Bernhard Hammer (politician)

Bernhard Hammer in 1889

Bernhard Hammer (* 3. March 1822 in Olten , † 6. April 1907 in Solothurn , heimatberechtigt in Olten) was a Swiss politician , lawyer , judge , officer and diplomat . He initially embarked on a legal career and later worked as a career officer and as envoy in the German Reich. In December 1875 he became a representative of the liberal center (today's FDP ) in the Federal Councilelected and belonged to this until 1890. In his 15-year tenure, he was almost continuously in front of the finance department. From 1890 to 1896 he was a member of the National Council , then, among other things, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Gotthard Railway Company .

biography

Studies, profession and canton politics

He was the son of Josef Bernhard Hammer, the landlord of the "Halbmond" inn in Olten, and of Virginia Madeux. After finishing school in his home town, Hammer attended the college (grammar school) in Solothurn , where he joined the Zofingia student association . He first studied physics and natural history at the University of Geneva . This was followed by studies of law and philosophy at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg im Breisgau , at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Berlin and at the University of Zurich . In Freiburg he was a member of the Corps Helvetia.

In 1844 Hammer received a patent from the Canton of Solothurn as a lawyer and notary , in 1846 he settled in the city of Solothurn and opened his own law firm there, in addition to which he was the governor of the Solothurn-Lebern office. In 1853 he married Gertrud Jäggi from Leuzigen , and as a Catholic he married a Reformed woman, which was unusual at the time. In the same year he was elected President of the Bucheggberg-Kriegstetten District Court . From 1856 to 1868 Hammer was a member of the Solothurn Cantonal Council and, as the leader of the old liberals, was in opposition to the ruling radicals around Wilhelm Vigier . For this reason, he had to resign from his office as president of the court after three years.

Military and diplomacy

Bernhard Hammer in 1868

In addition to his job and politics, Hammer also pursued a military career. As an officer he took part in the Sonderbund War in November 1847 . In 1858 he was promoted to major and in 1862 to colonel . Due to the protection of the later General Hans Herzog , he was given the post of artillery chief instructor in 1861. This task occupied him in full every summer, which is why he moved to Thun and sold his shares in a private bank that he had co-founded in 1856. As a result, he acquired extensive military expertise.

Federal Councilor Jakob Dubs appointed him envoy in Berlin in 1868 . The appointment came as a surprise, but Hammer was considered a proven military expert, which was an advantage in Prussia . Hammer took up the new task in the autumn of the same year and built up diplomatic relations between Switzerland and the German states. The diplomatic post turned out to be financially rewarding for him, especially since he earned twice as much as the Federal President . After the establishment of the German Empire , he was able to conclude numerous transactions by 1876, including a trade agreement and several agreements in the rail and postal system.

Federal Council

At the end of 1875 four federal councilors had announced their resignation. Their successors were determined on December 10th, whereby the election of the seventh member was very controversial: The French-speaking radicals could not agree on a common candidate and split their forces, and the radicals from German-speaking Switzerland were also at odds. Candidates were Numa Droz and Jules Philippin from Neuchâtel , Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel from Geneva, who had been voted out in 1872 , Gustav Adolf Saxer from St. Gallen and Louis de Weck-Reynold from Freiburg, a conservative Catholic . Hammer, who had never been a member of the National Council or the Council of States, received support from the Liberal Center. The first three ballots resulted in a stalemate with only minor differences. But then the Catholic Conservatives withdrew their candidate and supported the hammer, who had previously placed last, because he had always rejected the Kulturkampf and was acceptable due to his mediating role. He immediately took the lead and achieved 85 of 169 valid votes in the fifth ballot (61 votes were for Droz and 23 for Saxer). For the first time ever, French-speaking Switzerland was represented by just one Federal Council.

From January 1, 1876, Hammer headed the Finance and Customs Department , which at that time had little prestige due to the small number of competencies. However, this changed over the course of time, as the total revision of the Federal Constitution, adopted two years earlier, gave the federal government numerous new tasks. Hammer took over a considerable deficit from his predecessor Wilhelm Matthias Naeff . He managed to compensate for this by 1878 with new tariffs, the taking up of federal bonds and a consistent austerity policy. After that, he was able to show a surplus every year. In 1879, he temporarily headed the Political Department for a year , as, according to the rules of the time, as Federal President he was also Foreign Minister. Although his political work was widely recognized, his position was still in jeopardy because he had no political power and was considered an outsider. In 1881 he had to assert himself against Wilhelm Vigier, his Solothurn rival, and was re-elected with just one vote above the absolute majority. In 1884 and 1887 it was the last to be confirmed.

During Hammer's term of office, the introduction of the military substitute , the banknote law and a revised coin law were introduced. He also prepared the banknote monopoly of the federal government and the establishment of the National Bank (which did not come into being until 1906). In 1887 the newly created Federal Alcohol Administration was subordinated to the finance department. In 1889, Hammer was Federal President for a second time, when he acted on behalf of the late Wilhelm Hertenstein from November 27th until the end of the year . Since Numa Droz firmly claimed the political department for himself, he did not have to give up his ancestral department.

Family grave. Cemetery Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus

further activities

Three years after the death of his first wife, Hammer married the merchant's daughter Anna Froelicher in 1884 at the age of 62, with whom he had two children. After 15 years in office, he resigned as Federal Councilor on December 31, 1888 in excellent health. However, he remained politically active, ran successfully in the parliamentary elections in 1890 and entered the National Council . Hammer brought his administrative and financial experience to parliament and presided over the State Accounts Commission. In 1891 he was a member of the commission that prepared trade agreements with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary . Two years later he was re-elected, if only just barely. To avoid an impending election defeat, he finally withdrew from politics in 1896.

Hammer was also represented on the boards of several important companies. These include the Centralbahn , the Gotthardbahn-Gesellschaft and the Solothurner Kantonalbank . 1901/1902 he led the Gotthard Railway Company as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

He found his final resting place at the Church of St. Niklaus in the Feldbrunnen-St. Niklaus .

literature

• Urs Altermatt : Bernhard Hammer . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 157-162 .

Web links

Commons : Bernhard Hammer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Thomas Wallner: Hammer, Bernhard. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Bernhard Hammer (politician) in the archive database of the Swiss Federal Archives
• Documents by and about Hammer, Bernhard in the Dodis database of Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Altermatt: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 157.
2. ↑ Kösener corps lists 1910, 46, 12
3. ^ Altermatt: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 158.
4. ^ Altermatt: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 158-159.
5. ^ Altermatt: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 159-160.
6. ^ Altermatt: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 160.
7. ^ Altermatt: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 160-161.
8. ^ Altermatt: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 161.

predecessor	Office	successor
Eugène Borel	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1876–1890	Emil Frey
Joachim Heer	Swiss envoy in Berlin 1871–1876	Arnold Roth