“Working is important: it means you don’t have time to get up to mischief!”
Emma Schneider is born in 1919 on the Rinderknecht family farm in Zurich Oberstrass. She is one of five children and enjoys a happy childhood.
From an early age, she wants to become a translator. After spending five months in England, the war puts an end to this dream. With her father’s support, Emma traines as a laboratory assistant and attends lectures at university. Shortly before graduating, she is called up for military service in May 1940 and is given the task of setting up a laboratory with a doctor at a military base. Then she alternates between three months of military service and three months of civilian work. These years are difficult, but they have a profound impact on her: she acquires skills that she would never otherwise have learned.
At this time, Emma Schneider meets her future husband, Hugo Schneider, a former schoolmate of her brothers. For over a year, he sends her a postcard every Monday without ever receiving a reply. Finally, she agrees to marry him. She puts her own career on hold to support her husband, a renowned military historian. Emma Schneider becomes his secretary and research assistant, accompanies him to international conferences, meets Queen Elizabeth II and welcomes Farah Diba, the wife of the Shah of Persia.
The Schneiders lead an intense intellectual life. After the war, they visit Europe’s major historical museums to modernise the Zurich Museum’s weapons collection. Having no children, they devote all their energy to their work. The years between forty and fifty are the happiest for Emma Schneider. Shortly after retirement, her husband falls ill with leukemia and dies at the age of 70. She cares for him at home until the end. They were married for 44 years. At his funeral, the Grossmünster is filled to capacity.
After this loss, Emma Schneider breaks down… and then picks herself up again. She completes her husband’s last two publications and then discovers porcelain painting. She becomes the adoptive grandmother to a neighbour’s sons. She publishes her memoirs. Once a year, she goes on a cruise. At 103, she still lives alone, cooks for herself and takes care of her health: she exercises every day on her exercise bike, with a watercolour painting of her parents’ farm in front of her.
Although almost blind, Emma Schneider remains curious about the world: she listens to the radio, reads with the aid of a magnifying device and keeps up to date with current events. And she is looking forward to the next Ice Hockey World Championship.
As a member of the Exit association, Emma Schneider says: ‘When I really need care, I don’t want to go on.’ Until then, she continues to live her life with clarity, humour and impressive energy. Shortly after her 104th birthday, she suffers a serious fall and decides to end her life on her own terms.