Eugen Relgis (English text)

With thanks to David for this information.

The original is in French the link which can be found on the website des militants anarchistes.

A google page translation to English follows:

RELIGS, Eugen
Born in Yassy, Romania, 2 March 1895 – died on 24 May 1987 – IRG – SIA – Bucharest – Montevideo
Article uploaded on 28 March 2009
last amended 7 January 2025

by R.D

Eugen Relgis, who became deaf as a result of childhood illness, did a good study and began writing very early. At the outbreak of the First World War, returning to Bucharest after a stay in Constantinople and Greece, he was a student at the Faculty of Architecture. After the German invasion of 1916 he returned to Yassy and was called up for military service. He then refused to participate in the exercises and was imprisoned before being reformed for deafness. From 1915 to 1919 he worked as a worker on various construction sites and in metallurgical enterprises.

In 1920 he founded the magazine Umanitatea in Yassy, which was quickly banned by censorship, and then developed the theory of Humanitarianism, of which in 1921 he set out the principles in the book Humanitarian Principles: it was a positive non-dogmatic, integral and anti-authoritarian conception of bringing together all the elements favourable to the individual and the human person. At the same time, it developed contacts with international peace-loving circles – Clarté Group, International Federation of Arts, Letters and Sciences, Internationale des Resigneses to War, etc. – and obtained adherence to its principles by a large number of pacifist and libertarian intellectuals including Han Ryner, G.F. Nicolai, Max Nettlau, P. Ramus, Stefan ‘weig, Upton Sinclair, etc.

After founding the first humanitarian group in Bucharest in 1923, he organized it with the help of its secretary I. Mehedintzeanu, 23 others between 1924 and 1932. His principles were translated into fourteen languages and he wrote the article Humanitarianism in Sébastien Faure’s Anarchist Encyclopedia. He then founded the magazine Cugetul libre (1928–1929) followed by Umanitarismul (1929–1930). At the same time, he collaborated on a very large number of libertarian magazines around the world and participated in numerous pacifist congresses abroad. In the early 1930s he traveled to Bulgaria where he came into contact with Tolstoian and vegetarian libertarians; he pulled the book Bulgaria unknown (1932). He was also the Romanian translator of Nietzsche, Lagerlof, S. zweig, E. Armand, etc.

An active member of War Resisters International (WRI), he participated in the pacifist conference held in 1925 in Hodelston, London, and in 1928 at the Sonntagsberg (Austria) conference.

During the Spanish War, he was appointed to the International Council of International Anti-Fascist Solidarity (SIA).

In 1939, at the time of the declaration of war, he was in Paris where he was preparing under the title Miron the Deaf a French edition of his book Voix en Mute (1927) prefaced by S. Oweig. He also collaborated at the Cahiers de l Artistocracy de Gérard de Lacaze-Duthiers. Despite the advice of his friends, he was returning to Romania where he was immediately driven out of his home by the fascists. Throughout the war, he managed, thanks to many friends, to escape the raids and to hide.

After the seizure of power by the Communists and to escape arrest and internment in the camp, he smuggled the country in 1947, then, after a brief stay in Paris, emigrated to Uruguay.

In 1950 he founded in Montevideo the Humanidad collection, the first published title of which was Los princicpios humanitarios and then edited Max Nettlau’s book La Paz mundial.

In the 1960s, he was with Abraham Guillen, Gerardo Gatti and Fernando O’Neill, in charge of preserving the archives of the libertarian movement in Montevideo. When the police discovered and attacked the premises of the archives, he had managed to escape arrest.

Head of the archives of the International Anarchist Office, he ceased, until his death in Montevideo on 24 May 1987, to write dozens of texts, short stories, pacifist and humanitarian poetry and to collaborate in the international libertarian press.

Works: Eugen Relgis has been the author of more than a hundred books, including: The Triumph of My Being (1913); The Mile, Poem (1914); The Emerging Sun (1914); Poetry (1915); Melodies of Silence (1916); Humanity and the Internationality of Intellectuals (1914; Nettalu y P. Ramus (Buenos Aires, 1949); Mensahes de paz (1951); America Europa; Uruguay pais de porvenir; Stefan zweig (1967)
P.S.:

Sources: V. “E. Relgis humanista libertario” in review Cenit, No. 4, April 1951 // Polemica, Barcelona, year 1987 // Solidaridad obrera, Paris 16 December 1950 (Un pacifista, Eugen Relgis/B. Milla) // Tierra y libertad, Mexico City, June to October 1972//