Emile Savoy

Emile Savoy

Emile Savoy (born May 6, 1877 in Attalens , Vivisbach district , † January 26, 1935 in Friborg ) was a Swiss politician and State Councilor of the canton of Friborg .

He was Catholic and from Attalens . His parents were Basile Savoy, organ builder and organist, and Antoinette nee. Perroud. He married Gabrielle Pierlot, von Bertrix ( Belgium ), daughter of an important industrialist.

Emile Savoy attended St. Michael's College , where he befriended Jean-Marie Musy . He studied two semesters Law at the University of Freiburg (1900) and then continued his studies in Leuven continued (1901-1904). There he obtained a doctorate in law (1903) and a licentiate in political and social sciences (1904). In this department he wrote a second doctoral thesis on the apprenticeship system in Switzerland (1910). During his stay in Belgium, he worked as the private secretary to the Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies. In addition, he taught economic policy at the trade school in Bertrix and worked for several newspapers. Emile Savoy always had close ties to Belgium and cultivated lasting relationships with local Catholic politicians and intellectuals.

After Freiburg returned, he worked as a supervisor in apprenticeships (1904), Judge of the District Court Saane (1905), chief official of the Glane district (1905), and Bailiff of La Gruyère active (1907). On April 8, 1913, with Musy's support , he was elected to the Council of State against the candidate Georges Pythons , the Freiburg mayor Ernest de Weck . As the successor to Louis Weck , he headed the Police and Health Directorate (1913-1916) and dealt in particular with the reform of the prison system (1915). The Bellechasse agricultural institution became the cantonal prison center; its administration and structure were reorganized to encourage re-education of the convicts through an increased workload.

During the war , Emile Savoy was responsible for supplying the canton. Outside of his public offices, he founded and headed the Freiburg Aid Committee for Belgian Refugees. Because of his ties to Belgium, he was accused of espionage in 1916: the Germans claimed that he had acted as a middleman between Belgium and France under the guise of the Aid Committee. Although it was difficult to determine the precise circumstances of this "Savoy Affair" in a context determined by the war and a moral divide, it assumed a national dimension.

To calm the situation, Savoy took advantage of Fernand Torche's resignation to move to the management of home affairs, agriculture, trade and industry on May 23, 1916. He now devoted himself to the development of agriculture, which he saw as the basis of any healthy economy. Convinced that education was the best guarantee for progress, he founded the Agricultural Institute Grangeneuve and the Agricultural Home Economics School (1919) with the help of the Agricultural Education Act. He was personally committed to the standardization and restructuring of agriculture by presiding over the Freiburg Agricultural Association and the Agricultural Cooperative Association. He also founded the conservative magazine Le Paysan fribourgeois (1920), which campaigned for the interests of farmers. Even if he was seen as the father of modern agriculture in Freiburg, his ideas were occasionally shaped by a clinging to the past, which was particularly expressed in his ideas of self-sufficiency and home work. Savoy worked for farmers on the French-speaking part of Switzerland (Fédération des sociétés romandes d'agriculture), nationally (Board of Directors of the Swiss Farmers' Association ) and international level (International Agriculture Commission).

In accordance with the Church's social doctrine, he worked to protect those most in need. He drew up a law on welfare and welfare (1928) and a law on unemployment insurance (1928, revised in 1932). He was also the author of a draft law on the corporate organization of professions (1934), which was passed by the Grand Council, but never promulgated .

After Python's loss of power and Musy's resignation, Savoy became the strong man of the State Council, which he presided over four times (1916, 1920, 1926, 1933). He advocated greater centralization of administration and politics. He sat on the Grand Council as a representative of the Vivisbach district (1915–1925) until the accumulation of offices was banned. In addition, he exercised another political double mandate: as Python's successor, he was elected to the Council of States in 1920, to which he was a member until 1935 and which he presided over in 1928. In Bern he made a name for himself in agricultural and social issues. He was also active on various levels in the governing bodies of the Conservative People's Party: as Vice President of the Freiburg Cantonal Council and as a member of the Swiss Central Board. He was also a member of the New Helvetic Society . More than his oratorical talent, Savoy was convincing through his workforce and his expertise. Numerous lectures and publications documented his interest and knowledge in the areas in which he worked. Among other things, he wrote the writings L'ouvrier chocolatier à Broc en 1908 (1913), Essai de politique agraire fribourgeoise (1919) and Paupérisme et bienfaisance (1922). At the moment of his death, he was writing a wide-ranging treatise entitled L'agriculture à travers les âges.

At the age of 57, Emile Savoy died on January 26, 1935 in Freiburg while exercising his political office.

literature

• Georges Andrey , John Clerc, Jean-Pierre Dorand et Nicolas Gex: The Freiburg Council of State: 1848–2011. History, organization, members . Editions La Sarine, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-2-88355-153-4 .

Web links

• Michel Charrière and AHB: Savoy, Emile. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Emile Savoy on the website of the Federal Assembly