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Daniel drew his inner resources from the dynamic spiritual commitment of his pastor father, taken from him far too young, his mother and his brothers and sisters. His horizons were broadened by his encounter with a Frenchman, Raymond de Pourtalès - killed in action in 1940 - who taught him the art of morning meditation, "a practice," wrote Daniel, "that has accompanied me all my life and has been like a North Star". Then there was his contact and, later, his "existential" conversations with Lucien Tronchet, that ebullient Geneva anarchist and trade unionist, who had returned from the Spanish Civil War disgusted and looking for the way to a better world. Tronchet went on to become one of the pillars of joint negotiation in Geneva industry.
After the war, it probably seemed incongruous that a young man who had completed his law studies and already had promising job offers should decide to give up a "normal" career to volunteer in the service of others, and above all in the service of what was then urgent: the reconciliation of Europe. This is what Daniel did. Four other Geneva students followed in his footsteps: François Maunoir, Paul-Emile Dentan and Jean-Jacques Odier.
Fascinated by what he was seeing unfold before his eyes, Daniel didn't want to miss a thing of the reconciliation process between France and Germany, or between employers and workers. Of all the countries Daniel set out to visit, Brazil had a special place in his heart, a country where he gave his all for ten years, from the top to the bottom of the social ladder. With his unionist friends, he was behind the country's first collective agreement. Daniel befriended Costa Rican Luis Alberto Monge, whom he met at the International Labour Office in Geneva. When Monge became president of his country, he sent seven of his best young compatriots to Caux, several of whom went on to become presidents themselves, ensuring Costa Rica a stability unrivalled in Central America.
For forty-six years he served as a member, then secretary, vice-president and finally president of the Board of the Foundation for Moral Rearmament.
From an article by Jean-Jacques Odier, in collaboration with Paul-Emile Dentan
