The Société Russe de Bienfaisance de et à Leysin and Its Library

Founded in 1907/1910, the Société russe de bienfaisance de et à Leysin aimed to support citizens of the Russian Empire residing in the mountain resort of Leysin, Switzerland. It provided both material assistance to those struggling to afford their stay and information and entertainment through a lending library. Modelled after similar Russian mutual aid societies, particularly the one in Davos, it established a substantial library within its first few years. The First World War and the Russian Revolution dramatically altered the size and composition of the Russian community in Leysin, as affluent visitors departed, leaving behind those in ill health—many of whom were reluctant to return to Russia for political reasons. The Société russe continued to operate under this name after the war and into the 1960s. Unfortunately, the library was not revived; it was dispersed after the Second World War and is now partially preserved at the Swiss Eastern European Library in Bern and at the Library of the Russian Orthodox Church in Geneva.