Falbisaner, Robert

Falbisaner, Robert Oscar Léon (1889-1957) Lewis H. Mates DRAFT VERSION: The final version of this was published in Douglas Davies with Lewis H. Mates, The Encyclopedia of Cremation (Ashgate, 2005), pp.179-180 After studying law in his native Strasbourg, Falbisaner participated in the First World War. This entailed a considerable degree of travelling, and he met and married a British woman in London in 1915, later apparently adopting the ‘phlegmatic’ nature of the British. After the war, he toyed with embarking on a career in banking, but then joined an insurance company where he soon gained promotion. Falbisaner was active in the French cremationist movement by 1936, when he attended the Prague International Cremation Conference. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the French resistance in 1940 and was, from January 1941, part of the organisation of Dr. Bareis. In March 1941 he went into the unoccupied zone to attend a cremation congress. There he met with other members of the resistance and made plans for his future resistance activities. On returning to Strasbourg he began information gathering, which included making films of Nazi troop marches and meetings in order to inform the allies on German activities and propaganda in the annexed countries. The films were smuggled to Switzerland and there received by the US authorities. In March 1942 the systematic internment of British citizens meant that Falbisaner and his wife had to escape Gestapo surveillance. They managed to get to Mulhouse by train where a police commissioner in the resistance helped smuggle them to Switzerland. They later went to Lyon, but were still pursued by a Gestapo agent. This forced a brief period of hiding in an infirmary. In December 1944 Falbisaner and his wife returned to Strasbourg and managed to successfully re-establish the insurance business. An attempt to enter politics in 1945 was, however, not so successful as he failed to get elected to the municipality. He did become president of the Strasbourg Cremation Society, representing it at many international congresses. Remaining president for many years, he was also vice-president of the French Federation of Cremation Societies. A well-respected man, he received the following awards, medals and decorations: Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, Médaille de la Résistance, Croix du Combattant Volontaire, Médaille des Evadés, Chevalier du Mérite Agricole and Chevalier du Mérite Social. References ICF Annual Report (1956). Mouchard, M. (1957), ‘La cérémonie funèbre pour notre Président O.L. Robert Falbisaner’, Crematorium 34:2. Obituary of Robert Oscar Léon Falbisaner in (1993) ‘Documents pour l’Histoire de la Cremation’, Strasbourg: L’Association Crématiste de Strasbourg, CRE/B/FR/4. 1