Christian Clavadetscher

Christian Clavadetscher

Christian Clavadetscher (born September 24, 1897 in Maienfeld , † October 23, 1980 in Aarau ; resident in Malans and from 1957 in Dagmersellen ) was a Swiss politician ( FDP ). He was a federal parliamentarian for 28 years, namely from 1943 to 1955 National Council and from 1955 to 1971 Council of States ; he presided over the small chamber in 1968/69.

Career

Christian Clavadetscher came to Maienfeld, near his home town in Graubünden, Malans, as the son of Rageth and Elisabeth born. Basement to the world. Both parents came from the peasant class and both had trained to be teachers. They ran an institution and estate in Landquart . Shortly before the turn of the century, the family moved to Altstätten in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley, where they were entrusted with the management of the Protestant orphanage school and the associated farm. Christian grew up with two sisters and three brothers in a family community with the orphans cared for by his parents.

He received basic training as a farmer from 1914 to 1916 at the Rütti agricultural year school near Bern. Further training took place in apprenticeship and traveling years on farms in western Switzerland, Ticino, Germany, Holland, Austria and Italy and as a specialist student at the agricultural department of the ETH Zurich .

Iwan Bally (1876–1965), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bally shoe factories and Council of States of the Canton of Solothurn entrusted Christian Clavadetscher with the management of the Niederhommel estate in Neuenkirch, Lucerne . He held this position for 10 years and took an active part in public life. From 1931 to 1944 he was the commercial manager of the Aecherli agricultural machinery factory in Reiden . In 1935 he acquired the farm home of his in-laws, Gottfried and Marie Spreuermann-Wanner, in Dagmersellen, which he managed with his family until 1953. He lived in Dagmersellen for 40 years, where he also acquired citizenship in 1957. He was president of the Unterdorf cheese cooperative.

Agricultural politician

During the short period of his residence in Reiden, the presidium of the Reformed parish and the construction of a new Protestant church fell. In 1943 he was - unexpectedly - elected as a liberal (free-thinking) to the National Council, to which he belonged for 12 years as a member of the radical democratic (free-thinking) parliamentary group. He was an agricultural politician and therefore worked in many cantonal and Swiss agricultural committees and organizations: cattle show expert, hail insurance expert, cantonal cattle show commission (President), boar rearing station Sedelhof in Emmenbrücke (head), animal breeding commission, association of Lucerne breeding cooperatives, etc. In 1959 he became an honorary member of the cantonal farmers' association Lucerne. From 1946 to 1967 Clavadetscher was president of the Lucerne cooperative for slaughtered cattle. For many years he was President of the Swiss Cattle Producers' Association and repeatedly Vice President of the Cooperative for Slaughter Cattle and Meat Supply (GSF), an organization under private law and as such an umbrella organization for the economic groups involved in the slaughter cattle and meat market. From 1946 to 1965 he was president of the breeding association for the refined country pig. He was president of the Swiss pig processing cooperative from 1954 to 1971. For years he was a member of the executive committee of the Swiss Farmers' Association . The real political breakthrough came in 1954 when Christian Clavadetscher, who had achieved good results in re-elections as a member of the National Council, served as the presidium of the organizing committee of the 11th Swiss Exhibition for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SLA) in Lucerne, known locally as Burelandi .

«Fresh ahead with Christian» - A man of the people

Even thirty years after his death, Christian Clavadetscher is remembered by the older generation for this campaign slogan. In 1871 the political change took place in the canton of Lucerne . The Catholic Conservatives took power. They ruled with an absolute majority. As a result, they consistently occupied both seats in the Council of States. After the successful Bauernlandi (Landi was the popular name of the national exhibition in 1939 ; this event and the word Landi was associated with a lot that was subsumed under spiritual national defense .) The Liberals saw a chance with what was popular far beyond party lines Christian Clavadetscher to break the supremacy of the conservatives. The Social Democrats and the State Ring of Independents let themselves be integrated into an alliance against the party, which ruled with an absolute majority. A fight for every vote began. In the first ballot, only the lawyer Peter Müller , who was running for the first time, was elected, while the re-election candidate for re-election outstripped the liberal candidate by only 200 votes and missed an absolute majority. Now the election campaign became historical , as all protagonists at the time called it and - as far as they are still alive - call it. The conservatives changed the candidate: They lifted the cantonal finance director, Government Councilor Werner Bühlmann , on the sign. The defeat in the first ballot was so close that it was a vigorous success for the united opposition in the Lucerne conditions that had been fixed for 80 years. The Christian Social National Councilor Alfons Müller-Marzohl wrote about this after the death of Christian Clavadetscher in the CVP party paper Vaterland :

«And now a struggle set in the likes of which one has never seen it since and how it can hardly be imagined today: old passions like over there were awakened, one fought as if it were about to be or not to be. And 90 percent of those eligible to vote (only male suffrage!) Were put to the polls. The winner was Christian Clavadetscher with a lead of 500 votes. ... Indescribable jubilation on the one hand, painful consternation on the other. - How did this victory come about? Without a doubt primarily due to Christian Clavadetscher's unusual personal characteristics: Anyone who came into contact with him was impressed by his genuine warmth. Whenever you met him in the Federal Palace or anywhere else, he would greet you as if you had been friends with him from your youth. And this warmth, which came from a pure soul, outshone all disputes after the fight and bridged every distance. So later he succeeded effortlessly in forgetting and making people forget the not entirely unadulterated days of struggle. That was not a matter of course, because in the bitter struggle for the second member of the Council of States, wounds and bumps were left on both sides. ... He was not at all interested in fundamental disputes in Bern. His focus was on agricultural policy, and here he worked well and happily with colleagues from all political groups. Christian Clavadetscher was actually a man of the people : friendly, approachable, benevolent and always ready to take on tasks in the public interest. ... In retrospect, the lesson to be learned is that Clavadetscher's victory relaxed politics in the canton of Lucerne in the long term. "

- Alfons Müller-Marzohl

Council of States, economic politician

For 16 years, Christian Clavadetscher, a native of Graubünden, practicing Evangelical Reformed and member of a minority party, was the professional representative of the Canton of Lucerne. The re-elections were always easy and with a large number of votes. In 1968/69 he was President of the Council of States . His election was celebrated in the Catholic Church of Dagmersellens with the warm participation of all citizens. He was a member of the Lucerne Cantonal Bank's Bank Council for 20 years and Vice-President for 10 years . President was the defeated rival candidate Werner Bühlmann. The collaboration between the two was frictionless. Clavadetscher willingly gave advice wherever he was asked; he was a member of the board of directors of medium-sized family businesses, but also of Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke and Lonza AG . For several years he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bell Maschinenfabrik AG Kriens .

military

Clavadetscher did military service during both border occupations. He completed the basic training from train recruits to lieutenants from 1916 to 1918. In the Second World War he served v. a. in the staff of the 4th Army Corps. In 1953 he completed his career as a lieutenant colonel and trainer in the 8th (Lucerne) division. As a military politician, he fought for the meaningful use of horses in the army. The military, politics and work were closely related to him.

family

When Christian Clavadetscher died on October 23, 1980, he was married to Gertrud Spreuermann (* 1906) for 54 years, who outlived him by 14 years. The spouses had three children and nine grandchildren.

literature

• Oskar Howald, Christian Clavadetscher, Rudolf Haeberli, Rudolf Howald: Die Bauernlandi in Lucerne: A commemorative work on the Swiss Exhibition for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SLA) in Lucerne 1954. Publishing house of the SLA, Lucerne 1955
• David Luginbühl: From a central organ to an independent daily newspaper? The Fatherland and the CVP 1955–1991. Academic Press Friborg, Freiburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7278-1577-5 ( Religion - Politics - Society in Switzerland. Vol. 45), pp. 70 ff.
• Swiss monthly agricultural journal. Volume 58, Benteli AG, Bern 1980, p. 536 ff.
• Die Grüne: Swiss agricultural magazine. Volume 108, Die Grüne, Zürich 1980, p. 4 ff.
• Peter Moser: The status of the farmers: rural politics, economy and culture yesterday and today. Huber, Frauenfeld 1994, ISBN 3-7193-1096-5 , p. 227 ff.
• Max Huber: History of the Political Press in the Canton of Lucerne 1914–1945. Rex-Verlag, Lucerne 1989, ISBN 3-7252-0529-9 ( Lucerne historical publications. Vol. 25), p. 216.
• Information from the Swiss Farmers' Secretariat. Issues 181–189, Verlag des Schweizerischen Bauernsekretariat, Brugg 1968, p. 20.

Web links

• Markus Trüeb: Clavadetscher, Christian. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

References and references

1. ↑ The Presidents of the Council of States since 1848 ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Federal Assembly.  
2. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Rütti Agricultural School , Archive for Agricultural History, AfA no. 140
3. ↑ Peter Heim : Bally, Iwan. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
4. ↑ Lucerne farmers' association LBV
5. ^ Peter Rieder, Urs Egger, Stefan Flückiger: Swiss agricultural markets. Verlag der Fachvereine at Swiss Universities and Techniques, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-7281-1751-X , p. 190.
6. ↑ Veredeltes Landschwein , website on Swiss agriculture, Swiss Farmers' Association .
7. ↑ Swiss Pig Verwertungsgenossenschaft , Archive for Agricultural History, AfA no. 342.
8. ^ Markus Trüeb: Müller [-Marzohl], Alfons. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
9. ↑ After the fight he worked for reconciliation. In: Fatherland. No. 250 of October 27, 1980.