Ami Girard

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Monument in La Chaux-de-Fonds in honor of Ami Girard and Fritz Courvoisier

Ami Girard (born February 6, 1819 in Chézard-Saint-Martin , † April 10, 1900 in Renan ) was a Swiss politician and officer . He was one of the military leaders of the revolution of 1848 in Canton Neuchâtel , which led to the end of Prussian rule. From 1860 to 1869 he was a member of the National Council.

biography

He grew up in Renan in the French-speaking part of the canton of Bern , where his father Jean-Frédéric Girard and his mother Marie Mauley ran an inn. This is where the radically liberal exiles, who had been banished from the canton of Neuchâtel after the failed anti- Prussian uprising in 1831 , often met for meetings. Girard completed commercial training in Lörrach and Biel , but then embarked on a military career. As an artillery officer, he was involved in the federal occupation of the Catholic parts of the canton of Aargau in 1842 after the abolition of the monasteries , and in 1845 in the free march against Lucerne . Like his friend Fritz Courvoisier , he fought in a Bern regiment in 1847 during the Sonderbund War .

Girard learned at the beginning of 1848 that the Neuchâtel radical liberals were planning to overthrow the monarchist government of the Prussian governor Ernst von Pfuel . As a lieutenant in the infantry, he gathered volunteers from the Vallon de Saint-Imier and went with them on February 29 to La Chaux-de-Fonds . There they joined forces with the rebel leader Courvoisier on the early morning of March 1st. Thereupon around 500 to 600 men moved to Neuchâtel , where they occupied Neuchâtel Castle that evening , disempowered the government and declared the canton a republic. A few days later, Girard, at the head of 1,500 insurgents, disarmed the royalists who had fled to La Sagne , Les Ponts-de-Martel and Le Locle .

Girard was then involved in drafting the new cantonal constitution. Also in 1848 he was elected to the Grand Council , to which he belonged until 1854. At the same time he served as governor of La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1851/52 and as councilor of state (head of the military and building department) in 1852/53 . Promoted to major in 1853 , Girard was appointed commander in chief of the armed forces of La Chaux-de-Fonds three years later and was involved in the suppression of the royalist uprising . Although he had moved back to Renan in the Bernese Jura, he represented the canton of Neuchâtel in the National Council from 1860 to 1860 . From 1859 to 1869 he was also a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern . 1860 Girard was appointed lieutenant colonel promoted in 1867 to the Supreme . In 1880 he commanded the 4th Landwehr Brigade .

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personal data
SURNAME Girard, Ami
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician and officer
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Chézard-Saint-Martin
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1900
Place of death Renan BE