It all started with Lenin’s teapot, still standing today in my late grandparents’ house, now become a foundation. The teapot belonged to my great-great-grandmother, Sophie Mathilde Guillaume-Hainard (1855-1943), whom Lenin often visited whilst in exile in Geneva. The family has always refered to this teapot as Lenin’s teapot, but later on my aunt half-heartedly admitted that it was also Mussolini’s teapot, as Mussolini also visited Sophie’s home in Geneva.
I had of course heard in the past about our “famous” ancestors, Sophie, Charles-Edouard Guillaume (1861-1938), and James Guillaume. Charles-Edouard Guillaume, Sophie’s half brother (same father, Edouard Guillaume, 1823-1898) won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920. Sophie and Charles-Edouard’s cousin, James Guillaume (1844-1916), was a close friend of Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876). And one of James’ brothers, Edouard Guillaume (1850-?), shared a laboratory with Einstein in Bern. Letters from Einstein about Edouard Guillaume, not elogious, to say the least, are available on the internet.
