Georgine Gerhard

Georgine Gerhard (18 August 1886 - 21 December 1971) was a Swiss school teacher and administrator who was forced by hearing loss to take early retirement. Her wider legacy comes from her campaigning. She was a women's rights activist and also backed various humanitarian causes. During the 1930s she turned her attention to the growing refugee crisis which re-emerged in Europe during the middle part of the twentieth century. In 1934 she established the Basel section of the "Schweizer Hilfswerk für Emigrantenkinder" ("Swiss Support for Émigré Children" organisation / BHEK), following that organisation's foundation in Zürich by her fellow activist, Nettie Sutro-Katzenstein, the previous year.