August von Gonzenbach

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August von Gonzenbach

August von Gonzenbach (born May 12, 1808 in St. Gallen , † September 29, 1887 in Muri near Bern ) was a Swiss politician and historian . From 1852 to 1860 and from 1866 to 1875 he was a member of the National Council.

biography

He was the son of the wealthy businessman Carl August Gonzenbach , who later became mayor of St. Gallen. From 1818 von Gonzenbach attended the educational institute of Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg in Hofwil near Münchenbuchsee , one of his classmates was Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger . In 1824 he moved to the grammar school in St. Gallen, from 1826 he studied law at the universities of Basel and Jena . During his studies he became a member of the Jenaische Burschenschaft / Arminia in 1830 . The member of Zofingia received his doctorate in 1831 and was then a public prosecutor in the canton of St. Gallen . In 1833 he was elected to the St. Gallen Grand Council and sent by it to the assembly that was meeting in Zurich . On October 15, 1833, the Ordinance of Gonzenbach elected Federal State Clerk and thus the direct subordinate of Federal Chancellor Josef Franz Karl Amrhyn .

Von Gonzenbach gave up his seat on the Grand Council, relocated to the Canton of Bern and bought the Aarwyl estate in Muri near Bern . As a result, he was entrusted with the preparation of the most important protocols and files of the Confederation at numerous historical events, for example during the Züriputsches of 1839, the Aargau monastery dispute of 1841 and the disputes about the Sonderbund from 1845. During this time, von Gonzenbach published several historical ones and commercial law treatises in which he identified himself as a supporter of free trade . Because of his conservative sentiments, he came under increasing pressure from the radical liberal delegates to the Diet and was not re-elected in June 1847.

In 1850 Gonzenbach was elected to the Bernese Grand Council , of which he was a member until 1874. In the canton parliament he was considered one of the leading representatives of the conservatives. In 1851 he wrote the investigation report of the majority of the commission on the "treasure money affair". In it, contrary to the opinion of the radical minority of the Commission, he came to the conclusion that the Bern state treasure had actually been stolen by the French and not by the patricians in 1798 . In the military, von Gonzenbach last had the rank of lieutenant colonel , and later he officiated as chief auditor .

Von Gonzenbach ran unsuccessfully in the first National Council elections in October 1848 in the canton of St. Gallen, and also three years later . In a by-election in January 1852 in the constituency of Bern-Mittelland , he finally succeeded in entering the National Council . In the National Council elections in 1860 he lost his mandate, in February 1866 he won another by-election in Bern-Mittelland. He advocated the construction of railways by private companies, as well as the unification of the law. Although he himself was Reformed, he sided with the Catholic Conservatives during the Kulturkampf . When he was in 1875 by Pope Pius IX. was received in an audience, this caused a sensation, in the elections in October of the same year he lost his mandate for good.

Von Gonzenbach then devoted himself increasingly to historical studies and was President of the Historical Association of the Canton of Bern from 1876 to 1882 . His biography of General Johann Ludwig von Erlach , published in 1880, received special attention .

Works

  • Representation of the trade relations between Switzerland and France in 1840 (1842) Google digitized version
  • About the trade relations between Switzerland and the German customs union states during the year 1840 , Lucerne 1845 Google digitized
  • About the English tariff reform (1846)
  • Representation of the trade relations between Switzerland and Austria in the years 1840 and 1845 (1847) Google digitized
  • Contributions to the declaration of the incorporation of part of Savoy into Swiss neutrality (1859)
  • The Swiss delegation to the peace congresses in Münster and Osnabrück (1879)
  • General Hans Ludwig von Erlach von Castelen, a picture of life and character from the time of the Thirty Years War (1880)
  • On the validity of the arbitrator's ruling from Lausanne of October 30, 1564 (1886)

literature

  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians, Part 7: Supplement A – K, Winter, Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-8253-6050-4 . Pp. 387-389.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gonzenbach, August von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Gallen
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1887
Place of death Muri near Bern