Aloys Bossy

Aloïs Bossy

Aloïs Bossy (born November 7, 1844 in Givisiez , † March 12, 1913 in Vevey ) was a Swiss politician and State Councilor of the canton of Friborg .

He was Catholic and from Givisiez and Avry-sur-Matran . His parents were François Bossy, a wealthy farmer and landowner who owned the large La Chassotte estate in Givisiez, and Marguerite nee. Vorlet. He married Hermine-Marie Bucher, von Escholzmatt (LU).

Aloïs Bossy attended primary school in Givisiez and the St. Michael College . After graduating from high school, he perfected his German skills in Stuttgart . He then was first a supervisor (1867–1868) and then a teacher (1868–1878) at the College of St. Michael.

Active with the conservatives and urged by Alphonse Théraulaz , who wanted to satisfy the staunch right, he was appointed senior bailiff of the Vivisbach district and headed this district from 1878 to 1880. On May 14, 1880, he succeeded Théraulaz with 46 of 86 votes elected the State Council. He was also a Grand Councilor (1881–1906), Council of States (1884–1898) and National Council (1898–1908). He sat on the State Council from 1880 to 1906, first as Director of the Interior (1880–1902), then as Director of the Interior, Agriculture and Statistics (1902–1906). As economics director under Georges Python , he developed the government's two priorities: agriculture and industry based on cantonal raw materials - wood, milk and hydropower. As far as agriculture was concerned, he took the advice of agricultural engineer Antonin Berset and designed a program that focused on better training for farmers and the quality of cattle and dairy products. His realizations included the dairy station (1887), the model dairy in Hauterive (1888), the agricultural chemistry laboratory (1888), laws to improve livestock breeding (1884, 1888, 1891, 1892 and 1897) and insurances against the mortality of livestock (1888 and 1899). Bossy successfully launched the cardboard box factory and the L'Industrielle basket weaving school. He sponsored the trade museum for vocational training (1888), professional courses (1900), teaching (1900) and the technical center (trade school, 1903).

Bossy presided over the agricultural and trade schools and was a member of the board of directors of the trade school. Numerous agricultural associations and cooperatives were founded by him. This overall excellent record is tarnished by Bossy's private bargaining with the fake Russian Baron Gérard (de) Smirnoff. First, Bossy was involved in an affair in which the La Chassotte boarding school was defrauded of 50,000 francs. He paid back the amount at the instigation of Python who persuaded the sisters of that institution to withdraw their lawsuit. Bossy was elected President of the State Council with a poor result; the sisters' lawyer, the Freiburg mayor Ernest de Weck , had no trouble turning some of the conservative councilors against Bossy. He was then involved in a dirty fund transfer between Bern and Freiburg: 137,000 francs embezzled to the detriment of the children from Smirnoff's first marriage, with Bossy covering the fraud as the provisional guardian of these children in Freiburg. He tried in vain to smuggle Smirnoff out of Switzerland. The canton of Bern twice requested an extradition of Bossy, who in February 1906 took a three-month sick leave. His colleagues urged him to resign (May 1 and 2, 1906). The State Council refused to extradite Bossy because he would be tried together with Smirnoff in Freiburg. Bossy's fall almost triggered a government crisis, but Python was skillful enough to open the political game with an offer to the free-minded minority who would each have a seat in the State Council (Weissenbach), in the Cantonal Court (Uldry) and on the Board of Directors of the State Bank (Liechti ) received.

Bossy retired to his La Chassotte estate, which he and his sister Antoinette owned in undivided heirs. To let grass grow over the affair, he often stayed in Lucerne and Vevey. There he died of a heart attack on March 12, 1913 at the age of 69.

literature

• Georges Andrey , John Clerc, Jean-Pierre Dorand et Nicolas Gex: The Freiburg Council of State: 1848–2011. History, organization, members . Editions La Sarine, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-2-88355-153-4 .

Web links

• Christine Fracheboud and MF: Bossy, Aloys. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .