Ernst Müller-Reiffer

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Ernst Müller-Reiffer (born September 13, 1885 in Laufen-Uhwiesen in the canton of Zurich ; † November 18, 1957 in Schaffhausen ) was a Swiss industrialist . From 1917 he held various management positions at Georg Fischer AG , including from 1930 as commercial director and most recently from 1953 as vice-chairman of the board of directors. In 1948 he founded the company's own iron library .

biography

Ernst Müller was born on September 13, 1885 in Uhwiesen, the son of the farmer and local councilor Jakob Müller-Witzig and Karoline Müller, née. Witzig, granddaughter of the painter Konrad Corradi . After finishing school in Uhwiesen, he completed an apprenticeship in banking in Yverdon . His dream jobs, geometer and forester, were denied to him, as both would have been associated with a long study. The family of seven could not afford this.

Career at Georg Fischer AG

In 1905, Müller joined Georg Fischer AG, where he was employed in the shipping and billing office. The following year he moved to the sales department as a correspondent for German and French. This professional station was followed by a stay abroad of several years: until 1910 in Manchester as a correspondent in mechanical engineering and then, in 1910/1911, in Milan in the fields of iron and coal trade as well as locomotive and wagon construction. On May 1, 1911 he returned to Schaffhausen.

In 1915 Müller published the article Economic Self-Assertion through Increased Domestic Sales of Domestic Products , in which he shed light on Switzerland's market economy, which was oppressed by the First World War . He pointed out the dangers of economic dependence on the one hand and the need for good relations for trade on the other.

In 1917, Müller took on management responsibility for the first time in the Georg Fischer Group: He was appointed commercial director of Georg Fischer Elektrostahlwerke AG in Schaffhausen and Elektrostahlwerke St. Gotthard AG, Giubiasco . In 1923, in addition to further responsibility for sales, he was given the power of attorney for the parent company. Another career step for Ernst Müller followed in 1925 when he took over the management of sales of cast steel , malleable cast iron , high carbon steel and wheels.

As part of restructuring in the company, Müller was appointed commercial director and member of the administrative board on January 1, 1930. A short time later, two trips to the United States followed.

The "Ernst Müller Room" in the Alt-Paradies Iron Library

In Müller, a declared friend of scientific research and promoter of culture, the idea of ​​founding a library matured under the impression of the library destruction during the Second World War . On December 21, 1948, the Board of Directors decided to found the iron library in Paradies Monastery , which had been owned by Georg Fischer AG since 1918.

In 1938 he took up the position of keeper of the minutes of the board of directors , and on May 11, 1940 he was promoted to member and delegate of the board of directors. Since 1946 as a member and since 1955 as chairman of the board of directors of the GF branch in Bedford , Ernst Müller was appointed vice- chairman of the board of directors of Georg Fischer AG in 1943.

Second World War

The dependence on raw material imports presented Switzerland with great challenges in the area of ​​industrial supply in the interwar years and especially during the Second World War. To counter this, the Federal Government set up the “Iron and Machinery Section of the War Industry and Labor Office ” (KIAA). She was responsible for maintaining Switzerland's iron and steel supply. Ernst Müller was appointed its chairman on November 5 and headed the section until it was dissolved on August 31, 1947.

In order to counteract the iron and steel shortage, the so-called " Scrap Commission " was set up, which organized systematic scrap and scrap iron collections across the country. By the end of the war, they were able to recycle over 900,000 tonnes of scrap iron and industrial scrap. This corresponded to a third of the consumption at that time.

As the creator of the so-called "iron miracle", Ernst Müller was thanked in a personal letter from Federal Councilor Walther Stampfli on August 7, 1947 . A little later he was elected to represent the Confederation in the Steel Commission of the European Economic Commission.

Other mandates and activities

Ernst Müller has been a member of the Board of Directors of Eisenbergwerk Gonzen AG in Sargans since 1938, and from 1955 as Vice President. He was on the board of directors of Jura-Bergwerke AG in Frick from 1946, and on the board of directors of the Swiss locomotive and machine factory in Winterthur from 1952.

From August 1947, Müller presided over the “Association of Swiss Scrap Consumers” (VSSV) and from July 1949 the IMATUFIA, the international association of malleable cast iron fitting producers. From June 1947 he held the office of quaestor in the “Employers' Association of Swiss Machine and Metal Manufacturers” (ASM), followed in October 1950 as an administrator in the Chambre de Commerce Suisse en France . He became a member of the Swiss Chamber of Commerce in September 1951.

From 1914 on, Ernst Müller became politically and economically active in the " New Helvetian Society " (NHG), of which he was one of the founders. Their aim was to protect the Swiss market from foreign imported goods, the number of which was rapidly increasing at the time. The company saw a strategy that served this goal in increasing domestic production. The so-called Swiss Abroad Day, which was held regularly, also goes back to his initiative.

Ernst Müller as a private person

Müller is described by his granddaughter Regine Strickler-Uzler as “an extremely loving grandpa, never without his beloved dog Nuschi, surrounded by the scent of his beloved tobacco pipe”. He was known to be fond of traveling and, according to his own statements, drew his strength from the family and his home «Hornbergli». According to contemporaries, Müller could also be very quick-tempered: "[...] characterized by an iron fidelity to duty and by careful attention to the details, which he tirelessly ordered to look after and the neglect of which caused outbursts". Diplomatic maneuvering was less his field.

Ernst Müller was an avid hiker and friend of Ticino . On his initiative, the Strada alta , a well-known hiking trail in the Leventina, was promoted .

Müller, devoted to scientific achievements, was a great supporter of the Schaffhausen Natural Research Society and the Schaffhausen Historical Society . The founding of the Georg Fischer Prize for the promotion of the canton also goes back to his initiative.

On September 13, 1955, Ernst Müller received an address of thanks from the Uhwiesen local council with three pencil drawings by the painter Caesar Eugen Wegmann .

His commitment to science was rewarded on November 17, 1956 when he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Death and aftermath

Ernst Müller died of a heart attack on November 18, 1957 while at work. At the time, his contemporaries regarded him as an example of social advancement, as the born farmer's son wandered through all stages of a career. He did not achieve this "through school knowledge and erudition, but through diligence, conscientiousness and strength of character." Under his aegis, a number of subsidiaries were incorporated into Georg Fischer AG, the global sales organization was set up and sales were multiplied.

Contemporaries describe Müller as someone who clearly represented an Anglophile line during the war, also in view of the ties between Georg Fischer AG and the German location in Singen . He was convinced that this time too, Switzerland would “get through the raging war in Europe without being destroyed”. However, this did not prevent him from making preparations in the event of a German invasion.

In his obituary, the Mayor of Schaffhausen, Walther Bringolf, recalled Müller's creative power, his achievements for Switzerland during the Second World War, his ties to his homeland and his employees.

Publications

  • About the nature and tasks of the iron library in the Paradies monastery near Schaffhausen. In: Stultifera navis, Vol. 13 (1956), pp. 133-141.

literature

  • Hans Ulrich Wipf: Ernst Müller - down-to-earth self-made man and tireless worker. In: Georg Fischer AG 1930–1945. Zurich 2001, ISBN 978-3-0340-0501-2 , pp. 57-62.
  • The life and work of Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reifer - In honor of his special services to his home village of Uhwiesen. In: Uhwieser Mappe, 2018, pp. 389–400.
  • Kurt Bächtold: Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reiffer. In: Schaffhausen biographies of the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries. Third part. Pp. 223-230 ( PDF ).
  • Anette Bouhery: Müller, Ernst. In: German biography .
  • GF Archive MFB, minutes of the Board of Directors, February 2, 1923, p. 3f.
  • Georg Fischer AG Annual Report 1929
  • GF Communications, No. 45, October 1951.
  • GF Mitteilungen, special issue in November 1957.

Web links

Commons : Ernst-Müller-Zimmer in the iron library  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bächtold, Kurt: Dr. hc Ernst Müller . S. 223 .
  2. ↑ a b The life and work of Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reifer . S. 390 .
  3. ↑ Wipf, Hans Ulrich: Ernst Müller - down-to-earth self-made man and tireless worker . S. 58 .
  4. ↑ Wipf, Hans Ulrich: Ernst Müller - down-to-earth self-made man and tireless worker . S. 58-59 .
  5. ↑ a b Wipf, Hans Ulrich: Ernst Müller - down-to-earth self-made man and tireless worker . S. 59 .
  6. ↑ Bouhery, Anette: Müller, Ernst .
  7. ↑ The life and work of Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reiffer . S. 396 .
  8. ^ GF Archive MFB, Minutes of the Board of Directors, 2.2.1923 . S. 3 f .
  9. ↑ Georg Fischer AG Annual Report 1929 . S. 5 .
  10. ↑ a b Bächtold, Kurt: Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reiffer . S. 228 .
  11. ↑ a b c Wipf, Hans Ulrich: Ernst Müller - down-to-earth self-made man and tireless worker . S. 60 .
  12. ↑ a b c Wipf, Hans Ulrich: Ernst Müller - down-to-earth self-made man and tireless worker . S. 61 .
  13. ^ Bächtold, Kurt: Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reiffer . S. 227 .
  14. ↑ GF Mitteilungen, No. 45, October 1951.
  15. ↑ a b Bächtold, Kurt: Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reiffer . S. 224 .
  16. ↑ The life and work of Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reifer . S. 395 .
  17. ↑ The life and work of Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reifer . S. 392 .
  18. ↑ a b Wipf, Hans Ulrich: Ernst Müller - down-to-earth self-made man and tireless worker . S. 62 .
  19. ↑ Kurt Bächtold: Dr. hc Ernst Müller-Reiffer . S. 230 .
  20. ^ GF Mitteilungen, special issue in November 1957 .
personal data
SURNAME Müller-Reiffer, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Laufen-Uhwiesen , Canton of Zurich
DATE OF DEATH November 18, 1957
Place of death Schaffhausen