Alphonse Matejka

Alphonse Matejka (9 January 1902 – 27 October 1999) was a Swiss exports specialist and proponent of international auxiliary language. Born in St. Gallen to a Czech father and Swiss mother, he worked in the textiles and watchmaking industries, and lived much of his life in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Matejka is best known for his work in the international language movement; first supporting Ido, and later Occidental, he led numerous organisations in the fields, and authored several books teaching these languages. Matejka also helped to found the Center for Documentation and Study about the International Language.

Early life The Matejka family originated from Vyškovec in Bohemia. Matejka's father emigrated to Switzerland in his youth, arriving before 1900, and was granted Swiss citizenship in 1915. His mother was Swiss, and came from the canton of St. Gallen. Alphonse was born in St. Gallen on 9 January 1902.

Matejka completed gymnasium and graduated in St. Gallen, and became a Swiss citizen himself. He apprenticed in an embroidery shop, Reichenbach & Co; he spent ten years working at its Paris branch. While in Paris, he took evening classes in foreign languages, learning Romance and Scandinavian languages, as well as Swahili and Russian. For a period, Matejka wrote for a Russian-language journal and translated for the Academy of Sciences. Matekja also worked in the exports of a button company, first in Zürich and from 1936 in Amsterdam. In addition, he was a supporter of the ideas of Silvio Gesell, who advocated for economic freedom. Matejka had a strong interest in foreign languages, and also supported reform of German spelling.

International languages

Ido In 1918, Matejka bought a copy of Albert Nötzli's Ido textbook, and upon comparing the language with Esperanto found it to be superior; Matejka was thus never an Esperantist, and joined the Idist movement. Matejka took on roles in several societies, and attended four congresses; for the next three years, he was a member of the Ido club in St. Gallen, and later joined an organisation for the language in Paris. He was secretary of the Union for the International Language Ido (ULI) from 1929 to 1934, and its president in 1940 after he had moved to Paris. For a term spanning 1934-35, Matekja was president of the national Swiss Ido society . Matejka worked with Ido periodicals such as Suisian Idisto and Ido-Kuriero, and was the editor of the ULI's bulletin during his period as secretary. When the magazine was restarted in 1913, Matejka was made its editor-in-chief; he kept the position until 1934.

Interlingue-Occidental

After Edgar de Wahl created Occidental in 1922, several Idists came to support it, especially from 1928. Matejka, however, was a critic of the language – believing that the best international language would come from improving Ido, he had argued against Occidental: Ric Berger described him as "the most active and competent defender of Ido, and polemist against Occ[idental]". When Matejka argued against the Occidentalists, he often did so using the pseudonyms "Franko Veramido" and "Scorpion". However, disillusioned by the attitudes of more conservative Idists, he renounced Ido and joined the Occidental movement in 1937.

Matejka's departure from Ido caused a stir in the Idist movement; he worked especially with its archivist, and with André Schild. Matejka donated large amounts of his collections of interlanguage-related material to the centre, and often visited until his death.