarity between Armenian and Swiss people,” was concluded with two events: a visit to Hundwil, where Jakob Künzler was born, and a ceremony in Walzenhausen, where he had spent his youth.
The ceremony was held at the Reformed Church in Walzenhausen. Upon his arrival, Catholicos Aram I and the delegates were escorted to the church and greeted by Hansruedi Bänziger, Mayor of Walzenhausen; Koni Bruderer, President of the Church Council of the Protestant Reformed Church of the Two Appenzells; and Lini Sutter, Vice-President of the Council of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches.
The remembrance continued with two other sets of presentations.
In the first set, three presentations were made on the theme of “Federal politics and the Question of the Armenian Genocide.” Professor Hans-Lukas Kieser, University of Zurich, Switzerland, spoke on “Armenia and Human Rights 100 years ago; Senator Hans Altherr gave a contemporary appraisal of the situation; and Konstantin Obolensky, the former Swiss ambassador to Armenia, spoke on “Switzerland’s peace-promoting efforts in the Caucasus.”
The second set of presentations, on the theme of Swiss solidarity with the victims of the Genocide was composed of personal stories. Teny Pirri-Simonian, President of the Armenofas Foundation, drew a parallel between her grandfather’s gathering of orphans on the way to Jerusalem and Papa Künzler’s committed service to the Armenian orphans. Two granddaughters of Jakob Künzler, Anne Betts (UK) and Prudy Marshall (USA), then talked about their memories of their grandfather and his legacy. In between the presentations, the Ensemble Eskeniangeli played Armenian liturgical music.
The commemoration ended with a speech of appreciation by His Holiness Aram I. The Catholicos said that Jakob Künzler’s life was the expression of power of love in action. His service to Armenian Orphans, expressed the true meaning of love. He concluded, “One hundred years ago, the power of love pushed young Jacob Künzler to identify himself with the sick, the persecuted and the impoverished survivors of the Armenian Genocide and he became engraved in their hearts and souls as ‘their papa.’”
