Rudolf Minger

Rudolf Minger (around 1930)

Rudolf ("Ruedi") Minger (born November 13, 1881 in Mülchi ; † August 23, 1955 in Schüpfen ; entitled to live in Mülchi and Schüpfen) was a Swiss politician , farmer and officer . Growing up in the small village of Mülchi in the Limpachtal , after completing his compulsory schooling, he first worked on his parents' farm, and from 1907 he ran his own farm in Schüpfen. In the Swiss Army he rose to the rank of colonel , and initially he was politically active in agricultural cooperatives at local and cantonal level. Dissatisfied with Swiss agricultural policy during the First World War , he increasingly distanced himself from the liberals . In 1918 he was a co-founder of the Bernese farmers 'and citizens' party and immediately led it to great electoral successes.

Minger was a member of the National Council from 1919 and of the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern from 1922 . In doing so, he consistently advocated the interests of his profession. In order to give the new party a broader power base, he involved the tradespeople, which in 1921 created the Farmers, Trade and Citizens' Party (BGB), a medium-sized business party with a conservative attitude and a forerunner of today's Swiss People's Party . After Minger had been President of the National Council in 1928 , he was elected to the Federal Council as the first representative of the BGB at the end of 1929 . After taking office at the beginning of 1930, he took over the management of the military department .

As defense minister, Minger succeeded in successively increasing spending on national defense , repeatedly emphasizing the job creation effect of armaments spending during the global economic crisis . His emotional ties to the people made him popular in large circles of the population. He used this appreciation to popularize the militia army far into the left-wing political camp. In 1935 he served as Federal President . After eleven years in office, he resigned at the end of 1940. As president of various associations, he continued to campaign for the interests of agriculture for over a decade.

biography

Origin, occupation and military

Minger was born in the small village of Mülchi in the Limpachtal , the youngest of three children and the only son of a respected and wealthy farming family. His father of the same name served as mayor , his mother's name was Anna Marie Moser. The stately farm of the Mingers, to which a no longer operating mill belonged, comprised an area of ​​28 Jucharten (a little more than ten hectares ), four of which were Jucharten forest. The primary school attended Minger in Mülchi, the secondary school in the neighboring town Fraubrunnen . He was an intelligent student, so in 1897 his parents decided to send him to La Neuveville . There he completed a traineeship in the office clerk, on the one hand to continue learning French and on the other hand to find out whether the profession of notary would suit him. Minger did not like office work, which is why he returned to Mülchi in 1898 to work on his parents' farm. He learned the farmer's profession mainly in practice, in addition he read numerous agricultural journals.

In July 1906 he married in Zeeland City Schüpfen Sophie Minger, a second cousin (they had the same great-grandfather). Three months later, he bought the Herrschmatt farm in Schüpfen, today's “Mingerhof”, from his wife's relatives. This comprised 88 Jucharten (31.68 hectares ), 23 of which were Jucharten forest, which was a larger than average operating area. The couple moved there in the spring of 1907; together they had a daughter (Klara) and a son (Rudolf). Minger did not run his farm alone, however, but had a lot of things done by employees. According to the biographer Konrad Stamm, contrary to the legend he later spread, he was not a “simple farmer” but a “subsidy hunter” all his life.

As a newcomer, Minger was denied municipal political office in Schüpfen. He could only make a name for himself in the local agricultural cooperative. He therefore saw his compulsory military service as an opportunity for social advancement. Shortly after recruiting school , he was promoted to corporal in December 1901 . Two years later he was promoted to lieutenant in the fusiliers , and at the end of 1907 to first lieutenant . After becoming a captain at the end of 1911 , he attended the reception of the German Emperor Wilhelm II in Bern in September 1912 . During the First World War he did 635 days of active service . In March 1918 he was appointed major , in December 1923 lieutenant colonel and finally in December 1929 colonel .

Peasant policy and party formation

Minger speaks at the Federal Hornusser Festival 1930

From 1909 Minger was president of the agricultural cooperative Schüpfen and from 1911 member of the board of the Bernese cooperative association. So far, despite various differences of opinion, the farmers had been politically involved in the Free Democratic Party (FDP). With rising food prices during World War I , the conflict between the urban population and farmers came to a head. The latter were increasingly seen as war profiteers , as they were accused of hoarding food and thereby artificially keeping prices high. In order to prevent further price increases, the Federal Council set maximum prices for food. In fact, production had increased despite the fact that many farmers and workhorses had been drafted into the military. But a large part of the harvest was lost in the cold and rainy summers of 1916 and 1917, which led to a precarious supply situation.

The increasingly self-confident farmers felt less and less understood by the FDP. While the business liberals continued to advocate free trade and open borders to enable low food prices (they agreed with the Social Democrats on this issue ), the farmers demanded protected prices through tariff barriers and export subsidies. At events organized by his professional organization, Minger had previously only given lectures on economic topics. On November 13, 1916, he made his first political statement at the seed market in Aarberg and called for better interest representation for farmers. He described the liberals as "arch-capitalists" and "greedy moneybags", while for him the leading Social Democrats were nothing but "party bosses".

Following the example of the Zurich Agricultural Cantonal Association, Minger gave the impetus for the foundation of the Bernese farmers' and citizens' party with his speech on November 24, 1917 at the delegates' meeting of the Bernese cooperative association in the Bierhübeli hall in Bern :

“We are on the eve of a new era. A profound political reorientation is necessary. The path is mapped out: this path is called proportional. The proportional representation has been put on the shield from the other side. But today we farmers have every interest in joining this movement. And for us there is only one solution: to found our own independent farmers' party! Now the fetters must be broken. Political tutelage must stop; because now we want to actively intervene in politics ourselves! "

- Rudolf Minger

In December 1917, the peasant members of the Grand Council and the board of directors of the four largest cooperative associations appointed a commission, which, chaired by Jakob Freiburghaus, prepared the founding of the party. This took place officially on September 28, 1918 in Bern, when the delegates approved the statutes and elected Minger as party president. Two weeks later, the people and the cantons accepted the proportional representation with a clear majority, which should prove to be advantageous for the new party. After the failure of the national strike in November 1918, the party experienced an enormous increase in membership. In 1919, numerous large councils switched from the liberals to the peasant and bourgeois party, which became an important factor of power. She was one of the most vehement supporters of the creation of armed vigilante groups against the working class; in many places new party sections and local vigilante groups were founded in parallel.

Cantonal and federal politics

In the National Council elections in 1919 , the first based on proportional representation, the Bernese farmers 'and citizens' party immediately won 16 of the 32 seats that the Canton of Bern was entitled to. Together with similarly oriented groups in other cantons, which together had won 14 seats, it formed the fourth largest parliamentary group . Minger, who had also been elected to the National Council, then took over the chairmanship and was the undisputed leader. The parliamentary group was initially the only nationwide bracket, it was not until 1936 that nine cantonal parties merged to form a national party. In contrast to the farmers' party in the canton of Zurich , Minger wanted to involve the traders and transform the Bernese farmers' and citizens' party into a medium-sized business party with a conservative attitude. In 1921 it renamed itself the farmers, trade and citizens' party (BGB), which enabled it to broaden its power base.

In 1922, the BGB won 103 out of 224 seats in the Bern elections, making it the strongest parliamentary group. Minger was one of the elected and also took over the office of parliamentary group president at cantonal level. In the Grand Council, he was a member of the Election Examination Commission and the Commission for the Animal Disease Act. He advocated fighting unemployment through job creation . He dealt intensively with the Lötschbergbahn and the Oberhasli power stations . His only motion in 1925 concerned a revision of the cantonal tax law, which he withdrew in the same year. Since he was busy with his other political offices, his work in the canton parliament remained relatively modest.

Minger was far more active in the National Council, where he belonged to two permanent commissions, from 1919 to the business audit commission and from 1922 to the customs tariff commission. In addition, he was a member of 33 temporary commissions for preparing national council business, of which he chaired five. He was particularly interested in working on commissions for which he had expertise, i.e. in the fields of agriculture and the military. A special concern for him was the appreciation of agriculture as one of the cornerstones of the state, which is why it must be promoted more. In particular, he called for the restriction of food imports while increasing exports. Likewise, should subsidies , monopolies , guaranteed markets and cost-covering prices of agricultural products improve the overall income situation of farmers. Minger viewed the army as a means of maintaining peace and order in the interior as well as protecting Switzerland's independence and neutrality . In doing so, he repeatedly came into conflict with the Social Democrats, who advocated disarmament in the post-war years. He made a name for himself especially with the revision of the troop order. In 1928 Minger served as President of the National Council .

Following the resignation of Robert Haab and the death of Karl Scheurer , two seats in the Federal Council became vacant in mid-November 1929. The FDP was no longer able to maintain its claim to be able to provide five of the seven federal councilors as before, given the continued strength of the BGB. It was undisputed that the most populous cantons of Bern and Zurich still had to be represented in the government. The bourgeois parties feared, however, that renouncing Haab's “Zurich seat” would play into the hands of the Social Democrats, which is why they preferred to leave Scheurer's “Bern seat” to the BGB. In order to reduce the election chances of the Mayor of Zurich, Emil Klöti , the Catholic-conservative “kingmaker” Heinrich Walther used formal legal tricks to get Scheurer's successor to be elected first. In the Federal Council election on December 12, 1929, the Federal Assembly elected Minger in the first ballot with 148 of 232 votes. On Hermann Schüpbach (FDP) accounted for 57 voices on various other persons 27 votes. Minger was not only the first BGB representative in the state government, but also the first farmer; In addition, three parties were represented for the first time. Haab's successor was Albert Meyer (FDP).

Federal Council

Minger (front left) with three other federal councilors (1934)

Minger took up his post on January 1, 1930, relocated to Bern as required by law and left his farm to a tenant. He actually wanted to take over the economics department in order to be able to influence the agricultural policy directly , but had to make do with the military department against his wishes . It was not particularly prestigious given widespread pacifist currents after the experiences of World War I and rigorous austerity decisions by parliament during the 1920s. Despite this, Minger was able to rearm and reform the Swiss army with his tenacity . On the one hand, he benefited from the worsening international situation; on the other hand, he repeatedly emphasized the job creation effect of armaments expenditure during the global economic crisis , which rose from 85 million to 351 million francs in 1939. All branches of service benefited, but especially the air forces , anti-aircraft troops , artillery and air protection .

A second focus under Minger's aegis was the gradual extension of the military training period. The left-wing parties held a referendum against the federal law required for this; the referendum on February 24, 1935 resulted in a narrow approval of 54.2%. As a result, the recruit schools were extended from 67 to 118 and the refresher courses from 13 to 20 days; this rule existed essentially until Army 95 in the 1990s. In the long term, Minger's most important contribution was the popularization of the militia army . He staged several “People's Days” and defilees in order to propagate them far into the left-wing political spectrum as an instrument of peacekeeping and to celebrate Switzerland's ability to defend itself. When the Social Democrats expressly declared themselves in favor of national defense in 1935 , Minger stopped verbal attacks on his political opponents. The 1936 military bond , which was significantly oversubscribed despite the low interest rate, is considered a success of his efforts . Even as Minister of Defense, he never missed an opportunity to represent the interests of agriculture with all clarity.

Minger reached the high point of his political career in 1935 during his year in office as Federal President . He dealt with the diplomatic representation tasks associated with it with peasant cunning and common sense. His easily understandable language, his emotional ties to the people and his assertiveness made him unusually popular in broad sections of the population (and that until after his death). The widespread "Minger jokes" were an expression of its popularity. Initially, these were mostly an expression of the social elite's skepticism towards the supposedly uneducated peasant, but over time they turned into a sign of appreciation. It was not until six decades later that Minger's less flattering side became public: in February 1937, without the knowledge of his Federal Council colleagues, he commissioned Chief of Staff Jakob Labhardt to work out a chemical weapons program . Its construction was done in secret, because Switzerland had ratified a protocol of the League of Nations in 1932 that prohibited the use of asphyxiating, poisonous and similar gases as well as bacteriological weapons in war.

When the implementation of the army reform was urgent in 1938, Minger showed signs of official fatigue and seemed rather listless at work. In his department it was rumored that the milk price interested him more than the army. His last task of great importance was the preparations for the general mobilization that was emerging . When the Second World War broke out on September 1, 1939 , no one looked for him in his office. Instead, he stayed in his city apartment, sorting documents to prepare for his exit from politics. It was only just possible to find him in time for the Federal Council to decide to mobilize the army. Before the election of the general by the Federal Assembly, Minger campaigned vehemently for Henri Guisan . He had been on friendly terms with him for a long time and had promoted his military career.

In a letter to the President of the National Council on November 8, 1940, Minger announced his resignation as Federal Councilor at the end of the year. Political observers were surprised that the Defense Minister of all people resigned in the middle of the war , even if General Guisan was meanwhile in the limelight. On the basis of his personal records, however, it can be assumed that primarily personal reasons led to the resignation. He also saw his main political concern, the expansion of national defense, as completed. He was succeeded by Eduard von Steiger .

Political activity after resignation

Grave escort Rudolf Minger

Memorial in Schüpfen

Minger had already moved out of the city apartment a year earlier in order to live in the “ Stöckli ” of his farm in Schüpfen. He learned to drive a car at the age of 58 and then drove to work. After his resignation, he took care of agriculture again, both practically at home and politically in Bern. Almost every day he went to the Federal Palace to lobby for the interests of agriculture - often so intensely that it seemed “shameless” to an observer. From 1942 to 1948 he chaired the economic and non-profit society of the canton of Bern , as well as chairing the associations of oat millers and pasta manufacturers. Minger was Vice President of the Swiss Agricultural Association, President of the Sub-Commission for Farmers ' Vocational Training and a member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss Farmers' Association . He was also a member of the board of directors of Kraftwerke Oberhasli and Verbandsdruckerei AG, as well as a member of the board of directors of the Swiss National Bank .

Although Minger had never studied, the Zofingia fraternity accepted him as an honorary member in 1934. In November 1946, the veterinary faculty of the awarded him the University of Bern , the honorary doctorate in recognition of his services to "maintain a healthy farming" and his commitment to agricultural education and agricultural assistants. Minger was also involved in economic and social policy. In 1947, for example, he appeared frequently at public events, where he campaigned for the adoption of the economic articles in the federal constitution and the federal law on old-age and survivors' insurance. In 1951 he did the same for the Agriculture Act.

Death and memory

Minger appeared in public for the last time in the summer of 1955 at the Fête des Vignerons in Vevey , where he had been invited by Henri Guisan. A few weeks later, on August 23, he died of complications from liver disease. On August 26th, around 10,000 people attended the state funeral at the Schüpfen cemetery. After Jakob Stämpfli and Karl Schenk , Minger was the third Federal Councilor who had lived in Schüpfen or came from there. In the village a street named after him and a memorial keep the memory alive. There are other streets named after him in Bern and St. Gallen . Since 1956, the Schützengesellschaft and the Schüpfen Pistol Club have organized the “Federal Councilor Rudolf Minger Memorial Shooting”. From 1965 to 1995, the Lyss non-commissioned officers' association held the Minger memorial march every five years. This was followed by the annual Minger Run until 1996. The "Mingerhof" at the southern entrance to the village of Schüpfen (built around 1850) is listed in the building inventory of the Canton of Bern as an object worthy of protection.

Ideological assessment and aftermath

Minger's attitude to fascism was initially unclear. In the summer of 1933 he described the emergence of the front movement in parliament as a "healthy reaction" by Swiss youth against the political left. He also informed the German envoy Ernst von Weizsäcker that National Socialism was "an obvious development that he liked." In those years Minger repeatedly called for the farmers, trade and citizens' party to merge with the fascist fronts (with which, in conjunction with other bourgeois parties in the Zurich municipal elections in 1933, a “patriotic” electoral alliance was formed) and made use of it in numerous speeches fascist rhetoric of “people's community”, “blood” and “race”.

Later, Minger was considered an opponent of fascism, despite some strongly right-wing regulatory views. However, in 1940 he was still entertaining an SS general as a representative of the German Red Cross on his farm in Schüpfen and in the same year, together with Philipp Etter, was one of the co-authors of the controversial radio address by Federal President Marcel Pilet-Golaz , which after the defeat of France against Nazi Germany was felt by many to be conformist.

According to the historian Christoph Graf , Minger first established the peasant movement (in association with medium-sized businesses) as an independent political force and then gradually integrated it into the Swiss system of concordance . In doing so, he constantly emphasized the virtues of the clod-related “nutritional status” and the down-to-earth rural culture. Through the seemingly mythical exaggeration of his own professional group, he developed a kind of compensation ideology against industrialization and urbanization, which set itself apart from both social democracy and liberal freedom. With his targeted agricultural policy, Minger also promoted the integration of the rural rural population into the industrial society of the 20th century.

The farmers, trade and citizens' party, or the Swiss People's Party that emerged from it in 1971, has been the strongest party in the canton of Bern since the 1920s. Benedict Loderer criticized in 2012, the party had in its stronghold - building a "rule of the village kings and Talfürsten" that merely run inventory preservation and influence of innovative agglomerations with their superior power - based on Mingers ideology Bern and Biel restricts so massive that targeted Location policy is practically impossible. The resulting below-average added value of the Bernese economy while maintaining a comprehensive infrastructure is the main reason why the canton now has to be supported most through financial equalization payments (up to 1.1 billion francs annually). Rudolf Strahm came to similar conclusions in 2013. As examples of how Minger's party had slowed down the development of the canton of Bern with its “Scholle politics”, he cited the consistent blockades of incorporations into Bern, the opposition to larger industrial zones and the prevention of Utzenstorf Airport .

literature

• Christoph Graf : Rudolf Minger . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 331-337 .
• Konrad Stamm: Minger: Bauer, Federal Councilor. The extraordinary career of Rudolf Minger from Mülchi in the Limpachtal . NZZ Libro, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-03810-284-7 .
• Christoph Graf: From class struggle to concordance: Robert Grimm, Rudolf Minger and Swiss democracy . In: Nicolai Bernard, Quirinus Reichen (Ed.): Society and Societies: Festschrift for the 65th birthday of Prof. Dr. Ulrich in the courtyard . Bern 1982, p. 495-514 .
• anonymous: Federal Councilor Minger anecdotes. Benteli, Bern 1971, with an introduction by Philipp Etter.
• Peter Stettler: Rudolf Minger. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2010 .

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Minger  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website dedicated to Rudolf Minger
• Rudolf Minger in the archive database of the Swiss Federal Archives
• Rudolf Minger in the archive for agricultural history

Individual evidence

1. ^ Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 331.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} private / farmer. mingerruedi.ch, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Patrick Feuz: The power grabber. Der Bund , November 19, 2017, accessed on January 6, 2018 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} politics / military. mingerruedi.ch, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Timeline. mingerruedi.ch, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Stefan von Bergen: When Switzerland was starving for the last time. Berner Zeitung , August 6, 2016, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
7. ^ Stamm: Minger: Bauer, Bundesrat , Zurich 2017, p. 65.
8. ↑ Patrick Feuz: From farmer's son to Federal Councilor. Tages-Anzeiger , November 20, 2017, accessed December 19, 2017 . 
9. ^ Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. Pp. 331-332.
10. ^ The history of SVP Canton Bern. SVP Kanton Bern, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
11. ↑ ^{a b} Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 332.
12. ^ Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. Pp. 332-333.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 333.
14. ↑ Minger jokes. mingerruedi.ch, accessed on June 13, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Erich Aschwanden: The fogged poison gas scandal. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , November 9, 2015, accessed on November 10, 2015 . 
16. ↑ Simon Wälti: A "splendid school". Tages-Anzeiger , August 19, 2015, accessed on June 13, 2019 . 
17. ^ Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. Pp. 333-334.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 335.
19. ^ Rudolf Minger , Archive for Agricultural History, 2018.
20. ↑ ^{a b} Memories. mingerruedi.ch, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
21. ↑ Hans Trachsel: Rudolf Minger: farmer, statesman and fighter. Swissinfo , August 22, 2005, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
22. ↑ Leimerenstrasse 2. (PDF, 161 kB) In: Bauinventar online. Education Directorate of the Canton of Bern, November 21, 2017, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
23. ↑ Swiss Federal Archives E 1301, Vol. 299: Nationalrat, June 1933, pp. 606–615.
24. ↑ Files on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945, Series C, Vol. II / 1, Göttingen 1973, p. 50.
25. ↑ Christoph Graf, Eduard Tschabold: The estate of Federal Councilor Rudolf Minger (1881-1955): An analysis of the inventory JI 108, Bern: Swiss Federal Archives 1981, p. 57.
26. ↑ Hanspeter Born : Lance for a great statesman. Die Weltwoche , March 13, 2013, archived from the original on April 15, 2015 ; accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Marc Tribelhorn: "The time of inner rebirth". Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 22, 2015, accessed on January 6, 2018 . 
28. ^ Graf: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 336.
29. ↑ Benedikt Loderer : The bear "himpet". Der Bund , October 30, 2012, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 
30. ^ Rudolf Strahm : Oh, Canton Bern! Infosperber , February 28, 2013, accessed on July 2, 2019 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Karl Scheurer	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1930–1940	Eduard von Steiger