Alfred Wyrsch

Alfred Wyrsch around 1920

Alfred Wyrsch (born May 28, 1872 in Wettingen ; † July 9, 1924 there ) was a lawyer, councilor and national councilor for the Catholic Conservative / Swiss Conservative People's Party .

family

The roots of the family, which were written up to the Alfred Wyrschs Würsch generation , come from the canton of Nidwalden , especially from the Emmetten , Buochs and Beckenried region , where a Klaus Würsch (1366–1386) may be one of the earliest verifiable ancestors. He had been part of the political leadership Unterwaldens , you will find in the 15th century family members who, among other things, as a judge, Captain Landammann , Vogt, treasurer , Landschreiber work. The wife of the governor Hans Würsch was burned as a witch in 1630 .

In the 17th century part of the family migrated to Birmenstorf , some even further to Killwangen ; The name can still be traced in both places today. Alfred's father Bernhard Würsch (1825–1898) was a councilor who married Agatha Kaufmann from Zufikon . He managed the former monastery estate of the Wettingen monastery and also acquired generous land that reached as far as Dietikon. This marriage resulted in the children Bernhard (1862), Maria Agatha (1864) and Alfred. The contacts to the origin in Killwangen were neglected, perhaps also denied, why else would it have made sense to rename Würsch to Wyrsch at that time.

The spelling "Wyrsch" was generally regarded as a bit more noble and ascribed to the Buochser Würsch line. Due to the expert opinion on the spelling of the Nidwalden family names by the historian Robert Durrer , the communities of Nidwalden demanded in the 1960s that families who came from the Emmetter Würsch line should henceforth be spelled with "Würsch".

education

"Alter Löwe" restaurant

Alfred Wyrsch's training began at the Baden District School in 1887, from which he switched to the Aarau Cantonal School and graduated in 1891 with the Matura . Immediately afterwards, he enrolled in Heidelberg specialist Jura one. Study visits to Munich and Bern followed; In 1895 he graduated with a Dr. iur. in Heidelberg. He completed his legal internship in Aarau that same year . Now he was able to start a family himself and married Maria Ida Kuhn with whom he had the daughter Pia (* 1898). He lived in the so-called Wyrsch House on Klosterstrasse, which his father built on the site of the former monastery, better known as the Gasthaus zum Alten Löwen across from the Wettingen monastery church . Today the building belongs to the canton of Aargau and, together with the newly built monastery barn , houses parts of the monastery seminary .

Political stations

Wyrsch set up his office in the Ratskeller building in Baden AG and was elected as councilor and deputy mayor in Wettingen for two years as early as 1895. He was undecided about a preference between his professional and political career, but without the financial backing of his work as a lawyer he would not have been able to pursue his passion, political activity. In a few years Wyrsch is said to have given political speeches and lectures on 40 Sundays, sometimes even several in one day. Bollinger describes him as a “dynamic fighting nature” who knew how to inspire others, even when his own health was damaged. He never spared himself and therefore probably died at the age of 52. Already marked by illness, the appeal from a meeting to the youth has been preserved:

“The marching song and tempo are different for you boys. But the end goal is the same. We all strive towards it with united power. What happens when the stream of fire is occasionally overflowing with youthful enthusiasm? What harm is it if an old braid is shaking somewhere in the cheeky thirst for action of young people? Go ahead, my young friends, don't rust and don't rest! 'And don't you commit your life, your life will never be won!' "

At his funeral there were delegations from both the Federal Assembly and the Aargau Government Council. Georg Baumberger was the funeral speaker .

literature

• Hans Fricker: Alfred Wyrsch: 1872-1924 . In: Argovia , annual journal of the Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau, 1953, pp. 344–349, doi : 10.5169 / seals-62530
• Patrick Zehnder: Alfred Wyrsch. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Kurt Bolliger: Alfred Wyrsch, National Councilor . In: The Wettinger Klosterhalbinsel, written for the 100th anniversary of the Harmonie Wettingen-Kloster music society in 1981. Ed. By Kurt Egloff, Buch- und Offsetdruckerei, Wettingen, 1981, pp. 133-135.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Nadja Christen: Wyrsch [Würsch]. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
2. ^ Contributions to the history of Nidwalden (BGN), issue 26, 1959