Bilthoven Meetings

The invitation to the first of the three meetings was issued by Ernest and Eveline Fletcher, Kees Boeke and Henry Hodgkin for participants to attend an international peace conference to take place between 4-19 October 1919.

[1][2] Fifty participants attended this meeting, among them people from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Switzerland and the USA.

[3][4][5] Many of the participants were conscientious objectors who were detained during World War I. Cérésole was appointed as conference secretary due to his extensive language skills.

Here, Pierre Cérésole suggested to organise international workcamps as a means to foster reconciliation by rebuilding infrastructure destroyed during World War I.

[7] The project eventually had to be cancelled due to resentment from local French towards the German volunteers as the scars of World War I were still fresh.