With this letter, we intend to respond to your letter of January 31, 2007, which followed the personal meeting between your Municipality and the representatives of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, as well as the representative of the Cantonal Division of Culture and University Studies.

In light of some contradictory information that has recently appeared in certain press outlets, we also wish to provide the Municipality with our position on the matter.

We premise that the support of the Municipality of Ascona, decided in January 2006 alongside that of the Canton of Ticino, was essential for the implementation of the new project to relaunch the Foundation's activities. We hope to continue having the Municipality's support in the future, as the relaunch of Eranos represents a major and challenging commitment that could not withstand polemics or negative interferences. In the past, the Foundation — or rather its previous Boards — unfortunately faced splits, tensions, the spread of tendentious and discrediting news, which paralyzed activities for years, bringing the Foundation to the brink of extinction.

With this premise, please take note of the following:

1. The Eranos Foundation has as its primary statutory purpose the holding of annual conferences called "Eranos-Tagungen" in the spirit and according to the intentions of the founder Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn. Since 1933, the interdisciplinary Eranos conferences (anthropology, comparative science of religions, psychoanalysis, cultural psychology, epistemology, comparative study of traditions, dialogue between Western and Eastern cultures) have been held annually, with the participation of great names in European and world culture.[file:1]
2. The Eranos conferences organized by the Foundation ceased starting in 1988. A period then began characterized by tensions and splits among scholars who wanted the Foundation's statutory activity to continue, and those within the Foundation who believed the activity should be directed toward other scientific fields. The Foundation had also been facing serious financial problems for some time, which led in 2004 to the brink of bankruptcy, with a third-party execution for a total debt of approximately CHF 4,000,000.— for the entire property. The then President of the Board of Trustees sought the collaboration of the Canton and the Municipality of Ascona to find a solution that could relaunch the activities and restore the Foundation's situation.[file:1]
3. In 2005, Mr. John van Praag submitted a project on behalf of the East West Foundation to relaunch the Foundation's activities, which on one hand envisaged the resumption of the multidisciplinary conferences provided for in the statutes, and on the other the enhancement and preservation of the Foundation's great cultural heritage (publications, photographs, correspondence, etc.). This project was accepted by the cantonal and municipal authorities and also submitted to the federal supervisory authority. The first tangible result is the resumption of Eranos meetings in June 2006 and the planned meeting for early June 2007.[file:1]

4. The Board of Trustees categorically denies that Mr. John van Praag ever promised personal contributions to the Foundation. What is true is that he had involved important cultural institutes in the financial recovery of the Foundation, which had declared themselves ready to intervene. Unfortunately, local oppositions and interferences caused these opportunities to fall through. These are probably the same forces that recently inspired the dissemination of false news aimed at casting a bad light on the Eranos relaunch project and its President.[file:1]
5. Regarding the sale of Casa Shanti, which corresponds to 20% of the property, it was essential to reduce the Foundation's indebtedness, so as to allow it to focus on its statutory purpose. The relaunch project required being able to securely hire or retain staff, sign mandates to preserve the archive and study projects, and seriously continue seeking international synergies. The founder herself, Mrs. Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, had already sold this property for financial reasons in the 1960s, and it was only donated back to the Foundation in 1980.
   The decision to sell not to third parties but to a person close to the Foundation was made by the Board to keep the property within the scope of Eranos's use and purposes....[file:1]
6. Regarding transparency, it should be noted that the sale transaction was submitted to the supervisory authority, which took note of it as within the competence of the Board and part of the Foundation's activity relaunch operation. Furthermore, the Board of Trustees includes representatives from both the municipal and cantonal authorities.[file:1]

During the meeting with the Municipality, it was mentioned that if it became necessary to reduce the Foundation's heavy debt, the Municipality of Ascona could itself purchase Casa Shanti for the price of CHF 2,000,000.— We still emphasize that the sale to a person close to the Foundation was made because there was an absolute urgency to financially consolidate the relaunch project.

If, however, the Municipality feels it cannot endorse this operation, Mrs. Laiping Fok, married van Praag, the buyer of the property, and Mr. John van Praag, agree to withdraw from this contract and project, allowing the Municipality to purchase Casa Shanti itself for the same price, assuming all incurred expenses. Furthermore, the Municipality would have to commit to making the property available to the Foundation and assume the renovation costs, as the current buyer is doing. In this case, we ask the Municipality to take a binding position on this purchase within 1 month, i.e., by March 17, 2007.[file:1]