Berta Zeller 1924-2015

Berta Zeller December 25, 2024 - May 6, 2015

Excerpts from the testimony of Berti's cousin, Willy Zeller, read at the celebration on May 13 in Stäfa, in German Um ein Stichwort für meine verstorbene Cousine Berti zu finden, habe ich nicht lange gebraucht. The greeting is "Treue". Berti hat immer wieder von treuen Menschen gesprochen, die sein Leben begleiteten. Aber vor allem hat sich Berti selber mit grosser Treue den Aufgaben seines Lebens gestellt. Getragen war diese Treue von Gottvertrauen...

Für Bertis Familie wurde die religiös-weltanschauliche Erneuerungsbewegung unter dem Namen "Moralische Aufrüstung" bestimmend. Caux mit seiner Ausstrahlung in alle Welt wurde für Bertis Familie zum lebensbestimmenden Inhalt. Diesem wurden eigene Belange materieller und anderer Art konsequent geopfer. Dafür setzte auch Berti während vieler Jahre in Caux und in anderen Weltgegenden seine ganze Arbeitskraft ein, ohne jemals einen Angstellungsvertrab oder ein Gehaltskonto zu besitzen. Man diente einer Sache und zählte auf Gottes Hilfe für die Deckung materiellen Bedarfs. Ebenso uneigennützig und treu sorgte Berti später für seine Eltern an deren Lebensabend in Stäfa und für seinen Bruder.

Contribution by Micheline Tripet, Geneva Love is patient; love is helpful, not jealous, not boastful, it excuses all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (I Cor. 13, 4-13) There are many things to say about Berti, who left us on May 5, and in particular about the quality of her friendship, both with her collaborators, of whom I was one for fifteen years in Italy, and with the people she met and whose confidence she had the art of winning. Whether in Milan, in the Veneto, in Tuscany or in Rome, Berti had friends everywhere with whom she maintained a regular correspondence (she never missed a birthday) and whom she went to see whenever she could.

One day she met me at the Milan train station, at the point where the subway would take us to Sesto San Giovanni where we had old friends. This small red city, which had experienced very violent social episodes after the war, had opened its homes to IofC. I myself lived with the only non-communist trade unionist and Berti had also become a friend of his family.

Berti was the oldest daughter of Eugen and Anneli Zeller. Having known the Oxford groups, the Zellers committed themselves and their three children to spreading the principles and many of Eugen's students took the same direction in their lives. They made their beautiful 18th century townhouse available to the movement. But their generosity did not stop there. I remember one Sunday morning when Frank Buchman reported that Caux was in debt and suggested that a collection be taken. The Zeller family got together and decided to sell their house and give the money to Caux. The parents took a small apartment in Stäfa on the north shore of Lake Zurich and lived off Eugen's teaching retirement.

As for Berti, when she wasn't presiding over the Caux bursar's office with others, she was working in IofC center in Italy. While she could have been at ease, she endured, as we all did, the financial difficulties encountered in Italy, and she never uttered a word of regret about the gift of the family home. Thus, for some fifteen years, I had the pleasure and the privilege of sharing her life; and she remains for me an essential example.

With Berti Zeller in Italy Marianne Fassbind-Gautschi, Hüttwilen My memories of Berti Zeller are very much linked to Italy. It was with her that I went to Rome for the first time in my life. I was about 30 years old and she about 50. She was driving a rusty brown car. When we entered the city, it was snowing and we didn't even have a place to stay. She called a few people she knew, and we ended up staying with the Rapisardas, a family with Sicilian roots. The father was a police officer and they lived in the barracks. The heating was provided by a brazier under the table in the main room. There was coffee and cookies for breakfast. The four children were playing outside in the snow - a rare event in Rome. The next morning, the mother, Aida, a very devout Catholic, took us to the nearby church and the famous Spanish Steps, still covered with snow.

On another trip Berti and I went to Sorrentino, south of Naples. My colleague in the kitchen, Debora Kupferschmid, was also there. A young woman who had passed through Caux, Bettina Coppola, had invited us. She had organized meetings for us with her group of young parishioners. With a dozen younger people, we went up a hill where brooms were in bloom and celebrated mass in a chapel. To the great joy of the young priest, Berti, Debora and I sang the "Dona nobis pacem" in three voices.

A visit to Naples was most adventurous: On the way to the next appointment, I sensed that someone seemed to be after my purse. With great presence of mind, Berti held onto the handle of the bag and the perpetrator fled. And that wasn't all: the subway to the station broke down and we missed the last train to Sorrentino. Halfway there, we found a hostel where we spent the night, without a nightgown and without a toothbrush.

During our travels, Berti and I visited many other people and families whom Berti had met either in Caux or on Moral Rearmament trips. All of this was made possible by Berti's diligence over the years, long before the advent of cell phones and e-mail, in keeping up with her contacts by letter or by visiting them, or, when she was on the road, by calling them from a pay phone or a (coffee) bar.

Message from Margarit Küng, Zurich, in German Liebes Berti Du hast uns vier Monate nach Deinem 91. Geburtstag verlassen. Einige Tage vorher durfte ich noch von Dir Abschied nehmen; Du konntest ruhig einschlafen. Der Trauergottesdienst endete mit dem gemeinsam gesprochenen Lied von Franz von Assisi. Bewegend, Danke. Dir danke ich von ganzem Herzen für diese 48 Jahre, die wir uns kennen konnten. Wir durften vieles teilen, Arbeit, Freude, schwierige Zeiten, Hoffnungen und Enttäuschungen. Während vieler Jahre war es unsere gemeinsame Aufgabe, die Lebensmittel und allerlei sonst für das Mountain House in Caux einzukaufen, mit den Köchinnen die Mahlzeiten zu planen, an Ort zu sein, wenn jemand Hilfe brauchte, und vieles mehr.

Doch hast Du Dich auch um Deine alten Eltern in Stäfa gekümmert. Dann gab es besondere Gelegenheiten, wo Du meinen afrikanischen Freunden und mir mit Deinem Auto die Schweiz zeigen konntest. Du hast Dich bewusst um die Gäste von Italien gekümmert, war doch dies ein Land, für das Du Dich besonders eingesetzt hast. Deine Verantwortung war es, die Rechnungen des Einkaufs zu kontrollieren. Für Caux hast Du Dein ganzes Leben eingesetzt, ohne viele Worte, doch mit Deiner Fürsorge für die Menschen. Ich danke Dir besonders für Deine Freundschaft, Deine Ehrlichkeit; so konnten wir streiten und gerade darum sehr gute Freunde sein; ich vermisse Dich.