Alfred Escher

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Portrait of Alfred Escher, around 1875

Johann Heinrich Alfred Escher vom Glas , called Alfred Escher (born February 20, 1819 in Zurich ; † December 6, 1882 in Zurich / Enge ) was a Swiss politician , business leader and railway entrepreneur. Through his numerous political offices and his founding and management activities at the Schweizerische Nordostbahn , the Eidgenössisches Polytechnikum , the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt , the Schweizerische Lebensversicherungs- und Rentenanstalt and the Gotthardbahn-Gesellschaft , Escher influenced the political and economic development of Switzerland like no other 19th century.

biography

Origin and family

Escher's birthplace "Neuberg" on Hirschengraben in Zurich
Auguste Escher, wife of Alfred Escher, around 1855
Alfred Escher with daughter Lydia, around 1865

Alfred Escher came from the old and influential Zurich family Escher vom Glas , from which numerous respected politicians emerged. However, scandals surrounding Alfred Escher's immediate ancestors damaged the family's reputation. The great-grandfather Hans Caspar Escher-Werdmüller (1731–1781) had an illegitimate child with a maid in 1765, and he ran away with her. Alfred Escher's grandfather, Hans Caspar Escher-Keller (1755–1831), with his bankruptcy tore almost all of Zurich into the financial abyss.

Alfred Escher's father Heinrich Escher (1776-1853) gained new wealth through land speculation and trade in North America . In 1814 he returned to Zurich and married Lydia Zollikofer von Altenklingen (1797–1868) in May 1815. The two children Clementine (1816–1886) and Alfred emerged from the marriage.

In 1857 Alfred Escher married Augusta Uebel (1838–1864). In 1858 the daughter Lydia was born, another daughter, Hedwig (1861–1862), died of pneumonia in early childhood. Lydia Escher married Friedrich Emil Welti in 1883 , the son of Federal Councilor Emil Welti . In 1890, shortly before the end of her tragically eventful life, she brought the Escher fortune into a foundation, which was named after the Zurich poet Gottfried Keller Foundation , which her father repeatedly sponsored . With Lydia's suicide in 1891, Alfred Escher's family tree breaks off.

Childhood, youth, studies

Alfred Escher spent the first years of childhood in the house where he was born, the "Neuberg" on Hirschengraben in Zurich. His father Heinrich Escher had a country house built on the left bank of Lake Zurich in the municipality of Enge (now the city of Zurich), which he named "Belvoir" . When the family moved into the house in 1831, Heinrich Escher was able to devote himself entirely to his passion for botany and his entomological collection. During this time, Alfred Escher was taught by various private tutors; among them the theologian Alexander Schweizer and the later paleobotanist and entomologist Oswald Heer . From 1835 to 1837 Escher attended the upper secondary school in Zurich.

After graduating from high school , Escher decided to study law at the still young University of Zurich . In 1838/39 he spent two semesters abroad at the universities of Bonn and Berlin , which, however, were marred by a serious illness. During his studies, Escher was involved in the Zofingia student union , which he joined in 1837. Escher was president of the Zurich section of the association in 1839/1840, and in September 1840 he was elected central president of the entire association. Escher himself repeatedly emphasized the importance of the «Zofingia» for his personality development. From 1839 he was a member of the Corps Helvetia Heidelberg. With a thesis on Roman law, Escher was the first lawyer and summa cum laude to receive his doctorate iuris utriusque at the University of Zurich in 1842 . In order to get some clarity about his professional future, he went to Paris for several months .

Political rise

After his return to Zurich in the summer of 1843, Alfred Escher devoted himself to scientific projects. He planned a large-scale Swiss legal history, which however did not materialize. He also intended to give lectures at the University of Zurich. In February 1844 he gave a trial lecture, whereupon the Education Council appointed him a private lecturer at the political science faculty.

In addition, the radical-liberal Escher was also politically active: he met with former college friends in the “Academic Wednesday Society” to debate political issues and repeatedly wrote articles for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung . In August 1844, at the age of 25, he was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Zurich . In this way he could actively influence the political questions of the time; First and foremost the conflict over the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Confederation, in which he took a decisive position in the anti-Jesuit propaganda. In 1845 and 1846, Escher represented the canton of Zurich as the third delegate to the Diet and came into contact with leading Swiss politicians. In 1847 he was appointed First State Clerk and in the summer of 1848 he was elected to the Zurich cantonal government .

With the introduction of the new federal constitution , the national parliament had to be appointed for the first time . Escher was elected to the National Council in the first parliamentary elections on October 15, 1848 , and was appointed vice-president on November 7, 1848. He was a member of the National Council for 34 years without interruption until his death. He was elected President of the National Council (the highest representative of the Swiss) four times : in 1849, 1856, and 1862. In 1855, Escher did not accept the election for health reasons.

Opposition and criticism

Through his numerous political offices as well as the economic founding of the Nordostbahn (1852/1853) and the Kreditanstalt (1856), Escher had an extraordinary wealth of power, due to which Escher was among others with "King Alfred I." or was titled as « Princeps ». This supremacy attracted critics. The democratic movement demanded a greater say for the people on political issues. The tight-knit group of politicians around Alfred Escher - the "Escher system" - became the democrats' declared enemy. The "Escher System" was fought with pamphlets and popular assemblies , which ultimately weakened its influence.

A further complicating factor for Escher was the fact that his northeast railway slid increasingly into financial crisis in the 1870s. The share price fell from 658 francs in 1868 to 70 francs in 1877. The disgruntled investors subsequently did not spare criticism of Escher, even though he had resigned as president of the Nordostbahn in 1871. The financial difficulties of the Gotthard railway project were also blamed on him from various sides.

Escher and slavery

Even during Escher's lifetime there were a few voices accusing the Escher family of benefiting from slavery. For 160 years these were just rumors, until in 2017 the German historian Michael Zeuske published documents that prove that the Escher family owned a coffee plantation in Cuba, which also included over 80 slaves.

Escher's father Heinrich visited the company in Cuba himself in 1803 and knew how everyday work was structured on the coffee plantation that two of his brothers managed for him. Among other things, 200,000 coffee plants grew on an area with a circumference of 4 kilometers, from which around 300 tons of coffee beans were harvested annually. The slaves worked 14 hours a day and were guarded by guards with dogs.

When Heinrich Escher died in 1853, he bequeathed 1 million francs to his son Alfred (according to today's value around 12 million francs) and a number of properties, including the Belvoirpark and villa.

The latest findings prompted a major political debate in the city of Zurich, in which local politicians from the SP and AL are demanding that history be dealt with.

The former chief historian of Credit Suisse and Escher biographer Joseph Jung always defended Escher by drawing a moral dividing line between slavery and slave trade and thus relativising Heinrich Escher's activities. The most recent debate about the role of Switzerland in the colonial trading systems and the decolonial "turn" in the historical debate in Switzerland call for a new evaluation of the Escher family's plantation economy.

Illness, death and memorial

Alfred Escher's grave, Manegg cemetery , Zurich

In addition to the attacks on himself, Escher also struggled with health problems. He fell ill again and again throughout his life and was forced to recover from longer cures. His susceptibility to disease did not get along well with his large workload. During the critical phase of the Gotthard project in the mid-1870s, Escher almost worked his way to death. In 1878 he fell so seriously ill that he could not leave the « Belvoir » for several weeks. There was a constant ups and downs in health: asthma , fever, eye problems, boils . However, this did not prevent Escher from fulfilling his political and economic obligations as far as possible. At the end of November 1882 he fell seriously ill again. Carbuncles formed on his back and a severe fever plagued him. On the morning of December 6, 1882, Alfred Escher died on his “Belvoir” estate.

At the abdication ceremony on December 9, 1882, which was held in Zurich's Fraumünster , the country's political elite paid their last respects to Alfred Escher: Federal Councilors , National Councils and Councils of States as well as countless cantonal representatives gathered. In February 1883 a committee was formed to set Escher an artistic monument. The order went to the artist Richard Kissling . The Alfred Escher monument designed by him in front of Zurich's main train station was inaugurated on June 22, 1889. Escher's grave was initially in the Enge cemetery, but after it was closed in 1925 it was moved to the Manegg cemetery .

The co-founder of modern Switzerland

First railway projects

Alfred Escher as President of the National Council in 1849

“The railways are approaching Switzerland more and more from all sides. Plans emerge according to which the railways should be led around Switzerland. Switzerland thus threatens to be bypassed completely and consequently to have to present the sad image of a European hermitage in the future. " With these words, Alfred Escher expressed his fears at the end of 1849 that Switzerland might miss out on the modern age. Not without reason, because while abroad the number of kilometers by rail increased steadily and promoted economic development, Switzerland was a backward country in this respect. The construction of railways throughout Switzerland became a question of fate in the federal state founded in 1848. Basically, there was agreement on the need for railways, but there were disputes about the actual implementation. In 1852 Escher helped the railway law to breakthrough, which fully followed his ideas: the construction and operation of the railways was left to private companies. As a result, there was a boom in railway construction in Switzerland. Competing railway companies emerged in a very short time , including the Swiss Northeast Railway in 1852/1853 , which Escher was in charge of. The traffic-related deficit compared to other countries could be made up in a short time.

Federal Polytechnic

With the new railway boom came the call for skilled workers who could meet the demands of the new branch of industry. There was no training center for engineers and technicians in Switzerland. Escher fought at the forefront to meet the technical and industrial requirements of the time. After years of political disputes, the Federal Polytechnic (now ETH Zurich ) was created in 1854/1855 . From 1854 to 1882 Escher was Vice President of the Federal School Council, the governing body of the Polytechnic. With the creation of this technical and scientific educational institution, the most important cornerstone for Switzerland as a center of education and research was laid.

Swiss credit institution

The large capital requirements associated with the railway construction presented the railway companies with new challenges. The capital had to be drawn from abroad because there were no institutions in Switzerland that could provide money on this scale. The dependence on foreign investors meant that they wanted to exert their influence on the development of Swiss railway companies. Alfred Escher was tired of this constellation. In 1856 he established the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt , primarily to secure the financing of his north-eastern railway . However, the credit institution increasingly financed other private and state enterprises. It developed into an important donor to the Swiss economy and thus founded the financial center of Zurich.

Gotthard Railway

Alfred Escher monument by Richard Kissling , Bahnhofplatz Zurich

With the expansion of the railway lines in the 1850s, the danger of Switzerland being bypassed by other countries was not yet averted. Although the most important places in Switzerland were soon connected to the rail network, there was no north-south connection. Alfred Escher initially favored an Alpine transversal at the Lukmanier Pass , but then changed his mind and supported the Gotthard project . In order to carry out this ambitious project, Escher threw all of his economic and political means of power into the balance.

He consulted engineers and other specialists and conducted negotiations with Swiss and foreign authorities. At the International Gotthard Conference in autumn 1869 the final decision was made in favor of the Gotthard line. In 1871 the Gotthard Railway Company was founded, which Escher presided over. Various difficulties in the implementation of the project and a modest cost overrun of around 11 percent in view of the size of the project burdened the construction. Escher was exposed to increasing criticism, which led him to resign as President of the Gotthard Railway Company in 1878. He was not invited to the Gotthard tunnel piercing in 1880.

In 1882 the project of the century was completed and the Gotthard tunnel was officially opened. This time Escher received an invitation, but was unable to attend the opening festivities due to his poor health. The Gotthard tunnel was of major importance for Switzerland in terms of transport policy. Passenger and freight traffic increased by leaps and bounds after the tunnel was opened, making the public limited company profitable and Switzerland has since become an important transit country in European freight traffic. This was also evident in the expansion of the so-called Gotthard axis. In the 1960s, the Commission for Railway Tunnels through the Alps (KEA) initially evaluated various railway projects through the Alps, and in addition to the Gotthard base tunnel, the TransAlpin package also included the implementation of a Lötschberg base tunnel . In 1992, the transit agreement with the EU expanded the international Gotthard Treaty of 1909, which is still valid today. And in 1994, the Swiss people accepted the Federal People's Initiative to protect the Alpine region from the consequences of increasing heavy transit traffic ( Alpine Initiative ) in a referendum. In 2016, a major part of this concept was completed, the Gotthard Base Tunnel , which now runs much more flatly under the Central Alps .

Offices and functions

Escher's accumulation of offices remains unique in Switzerland to this day, as the following (non-exhaustive) list of his most important offices and functions illustrates:

Duration Office / function
1839-1840 President of the Zurich section of the Swiss Zofinger Association
1840-1841 Central President of the Swiss Zofinger Association
1844-1847 Private lecturer at the University of Zurich
1844-1882 Zurich Grand and Cantonal Council (President: 1848, 1852, 1857, 1861, 1864, 1868)
1845-1848 Federal Envoy to the Diet (with interruptions)
1845-1855 Member of the Zurich Education Council
1846-1849 Member of the Zurich Legislative Council
1847-1848 Zurich State Clerk
1848-1855 Zurich Government Council (Mayor: 1849; President: 1851/52, 1853/54)
1848-1849 Member of the Zurich Finance Council
1848 Federal Commissioner in the Canton of Ticino
1848-1882 National Council ( President : 1849/50, 1856/57, 1862/63)
1849-1855 Member of the Zurich church council
1849-1852 Member of the Zurich State Council
1853 Director of the Zurich-Bodenseebahn
1853-1872 President of the Swiss Northeast Railway
1854-1882 Vice President of the Swiss School Council
1856-1877 Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schweizerische Kreditanstalt
1857-1874 Supervisory Board of the Swiss Life Insurance and Pension Fund
1859-1874 Member of the Greater Zurich City Council (Parliament)
1860-1869 President of the Zurich School Care Department
1871-1878 President of the Gotthard Railway Company
1872-1882 Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Northeast Railway
1880-1882 Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schweizerische Kreditanstalt

Estate and Research

Alfred Escher research has a rich pool of source material at its disposal. First and foremost, there is the extensive correspondence connected with Escher. Escher was in correspondence with leading figures from politics, business and science. In 2006, the Alfred Escher Foundation was established to research the life and work of Escher. In 2015, the foundation published all of Alfred Escher's well-known letters in a multimedia edition project .

Escher correspondence

  • Joseph Jung (Ed.): Alfred Escher between Lukmanier and Gotthard. Letters on the Swiss Alpine Railway Question 1850–1882. Edited and commented on by Bruno Fischer, Martin Fries and Susanna Kraus. With contributions by Joseph Jung and Helmut Stalder (=  Alfred Escher. Briefe. An edition and research project of the Alfred Escher Foundation. Volume 1 in 3 sub-volumes), NZZ Libro, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-03823-379-4 .
  • Joseph Jung (ed.): Alfred Escher's letters from his youth and student days (1831–1843). Edited and commented on by Bruno Fischer (=  Alfred Escher. Letters. An edition and research project of the Alfred Escher Foundation. Volume 2), NZZ Libro, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-03823-628-3 .
  • Joseph Jung (ed.): Alfred Escher's correspondence (1843–1848). Jesuits, volunteers, special union, federal revision. Edited and commented by Björn Koch (= Alfred Escher. Letters. An editing and  research project of the Alfred Escher Foundation. Volume 3), NZZ Libro, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-03823-703-7 .
  • Joseph Jung (ed.): Alfred Escher's correspondence (1848–1852). Building the young federal state, political refugees and neutrality. Edited and commented on by Sandra Wiederkehr (=  Alfred Escher. Letters. An edition and research project of the Alfred Escher Foundation. Volume 4), NZZ Libro, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-03823-723-5 .
  • Joseph Jung (ed.): Alfred Escher's correspondence (1852–1866). Economic liberal time window, start-ups, foreign policy. With contributions by Claudia Aufdermauer, Bruno Fischer, Joseph Jung, Björn Koch, Katrin Rigort and Sandra Wiederkehr (=  Alfred Escher. Letters. An edition and research project of the Alfred Escher Foundation. Volume 5), NZZ Libro, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978 -3-03823-853-9 .
  • Joseph Jung (ed.): Alfred Escher's correspondence (1866–1882). Private railway companies in crisis, Gotthard Railway, political opposition. With contributions by Claudia Aufdermauer, Basil Böhni, Lisa Bollinger, Bruno Fischer, Josef Inauen, Joseph Jung, Björn Koch and Vincent Pick (=  Alfred Escher. Letters. An edition and research project of the Alfred Escher Foundation. Volume 6), NZZ Libro , Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-03810-034-8 .

Movies

literature

Web links

Commons : Alfred Escher  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 21-33.
  2. ^ Alfred Escher to Kaspar Lebrecht Zwicky , Belvoir (Enge, Zurich), Monday, July 28, 1862 In: Jung, Escher Briefe, Volume 5, No. 93
  3. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 464-492; Young: Lydia Welti-Escher. 2009.
  4. ↑ Kösener Corps lists 1910 115/122
  5. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 47-84; Jung, Fischer: Alfred Escher's letters from his youth and student days . 2010, pp. 13-36; Jung, Koch: Alfred Escher's correspondence (1843–1848) . 2011, pp. 19-21.
  6. ^ Jung, Koch: Alfred Escher's correspondence (1843–1848). 2011, pp. 21-25.
  7. ^ Jung, Koch: Alfred Escher's correspondence (1843–1848). 2011, pp. 25-44.
  8. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2006, pp. 134-153.
  9. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 331-342.
  10. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, p. 354.
  11. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 417-444; Jung: Alfred Escher between Lukmanier and Gotthard. 2008, pp. 391-415.
  12. ↑ Zeuske, Michael, author .: Handbook History of Slavery: A Global History from the Beginnings to the Present . 2019, ISBN 978-3-11-055884-5 .
  13. ↑ Slavery: The Cuban Plantation of the Escher Family. July 12, 2017, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Escher's dark legacy . In: Tages-Anzeiger . July 7, 2017, ISSN  1422-9994 ( tagesanzeiger.ch [accessed on April 12, 2020]).
  15. ^ Jung, Joseph, 1955- Author: Alfred Escher 1819–1882: Rise, Power, Tragedy . 2007, ISBN 978-3-03810-274-8 .
  16. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 445-464, 492-496.
  17. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 9-20.
  18. ↑ Alfred Escher's speech as President of the National Council , November 12, 1849, in: Bundesblatt , 1849 III, pp. 149–163.
  19. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 162-210.
  20. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 269-296.
  21. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 210-261.
  22. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2009, pp. 365-444; Jung: Alfred Escher between Lukmanier and Gotthard. 2008.
  23. ^ Jung: Alfred Escher. 2006, pp. 134-153.
  24. ^ Letter edition . Website of the Alfred Escher letter edition. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
predecessor Office successor
Jonas Furrer Mayor of Zurich
1848–1850 		1850 removal of the title
personal data
SURNAME Escher, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Escher vom Glas, Johann Heinrich Alfred (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician and industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1882
Place of death Tightness