Arthur Hoffmann (politician)

Arthur Hoffmann

Arthur Hoffmann (born June 19, 1857 in St. Gallen ; † July 23, 1927 there ; entitled to live in St. Gallen) was a Swiss politician ( FDP ) and lawyer . In addition to his professional activity, he was a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of St. Gallen from 1886 to 1911 and chaired it three times. In 1896 he was elected to the Council of States by the Grand Council , which he chaired as President of the Council of States in 1902/03 . At the national level, he played a leading role in the deliberations on the Civil Code and the Code of Obligations . 1911 elected him Federal Assembly as a successor to the late Ernst Brenner in the Bundesrat . Hoffmann initially headed the Justice and Police Department , and from 1912 the Military Department .

In 1914 Hoffmann served as Federal Councilor and in the same year took over the management of the Political Department . He was regarded as the dominant figure within the Bundesrat college - an impression that intensified after the outbreak of the First World War . Driven by personal ambition and the desire to make a name for himself internationally as a peacemaker, he conducted secret diplomacy without the knowledge of his government colleagues and made several attempts at mediation between the warring states. When he tried in 1917 to negotiate a separate peace between the German Reich and the provisional Russian government on the Eastern Front together with the social democratic politician Robert Grimm , he was exposed. The Grimm-Hoffmann affair caused an international scandal and forced him to resign immediately.

biography

Family, studies and work

Hoffmann came from a highly respected family of lawyers with roots in the German city of Frankfurt am Main . He was the youngest of five children of the politician Karl Hoffmann (1820–1895), who after his naturalization in 1844 rose to the Council of States of the Canton of St. Gallen and was elected to the Federal Council in 1881 , but refused the election. The mother Sabine Elisabeth Steinlin was the daughter of a St. Gallen manufacturer. Arthur Hoffmann experienced a carefree youth in a wealthy, upper-class family and graduated from the St. Gallen Cantonal School . The member of the school association Rhetorika was small in stature and introverted, but also headstrong. Since he did not like the high-profile student life, he later did not join a student association , although that was common at the time.

Originally Hoffmann wanted to be a Reformed pastor. He then began but, influenced by his father, jurisprudence to study. He visited the universities of Geneva , Munich , Leipzig and Strasbourg one after the other . In 1880 he graduated from the University of Zurich with a doctorate. He then joined his father's law firm and began working as a lawyer . In 1884 he married Frieda Clementine Moosherr, the daughter of a doctor from St. Gallen. The marriage resulted in two daughters and a son. In the Swiss Army he rose to the rank of colonel until 1899 .

Cantonal and federal politics

Hoffmann benefited from his father's prestige and began his own political career in 1884 when he founded the Liberal Association of the City of St. Gallen and was elected President. In 1890, he incorporated the association into the new Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) of the canton of St. Gallen. He then headed it until 1905. He was also a member of the central board of the Swiss FDP from 1894 to 1907. At the local level, he was a member of the accounting commission and the school community. He was elected to the Grand Council in 1886 - the same year that his father presided over this body. Hoffmann then belonged to the cantonal legislature for a quarter of a century, earning an excellent reputation as a member of the State Economic Commission. In addition, from 1887 to 1890 he was involved in drafting a new cantonal constitution. He presided over the Grand Council in 1892, 1898 and 1904.

In August 1902 Hoffmann ran for the government council , but was defeated by the Catholic-Conservative candidate Anton Messmer , who had been supported by the Democrats and Social Democrats . On May 20, 1896, the Grand Council elected Hoffmann to the Council of States, almost six years after his father's resignation. At the federal level, he was characterized by great diligence. He belonged to no fewer than 84 commissions, of which he presided over 22. In particular, he played a key role in ensuring that the Council of States passed the Code of Obligations and the Civil Code . He was also the rapporteur for the military commission. He also commented regularly on questions of transport and social policy. In 1902/03 he was President of the Council of States .

First years in the Federal Council

Arthur Hoffmann (right) with the German Kaiser Wilhelm II during the imperial maneuver (1912)

After the death of Ernst Brenner , a seat in the Federal Council became vacant. Hoffmann, who enjoyed exceptional esteem in all political camps, was the only notable candidate for his successor. The election on April 4, 1911 by the Federal Assembly was purely a matter of form: In the single ballot he received 186 of 192 valid votes. To date, a Federal Council with a better result has never been elected. Five weeks after the swearing in, he took over the management of the Justice and Police Department on May 8th . In this function he carried out enforcement measures for the introduction of the civil code and the code of obligations, both of which came into force at the beginning of 1912. He also set up a commission of experts to standardize criminal law.

Hoffmann exercised a dominant influence in the Federal Council from the start. Biographer Paul Widmer writes that “nobody could hold a candle to him” - only with Edmund Schulthess , who himself had a great urge for recognition, there were repeated arguments. On January 1, 1912, Hoffmann moved to the military department . As defense minister, he worked out guidelines for senior troop commanders and enforced a military insurance policy in parliament that covered the cost of accidents while on duty. In September 1912 he accompanied the German Kaiser Wilhelm II during the imperial maneuver in Toggenburg . When the international situation began to worsen as a result of the first Balkan War , he ordered measures a month later to ensure that the army and the population were supplied with bread in the event of a war. He was positive about military observer missions because he hoped to draw conclusions about the correctness of his own measures.

Foreign Minister

The Federal Assembly elected Hoffmann as Federal President for 1914 with 180 out of 185 votes . As has been customary since the founding of the federal state (with the exception of the years 1888 to 1896), this also included heading the Political Department . He would have been foreign minister for the duration of his presidential year and then returned to the military department. The law on the organization of federal administration passed by parliament in March 1914 put an end to this tradition. It stipulated that all international tasks would be withdrawn from the other departments and transferred to the Political Department. Thus the foreign minister was no longer purely representative and there was no longer any reason to change the incumbent every year.

As Federal President, Hoffmann opened the Swiss National Exhibition 1914 in Bern on May 15 . Two and a half months later the First World War broke out and the government ordered the mobilization on August 1st . The Federal Assembly also had to elect a general . Theophil Sprecher von Bernegg was the clear favorite for the post . Behind the scenes, however, Hoffmann vigorously advocated Ulrich Wille , who was very controversial, especially in French-speaking Switzerland and among the Social Democrats , due to his open sympathy for the German Reich , his tough line in disciplinary questions and his authoritarian state ideas . The Federal President did not shy away from intrigues, but there were several reasons for his attitude: He was counting on a quick German victory, had served as a reserve officer and was convinced of his abilities. Before the neutrality commission he stated that the emperor had fully recognized the neutrality of Switzerland ; In addition, it was Willes' credit that the Germans believed that Switzerland had a strong enough army to defend itself. In the general election of August 3, 1914 , Wille finally received almost twice as many votes as spokesman.

During the war, Hoffmann pursued two different types of foreign policy. In public he upheld Switzerland's unconditional neutrality and did not protest when the Germans overran neutral Belgium . He was active in the field of humanitarian aid , which included helping the seriously wounded or those who were being repatriated. Driven by personal ambition and the desire to make a name for himself internationally as a peacemaker, he also practiced secret diplomacy - without ever informing his Federal Council colleagues. By February 1917, Hoffmann made four unsuccessful attempts at mediation, of which the public did not find out and in which he was able to shift responsibility to local diplomats. As the Post and Railway Minister Ludwig Forrer noted in his notes, Hoffmann moved more and more away from the principle of collegiality . He acted on his own authority in certain matters, often insufficiently, too late or not at all to inform the other Federal Councilors, and repeatedly failed to respond to suggestions from others in government meetings.

Diplomatic affair and resignation

→ Main article : Grimm-Hoffmann affair

With Hoffmann's approval, the social democratic politician Robert Grimm traveled via Stockholm to the Russian capital Petrograd in May 1917 to negotiate with the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky about the return of Russian exiles who had found refuge in Switzerland. He also strove for a separate peace on the Eastern Front between Russia and the German Reich in order to secure the February Revolution . Hoffmann shared this intention, albeit for a different reason: he was convinced that Switzerland had an “emergency right to peace” and that it was entitled to strive for peace in any case. Grimm was commissioned to sound out Kerensky's intentions. On May 26th he announced in a telegram that there was a need for peace, but that it depended on the German war aims. On June 3, 1917, Hoffmann replied in a handwritten and encrypted dispatch that the Germans were not planning any offensive, had no territorial claims and the prospects for peace were good. In doing so, he relied on contacts in the German legation.

On June 16, the text of Hoffmann's telegram appeared in the party newspaper of the Swedish Social Democrats. Whoever had committed the indiscretion has never been fully clarified. It is presumed that the porter of the Swiss legation had handed the text to the French armaments minister Albert Thomas . The breakdown of secret diplomacy caused a political scandal. The Entente powers interpreted the events as one-sided partisanship for the Central Powers , and the British government in particular accused Switzerland of breaching neutrality. In Switzerland there was a lack of understanding about Hoffmann's unauthorized actions. Politicians from French-speaking Switzerland, who had been convinced of the German-friendliness of the government and the army leadership at least since the Obersten Affair in 1916, saw themselves confirmed. At the Federal Council meeting on June 18, Hoffmann announced his resignation. He had acted as a private individual, which is why he was ready to take the consequences. The next day, Federal President Schulthess informed the public of this and added that the entire Federal Council officially distanced itself from him. Nobody had knowledge of the foreign minister's action and it would not have been approved otherwise. Hoffmann's attitude, however, was above all doubt.

further activities

Hoffmann moved back to St. Gallen and began working as a lawyer there again. His hometown, the center of the embroidery industry , has been going through a severe economic crisis since the beginning of the war. The Association of Swiss Embroidery Exporters elected Hoffmann as its President. This task was very labor-intensive: he agreed new employment contracts with the commercial employees of the embroidery industry, set tariffs for the suppliers and was involved in the negotiations on the eight-hour day. In 1922 the Federal Council commissioned him with the preparatory work for the revision of parts of the Code of Obligations. In 1925 he had to undergo bowel surgery, but made a good recovery. Two years later he fell ill again and finally died on July 23, 1927 at the age of 70.

literature

• Paul Ehinger: Arthur Hoffmann . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 250-256 .
• Paul Widmer : Federal Councilor Arthur Hoffmann. Rise and fall . NZZ Libro, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-03810-253-3 .
• Paul Stauffer : The Hoffmann / Grimm Affair . In: Swiss monthly books . tape 53 , no. 1 . SMH-Verlag, Zurich April 1973, p. 1–30 (special supplement) .

Web links

• Marcel Mayer: Hoffmann, Arthur. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2017 .
• Arthur Hoffmann in the Dodis databaseof diplomatic documents in Switzerland

Individual evidence

1. ^ Marcel Mayer: Hofmann, Karl. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2006 .
2. ^ ^{A b c} Marc Tribelhorn: The Icarus of Swiss politics. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 5, 2017, accessed on May 19, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Ehinger: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 250.
4. ^ Ehinger: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 250-251.
5. ^ Ehinger: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 251.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Ehinger: Das Bundesratlexikon. Pp. 251-252.
7. ^ Ehinger: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 252.
8. ↑ Madeleine Herren-Oesch : Back doors to power . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-56431-5 , p. 232 .
9. ^ ^{A b} Philip Rosin: Arthur Hoffmann - size and tragedy. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 8, 2018, accessed on May 19, 2019 . 
10. ^ Daniel spokesman: The general election of August 3, 1914 . In: Swiss History Journal . tape 52 , 2002, p. 172 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-81308 .
11. ↑ ^{a b} Ehinger: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 253.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Erik Ebneter: Just save the world for a moment. Basler Zeitung , September 21, 2017, accessed on May 19, 2019 . 
13. ^ Stauffer: The Hoffmann / Grimm Affair. P. 13
14. ^ Stauffer: The Hoffmann / Grimm Affair. P. 2.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Ehinger: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 254.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ernst Brenner	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1911–1917	Gustave Ador