Ernst Speiser

Ernst Speiser (born June 6, 1889 in Basel ; † January 9, 1962 in Zollikon ; entitled to live in Basel) was a Swiss politician ( FDP ). He represented the canton of Aargau in both the National Council and the Council of States . His son was the computer pioneer Ambros Speiser .

biography

Grave in the Hörnli cemetery , Riehen, Basel-Stadt

Speiser came from an influential Basel family. He was the son of National Councilor Paul Speiser and grandson of the Basel government councilor Karl Sarasin . His older brother Andreas Speiser became known as a mathematician and philosopher. After graduating from high school, Speiser worked as a businessman in France , Great Britain , the USA and the Far East . From 1931 he was vice director of the electrical engineering group Brown, Boveri & Cie. (BBC) in Baden , in 1938 he was promoted to commercial director of the BBC. In addition, from 1941 to 1946 he headed the Federal War, Industry and Employment Office, which was responsible for economic planning during the Second World War .

Speiser's political career began in 1943 when he was elected to the National Council . In 1947 he ran for election to the Federal Council , but the election fell on Rodolphe Rubattel . In 1948 he was elected to the Council of States , of which he was a member until 1961. After the end of the war he campaigned in particular for the rapid reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure in Western Europe. From 1955 until his death he was on the board of directors of the BBC.

Web links

• Patrick Zehnder: Speiser, Ernst. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Ernst Speiser in the archive database of the Swiss Federal Archives