Erwin Kessler

Erwin Kessler at an animal rights demonstration in July 2014 in the city of Bern

Erwin Kessler (born February 29, 1944 in Romanshorn ; resident in Felben-Wellhausen , Thundorf and Zurich ) is a Swiss animal rights activist and civil engineer.

Study and job

Erwin Kessler studied civil engineering at the ETH Zurich and received his doctorate in this subject .

Association against animal factories

According to the journalist Hans Stutz, Kessler was a member of the National Action against Foreign Immigration and Homeland (today's Swiss Democrats ) in the 1970s .

Disappointed by the Swiss animal welfare (STS), Kessler founded the Verein gegen Tierfabriken (VgT) on June 4, 1989, based in Tuttwil , which he has chaired since then. Today he is also its full-time managing director. According to the statutes, the board decides on measures. Members and the population are encouraged to report animal cruelty . The VgT then secretly visits these establishments and takes photos. As in the Hefenhofen case , it reveals violations of animal welfare legislation and thus cantonal enforcement deficits.

The VgT denounces that even the veterinary offices and courts would mostly use their leeway for interpretation left by law in favor of the animal keeper, for example when measuring the height of the buses or by accepting small amounts of straw litter, which pigs do not have to play with but could satisfy their nest-building instinct. It occasionally happens that the animal keepers, some of whom are under economic pressure to open the market, threatened cantonal inspectors with physical damage. Kessler himself was beaten with a whip in 2009 by an animal owner whose stable he had entered uninvited.

Legal disputes

As a contentious person, Kessler contested numerous lawsuits:

• 1999: because the Post refused to deliver "VgT-Nachrichten" as unaddressed advertising mail to households that do not want advertising.
• 2002: Trial of “contacts with the neo-Nazi and revisionist scene” because Kessler had offered the Holocaust denier Jürgen Graf a platform on the association's website .

• 2006: Dispute with the Freiburg government councilor, Pascal Corminboeuf , who sued Erwin Kessler for defamation because he accused him of violating the animal protection law on several occasions.

• 2008: Confrontation with the moderator Katja Stauber which only ended in February 2013. Kessler had written articles about her alleged use of Botox and the cruelty to animals that went with it.

• 2011: Dispute with pharmaceutical manager Daniel Vasella , because Kessler had called him a “mass criminal” and “animal tormentor” because of animal experiments in the pharmaceutical industry.

• 2013: Confrontation with the Swiss newspaper “Le Matin”, which accused Kessler of trivializing the Holocaust .

• 2014: Dispute with the Swiss Meat Association, which took action against the broadcast of a VgT commercial on Swiss television SRF.

• 2015: Confrontation with alleged smear campaign against various people from the free thinker and animal rights scene.

Accusation of anti-Semitism

In 1996, Kessler described the animal welfare lawyer Antoine Goetschel as a “secret Jew” because he allegedly played down the slaughtering process. In the same year, Kessler spoke in the magazine "Recht + Freiheit" of "left-Jewish journalists" who wanted to take revenge on him. In December 1998, the Sonntags-Blick published an under the title "Judenhetzer Kessler: the police investigate" critical article about Kessler. Kessler wrote about the publishing house Ringier: "The Sunday view is published by the Jewish influenced Riniger-Verlag [sic!] ( Ellen Ringier , the wife of the Ringier boss, is an active Jew, but she is hiding this)." In October 2000, Kessler complained again about the Ringier publishing house, which would either boycott or deny him because of the alleged Jewish background of Ellen Ringier. In July 2000, Kessler put the question to Federal Councilor Ruth Dreifuss : "Would you be so tolerant if one day ogre-eaters settled with us whose belief dictates that they eat the heart of a Jewish woman every week?" He insinuated that the Federal Councilor would tolerate cruelty to animals within the framework of freedom of belief. In 2002, Kessler accused the short-lived free newspaper Metropol of engaging in “lying, Jewish-oriented disinformation” and “Jewish manipulation” of its readership. He described the newspaper as a “lying Judenblatt” and also spoke of a forgery in an article about the Holocaust denier Jürgen Graf, who was not a Holocaust denier, but only a revisionist .

In 1998 Kessler tried to ban the Talmud , which he accused of racism, in Swiss libraries and bookshops. The Zurich district attorney did not respond to the complaint.

In 1998, Kessler himself was sentenced to an unconditional prison sentence of 45 days by the Zurich Higher Court for violating the racism criminal norm. The federal court upheld this conviction.

In 2001 Kessler fought against Pascal Krauthammer's dissertation “The ban on slaughter in Switzerland 1854–2000. The Schächt question between animal welfare, politics and xenophobia ». Krauthammer writes, for example: "In view of his institutionalized anti-Semitism and racism, it is hardly surprising that Erwin Kessler cultivated intensive contacts with the right-wing extremist and revisionist scene." Erwin Kessler believes in the clichéd conspiracy of the Jewish media and also of science. Kessler on the trial: "The Jew Pascal Krauthammer claims in a inflammatory pamphlet disguised as a dissertation against the opponents of Schächt that these quotations [sic!] From the Talmud had long been exposed as a forgery." In October 2002, Erwin Kessler had obtained a provisional sales ban at the Münchwilen District Court, and in a further trial brought by Kessler against a review of Krauthammer's book, the Federal Court finally found that Kessler's contacts with right-wing extremists and revisionists had been established was not a slander. In July 2003, the Münchwilen district court found in the main hearing that Kessler had disregarded Krauthammer's personal rights. Kessler Krauthammer had assumed that he only worked for Radio DRS in order to influence the media according to Jewish taste, and the University of Zurich had only accepted his work because it did not want to expose itself to accusations of anti-Semitism. In the end, Kessler had to pay Krauthammer and the Schulthess publishing house compensation of 10,000 francs and publish the judgment on his website for a year.

In his assessment of racism in Switzerland in 2006, Hans Stutz stated that Kessler took sides with the Holocaust denier Jürgen Graf. Kessler writes about Graf: “He [Jürgen Graf] was sentenced to 15 months in prison for criticizing details of the official historiography with factual arguments. Therefore he had to leave Switzerland as a political refugee. He now lives in Russia, where he is protected by freedom of expression and is therefore not extradited to Switzerland. "

In an interview about the anti-Semitism allegations, Kessler said that he hated “ Schächt Jews ” but was not an anti-Semite. To the St. Galler Tagblatt he said: “I still stand by the statements I made back then. They may be provocative, but they are correct, you just have to read them correctly. " What would be accused of anti-Semitism would only be "criticism of Schächten".

Journalism

Erwin Kessler wrote a book on "Animal factories in Switzerland". Articles written by him were published in the Mythen-Post and in his in-house magazine, the VgT-Nachrichten .

• Tier factories in Switzerland. Facts and backgrounds of a drama . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-280-02069-7 ( complete text online, PDF )

literature

• Pascal Krauthammer: The ban on slaughter in Switzerland 1854-2000. The Schächt question between animal protection, politics and xenophobia , Schulthess, Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-7255-4086-1 (= Zurich studies on legal history , volume 42, also a dissertation at the University of Zurich ).

Web links

• Association against animal factories Switzerland VgT (The VgT documents its processes on its homepage.)
• Margrit Speaker : Animal rights activist Erwin Kessler: The pig guardian on Weltwoche.ch, accessed on March 14, 2015. (A detailed portrait of Erwin Kessler.)
• Erik Ebneter, Markus Somm : "When I talk about animal concentration camps, I'll be heard." Interview in: Basler Zeitung from April 12, 2018.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Controversy about exhibitors at the Veganerfest , on Landbote.ch, accessed on September 4, 2015.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Knatsch among the animal protection activists , on DerBund.ch, accessed on September 4, 2015.
3. ↑ Young Greens and Artists Boycott Vegan Festival , on 20min.ch, accessed on September 4, 2015.
4. ↑ ^{a b} "Mein Kampf knows no cowardice" , on Tagblatt.ch, accessed on February 26, 2014.
5. ↑ The last one bites Kessler, Erwin ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 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. by Hans Stutz , originally published in WOZ on April 14, 2005 
6. ↑ The Tages-Anzeiger discussed examples of very mild fines for animal welfare in general in its printed edition of October 7, 2014.
7. ↑ Why animal rights activist Erwin Kessler had to take a beating in Thurgau ( memento from November 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), on TagesAnzeiger.ch, accessed on January 13, 2016.
8. ↑ Erwin Kessler in a clinch with the Post ( memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on Tagblatt.ch, December 11, 1999.
9. ↑ Discrimination confirmed (sic!) ( Memento from March 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), on Tagblatt.ch, from May 8, 2002.
10. ^ Contacts with neo-Nazis and revisionists NZZ, December 28, 2002.
11. ↑ SF did not discriminate against Erwin Kessler , on 20min.ch, March 12, 2012.
12. ^ Animal rights activist Kessler sentenced , on NZZ.ch, accessed on September 8, 2015.
13. ↑ Kessler loses trial against Freiburg government councilor ( memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on Tagblatt.ch, November 28, 2009.
14. ↑ Animal rights activist has to bleed because of insult , on 20Min.ch, accessed on October 22, 2015.
15. ↑ Kessler appeals against the verdict on the Botox allegation , on Tagblatt.ch, accessed on March 4, 2013.
16. ^ Animal rights activist Erwin Kessler advances the court ruling , on Tagblatt.ch, accessed on March 5, 2013.
17. ^ Partial victory for animal rights activist Kessler , on Tagblatt.ch, accessed on September 21, 2013.
18. ^ Acquittal for animal rights activist Kessler , on NZZ.ch, accessed on May 22, 2013.
19. ↑ Novartis c. Kessler , on strafprozess.ch, accessed on May 21, 2013.
20. ↑ Rejet d'un recours d'Erwin Kessler après un article du "Matin" , on Jusletter.Weblaw.ch, accessed on January 8, 2016th
21. ↑ BGer 5A_207 / 2015 of August 3, 2015 , on servat.unibe.ch, accessed on January 8, 2016.
22. ↑ ^{a b} VgT files a lawsuit against the meat association  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Medienwoche.ch, accessed on January 14, 2015.  
23. ↑ Meat dispute escalates due to commercial , 20min.ch, accessed on January 14, 2015.
24. ↑ Media release: SFF defends itself against politically motivated advertising by the Verein gegen Tierfabriken Metzgerei.ch, accessed on January 14, 2015.
25. ^ About anti-meat advertising: Metzger pissed off on SRF , Blick.ch, accessed on January 14, 2015.
26. ↑ For the first time, a Facebook like leads to process . In: 20 minutes . ( 20min.ch [accessed June 14, 2017]).
27. ↑ Facebook user does not accept judgment . In: Tages-Anzeiger . 2017, ISSN  1422-9994 ( tagesanzeiger.ch [accessed June 14, 2017]).
28. ↑ Defamatory smear campaigns against the VgT and other vegan organizations and personalities. Retrieved June 14, 2017 . 
29. ↑ Erwin Kessler: Left-wing extremist hate campaigns against the VgT and other organizations and… In: VgT . April 5, 2016 ( archive.is [accessed June 14, 2017]).
30. ↑ ^{a b c} Animal rights activists criticize each other , on Tagblatt.ch, accessed on July 20, 2015.
31. ↑ VgT-Nachrichten 1996/6, pp. 11-12. ( online ).
32. ↑ law + Freedom 1996/4, p 4. ( online ).
33. ↑ The Jewish-influenced Sunday view confuses "Jewish hate" and "Jewish hate" , on VgT.ch, accessed on March 14, 2016.
34. ↑ On Ellen Ringier's fur coat: Ethics are indivisible! , at VgT.ch, accessed on March 14, 2016.
35. ↑ ^{a b} Erwin Kessler: Post boycotts militant animal rights activists , from Observer.ch, accessed on August 1, 2015.
36. ↑ Background to the farm animal drama , on VgT.ch, accessed on August 1, 2015.
37. ^ End of the mendacious free newspaper "Metropol" ( memento of July 7, 2002 in the Internet Archive ), on VgT.ch, accessed on December 16, 2015.
38. ↑ Assessment of the situation in 1998 , on gra.ch, accessed on March 12, 2015.
39. ↑ Discriminatory application of the anti-racism law: The Jewish Talmud may be racist! ( Memento of February 27, 2002 in the Internet Archive ).
40. ^ Prohibition and confiscation of the "Babylonian Talmud"? District Attorney Zurich. Do not enter. Legally binding. , at gra.ch, accessed on March 12, 2015.
41. ↑ Judgment of the Court of Cassation of the Swiss Federal Court of September 26, 2000, Az. 6S.367 / 1998.
42. ↑ VgT President Erwin Kessler definitely has to go to jail for 45 days: In the decision delivered today, the Federal Supreme Court confirmed the conviction. Verein gegen Tierfabriken Schweiz, October 4, 2000, accessed on December 11, 2019 . 
43. ↑ Assessment of the situation in 2001 , on gra.ch, accessed on March 12, 2015.
44. ↑ Pascal Krauthammer: The Schächverbot. P. 261.
45. ↑ Pascal Krauthammer: The Schächverbot. P. 255.
46. ↑ An attempt is made to silence VgT President Erwin Kessler with state terror and defamation ( memento of the original from July 25, 2012 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. , at VgT.ch, accessed on March 12, 2015.  
47. ↑ Assessment of the situation in 2002 , on gra.ch, accessed on March 12, 2015.
48. ↑ ^{a b} Kessler has to pay 10,000 francs ( memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at ThurgauerZeitung.ch, accessed on March 12, 2015. 
49. ↑ The lying book "Das Schächverbot in der Schweiz" by the Jewish author Pascal Krauthammer , on VgT.ch, accessed on July 20, 2015.
50. ↑ Assessment of Racism 2006 , on gra.ch, accessed on March 12, 2015.
51. ↑ On the discussion about the anti-racism law ( memento of the original from March 23, 2013 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. , accessed March 12, 2015.