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Villa Gesell: The work of a pioneer with future sight
Argentina On View's
policy is to carry out through notes, the institutional
promotion of several tourist centers, to forward tourism
along the country by Internet. In this note's case, beyond
promoting tourism in Villa Gesell Atlantic City, we want
to stand out the work of an authentic titan, Don Carlos
Idaho Gesell.
He was the son of German immigrants; he was a man of great
convictions about his own ideas. He, not only planted a
lot of trees along a desert of alive dunes, but he also
founded there a unique coastal city. Nowadays, in spite
of the years that had elapsed from his death his spirit
is still hanging loose in Villa Gesell's atmosphere as well
as in its winding sand roads. He is present in each tree,
corner, or flower too. He will be present for ever.
It is appropriate to the world to know something else about
this pioneer and his legate...
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Something about history
Carlos Idaho Gesell was born in Buenos Aires City, on March
11th, 1891. He was the third son of Silvio Gesell and Anna
Böttger, both of them were German immigrants.
Silvio Gesell was the founder of the very well known "Casa
Gesell" - that would be famous in South America due to the
production and sale of babies' articles - and he became
a brilliant economist. Rosemarie Gesell, his granddaughter,
tells in her book, "Carlos Idaho Gesell - His life",
the following words "…John Maynard Keynes recognized
him the glorious title of precursor of his ideas. Later
on the German economist Hopfer-Asdroff and many other ones,
did the same. He is also regarded as one of the forerunners
of the International Monetary Fund."
When Carlos was five years old, his family moved to Banfield,
in Buenos Aires Province. Anna Böttger brought up her children
freely, and she taught them to enjoy Nature. Silvio Gesell
taught them something about Spanish language, and he inculcated
them the love for Nature and books.
In 1898, they moved to Germany. Carlos studied there and
in the French Switzerland, where he learned French language.
From that moment onwards, and along his whole life he carried
out the mathematical calculations thinking in French. He
was a restless boy, worried about knowledge. During this
time he was anxious to make inventions. He began his high
school studies in a German agrarian school, as a boarder.
There, he enjoyed a true scientific laboratory, and he made
a lot of experiments. This was one of the happiest periods
of his life.
The family returned to Buenos Aires, and Carlos stayed
alone in Europe. He studied in Zurich. By this time he tried
to create gunpowder, according to a study carried out by
his father, that wanted to demonstrate that Moisés knew
the gunpowder. He made the experiment in his apartment kitchen
and he almost blew up with everything.
In 1909, his father asked him to return to Argentina. He
was 17 years old.
He was a great self-taught, and a passionate inventor.
He lived in the United States for ten years (1916-1926).He
was fascinated by Edison's inventions, he admired Henry
Ford too. In 1921, when he went to Eden, Germany, to visit
his parents, he knew Marta Tomys, and, in three weeks they
got married on May 3rd. Both of them loved Nature a lot
, and, as Carlos had to return to the United States they
decided to get married as soon as possible. So, she became
his wife and the mother of his six children: Roberto, Juana,
Ursula (Trudy), Carlos Silvio (Bubi), Rosemarie, and Tomás.
"The time that Dad lived in the United States wasn't
productive from the economic point of view, but the long
hours that he spent in the libraries, his observation and
study of the enterprises organization such as Henry Ford
and other ones, to technical and social level, was an invaluable
capital of experiences that he would apply later on. It
can be said that those years were a kind of springboard
from which he threw down, and, he got the success in his
business in Argentina. The learning had finished. The fight
had begun."
In 1926, Carlos Gesell returned to Argentina to take position
as Industrial Manager of "Casa Gesell", as his father had
asked him to do, business weren't working well, and it was
necessary to make some changes, and look for new directions.
Carlos accepted the challenge.
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