Swiss Cemetery in Cairo

The Swiss Cemetery in Cairo

The Swiss Cemetery in Cairo is one of the last remaining icons of the Swiss Community in Egypt; inaugurated 1925, the cemetery was the final resting place for Swiss men and women who for the past two centuries enriched the many facets of life in Egypt.

This resting place is today missing much needed attention; the irony is that the remains it is holding belongs to men and women who brought prosperity to their community – Swiss and Egyptians – yet it is missing minimal financial support to ensure its survival; those Ambassadors of Swiss excellence in Egypt deserve our respect; their history and burial site properly commemorated and dignified.

The Catholic Swiss Egyptians always found a resting place for their departed ones in the Catholic cemeteries of Cairo, Alexandria and elsewhere. The Protestant Swiss Egyptians had no problem as well finding a resting place in the British or the American Cemeteries of Cairo and Alexandria however for the Protestants of Cairo the situation changed dramatically with the eruption of the Great War (1914-1918).

The Protestant cemetery in Alexandria continued to accommodate the needs of the Swiss community in the city (and still is today), but with the arrival of the British troops and the increased number of British casualties the Cairo protestant Cemetery reserved all available places exclusively to British nationals (actually additional cemeteries were later added).

The issue of having a Swiss cemetery for the Swiss Egyptians in Cairo was raised many times before, with this new development caused by the Great War this issue became an urgent necessity.

The case was discussed during the General assembly of the Societe Suisse de Secours in 1918 and the first donation was made by Mr. Henri Stucki whose wife (Henriette) had recently passed away; he contributed 41.01 Egyptian Pounds in the same meeting.

This initial donation was followed 1920 by 100.00 Egyptian Pounds by Mr. Rodolf Sigrist (1877-1938) in memory of his deceased brother; soon other fellow Swiss compatriots followed and by the end of 1923 total donations reached 2,118.731 Egyptian Pounds.

At a General Assembly of the Societe Suisse de Secours on December 14, 1923 a committee was formed of Mr. Henri Stucki, Mr. Rodolf Sigrist (1877-1938), Baron de Pfyffer, Mr. Ernest Trembley (1876-1967) and Mr. Gottfried Peyer (1882-1962); they were assigned the task of bringing the Swiss Cemetery project to successful completion. This committee initiated all required contacts with the proper authorities to obtain necessary approvals and find a proper piece of land to purchase.

A convenient and easily accessible plot of land of 2251 m2 was chosen (today at Malek Saleh Metro Station - Helwan Line), the Egyptian Government generously contributed half the land price bringing the cost to 631.406 Egyptian Pounds, land leveling, construction of surrounding walls, gate etc. costed 1,308.820 Egyptian Pounds, another 27.504 Egyptian Pounds went for water installation, 50.350 Egyptian Pounds for plants and gardening and finally 17.640 Egyptian Pounds for sundry expenses leaving a residual amount of 83.011 Egyptian Pounds.

There are 205 numbered graves, 7 are empty, 5 hold two deceased together each and 2 with no numbers bringing the total Swiss Egyptians resting in the cemetery to 210, the deans are Mrs. Cecile Benoît and Mrs. Margueritte Veillon both passed away at the age of 95, the youngest are 11 child at the age of one, another 11 died before reaching the age of 30. The grave number 134 carries no name; it only carries a date (12.01.1956).

Many stories of love and success, prosperity and misfortune are related to each name, Henriette Stucki's (1882-1918) grave caries the number (1) and is dated 1918; her remains were transferred to the cemetery upon its opening along with the remains of her one year old son who died in 1909. The next tomb is that of Andreas Bircher (1839-1925); he came to Egypt in 1862, penniless aged 23 armed with his youth and great ambitions, he led a successful career in trading activity, he also held the torch for his fellow compatriots as a founding member of the "Societe Suisse de Secours" and the "Cercle Suisse", he was also founding member of the Khedivial Geographical Society, manager of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and an appointed Judge to the commercial tribunal and the mixed tribunal for 30 years; he lived in a 14th century mamluk castle. Anton Walter Peyer died 1926 at the young age of 11 in a terrible train accident while crossing the rails at the Maadi train station, his father Gottfried Peyer reserved the grave number 13 for himself to be buried next to his son, he passed away in Switzerland 1962 hence the grave number 13 remained empty to this day. Adrien Veillon (1854-1927) came to Egypt in 1870 aged 16; also penniless, he worked in many European houses and in 1910 established Maison Veillon & Co. for the importation of chemicals and textiles dyes, he died September 1927, his wife Joséphine followed him in December 1929; his daugther Margo Veillon (1907-2003), chosen as one of the world's best 100 painters for the twentieth century died broke alone in Maadi. André Edouard Lambelet died 1981 at the young age of 18 as he fell while climbing the pyramid of Sakara.

Many families are represented by more than one generation; the Benoît and Lambelet families count 5 members of each family resting in the cemetery, the Birchers and Veillons count 4 each, the Schellenbergs and Peyers count 3 each.

The Societe Suisse de Secours managed the cemetery's financial needs by selling shares (xxxxx?) and raising the cost of burial services. To reduce increasing costs an agreement was made (19xx?) with the caretaker by which part of the unused land surface will be used as nursery plantation for his own benefit; this arrangement was successful enabling the cemetery to continue to serve the Swiss community well into the beginning of the 21st century. However a couple of years ago the decision was made to terminate the relation with the caretaker and the cemetery has been completely neglected ever since.

This is the story of the Swiss Cemetery in Cairo, a few years short of one century old, it survived when the Swiss community was large enough to support it, but today the numbers of permanent Swiss residing in Egypt are low; the Swiss Embassy can assist but caring for the cemetery falls outside the scope of its responsibilities.

It is in our responsibility to find ways to save it but what can we do? Seek support from the descendants? May be; seek support from Swiss related companies? There are over 70 of them operating in Egypt today but will they be interested? Perhaps include it in guided tourists/visitors tours; is that feasible?

There are hundreds of second generation Swiss/Egyptians who are living in Egypt today (I personaly know over a dozen), I am sure that many of them would gladly support any effort to support the Swiss cemetery.

We should search for a permanent solution to maintain one of the last icons of the Swiss presence in Egypt, for moral values as well as for historical values; it is the least we can do for those Swiss patriots who gave so much to Egypt and gave honor to their origin land.

Awaiting your suggestions.

(If you have any comments, corrections, documents, photos or additional information about the Swiss Cemetery in Cairo, please send them to (swissegyptian@gmail.com) or contact +20 100 5402045.

March 2017

Please visit our photo gallery.

I visited the cemetery twice, once while the caretaker was serving and once after he was discharged; the difference is immediately felt as you step in through the dusty old gate with garbage pilling at it footsteps.

I only found two records related to the subject; the first is a register dated 29 February 1910 (Which indicates that there must be another prior record for entries #1 to # 61); the second record has no title and is only a few pages with the last entry dated 23 August 2003; it does not seem to be up to date.

Both registers are today in the custody of Pasteur Michael Schlick; he is newly assigned and is serving both Alexandria and Cairo. Next to the missing registers, other documents such as title of land and bylaws must be kept located and stored in one place for safekeeping. The key for the cemetery gate is kept at the Swiss Club of Cairo; for any information please contact the club at +20 2 3314 2811 or +20 100 300 9695 or send an email to: info@swissclubcairo.com.

As for other Swiss Egyptians of the Catholic faith or those living outside Cairo (there was an equivalent number living in Alexandria), they are all resting in various cemeteries next to many Egyptians and other nationalities who found home in the once cosmopolitan Cairo and Alexandria.

The table of the names (link below) was prepared by Dr. Edouard Lambelet. There was no plan available for the cemetery layout with the graves numbers

The cemetery served all Swiss nationals in the greater Cairo area of all faith without distinction as well as any Swiss national in transit; the five gentlemen committee responsible for establishing the Swiss cemetery continued handling the cemetery affairs until this duty was transferred to the Societe Suisse de Secours as of 1933. With the reducing number of Swiss Egyptians in the early 1950s, the decision was made to incorporate all Swiss activities under one umbrella being La Maison Suisse (originally established 1933 under the name of Comite pour la maison Suisse for the purpose of establishing a new center of activities).

By the end of 1945 the number of Swiss resting in the cemetery's confinement exceeded 100; Swiss ladies who lost their Swiss nationality by marriage to none Swiss were allowed to benefit from the services of the cemetery as of 1949.

Click for table of names

Click for map

GO!