Fritz Senn

So that was the connection.

So the then CEO of UBS, Robert Holzach, he liked the story and he decided, OK, the bank will buy it and reopen it here in Zurich as an Irish pub to be called James Joyce Pub.

And this is actually where Fritz N. then enters the picture.

At that time, Fritz, of course, it was known in Switzerland as the Joyce expert.

So they got him on board and asked him to write a brochure with some basic information on James Joyce.

This was meant as a presence to the patrons of the pub.

So it reopened in 1978.

And Robert Holzach was very interested in Fritz's career and he's, you know, a Swiss man dedicating his entire life to the study of this Irish writer.

And then Fritz Sen lost the job at a prestigious publishing house here in Zurich, Diogenes Publishing House.

So he was looking for something new.

And of course, he had been in touch with American and other universities.

And one of them was interested in buying his Joyce collection, his private collection.

When Robert Holzach heard about this, he thought, well, wait a moment, we should keep this in Switzerland, make it accessible to the public and transform it into a foundation.

It still took several years to realise these plans.

On the 9th of May, 1985, the foundation was officially established.

My name is Ruth Vrenner and I have been working at the foundation for 39 years since the very beginning and apart from that I was a university teacher so this was a kind of a balance for me and I have now the last month in my time at the foundation so at the end of September I will go into pension.

In 1904, Joyce decided to leave Ireland.

As we know from this Dubliner story, you have to leave Ireland if you want to succeed.

So he decided to leave and he was looking for a job on the continent.

And he applied at the Burlitt schools and he got this telegram, appointment in Zurich, go Friday.