Emil Frei (politician)

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Emil Frei (born July 1, 1897 in Horgen , † December 6, 1987 in Winterthur , reformed , later non-denominational, entitled to live in Eglisau and Winterthur) was a Swiss teacher and politician (SP) .

Life

Emil Frei was born the son of the carpenter Wilhelm Frei. He attended elementary school in his native Horgen . From 1913 to 1917 he attended the teachers' college in Küsnacht and was then elected primary school teacher in Wülflingen in 1923 . In 1928 he was elected to the Grand City Council for the Social Democratic Party (SP) .

In 1930 he stopped working as a primary school teacher and, at the suggestion of the SP City Council , was responsible for the school system and thus head of the education authority in Winterthur. From 1946 until his resignation in 1962 he was deputy chairman of the city council.

From 1932 to 1940 he was Cantonal Councilor of Zurich and from 1939 to 1963 National Councilor .

From 1948 he became involved in the Pro Juventute Foundation , which campaigned for the support of families and for children's rights. There he was President of the Foundation Commission and Vice President of the Foundation Council from 1958 until he left these functions in 1971.

As a member appointed by the National Council, he was a member of the Swiss Natural Research Society from 1960 .

He had been married to Pauline (née Theiler) since 1924 and died on December 6, 1987 in Winterthur.

Services and positions

Emil Frei shaped the school system in Winterthur. He tried to promote pupils according to their individual talents through teaching reforms and also considered social aspects. He founded the parents' school as a forerunner of educational counseling. He has written numerous articles and essays on education.

After the Second World War, mothers' employment increased in Switzerland too. In 1957, Frei was of the opinion that juvenile delinquency was a direct consequence of female employment. From the beginning of the 1950s Frei had politically fought against the employment of mothers. He saw in this a reason for the neglect of children. He criticized that the fathers could no longer earn enough to support the family on their own. It must be taken into account that the sole-earner marriage was the political consensus in Switzerland at that time. Frei justified his demands with psychological advantages for the child if it was constantly cared for by the mother. He also implemented this in practice and recorded it as a success that two of his day care center managers had succeeded in persuading a total of eleven mothers to give up paid work.

Frei was primarily responsible for establishing the state-organized training for parents. In Winterthur there were mothers' schools founded by socialist and bourgeois women since 1943, which from 1951 also held courses for men. Together with the head of the youth welfare office, Frei founded the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Elternschulung” in 1952, which coordinated and organized the courses and was active in the training and further education of the course instructors. This model served as a model for other cantons and was adopted by them. Frei saw the need particularly in the fact that the modern consumer society with the then new appearances of radio, advertising and films as well as the easier availability of stimulants such as alcohol and cigarettes made raising children much more difficult than before. In the parents' school he saw an equal education as important for the fathers as educators. At the same time he hoped to prevent the breakdown of marriages through parenting schools.

When the newspaper Blick first appeared in 1959 , Frei complained in parliament about magazines "dealing with corruption and scandal affairs as well as slippery subjects of all kinds". The Federal Council then promised to tighten customs controls.

Works

  • Abused maternal power or The gainful employment of mothers and their consequences. Cooperative bookstore Winterthur, 1941.
  • The parent school. Shown on the basis of Winterthur experience since 1943. Verlag des Schulamt der Stadt Winterthur, 1957.

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Markus Bürgi: Frei, Emil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ↑ a b Short biography on winterthur-glossar.ch. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  3. ↑ From the negotiations of the Federal Council. February 12, 1960. In: Official publications (PDF; 132 kB).
  4. ↑ André Woodtli: "Being restless" as a working principle. Greetings at the conference “When small children need help. A look at the child, its environment and the necessary measures »by the Children's Hospital Zurich from June 27, 2013 (PDF; 77 kB).
  5. ↑ Chantal Magnin: The sole breadwinner. A reconstruction of the gender order in the context of the socio-political discussion from 1945 to 1960 in Switzerland. In: Swiss Society for Economic and Social History. Issue 18/2002, doi : 10.5169 / seals-17270 .
  6. ^ Office for Youth and Careers Advice Canton Zurich (Ed.): Between Professionalism and Political Trials. Youth welfare in the Canton of Zurich 1918–2008. Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich, 2008, p. 29/30 (PDF; 4.9 MB).
  7. ↑ Rolf App: Challenging restart. ( Memento from October 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: St. Galler Tagblatt . November 2, 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Free, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician (SP)
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Horgen
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1987
Place of death Winterthur