Eugen Bircher

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Eugen Bircher (born February 17, 1882 in Aarau ; † October 20, 1956 there ) was a Swiss surgeon , officer and politician ( BGB ) and military writer .

Live and act

Childhood and youth

Eugen Bircher was born as the son of the doctor Heinrich Bircher (1850–1923) in Aarau. From 1897 to 1901 he attended the grammar school of the canton schools in Aarau and Solothurn and also the school for recruits and non-commissioned officers.

medicine

After studying medicine in Basel and Heidelberg from 1901 to 1906, Bircher worked from 1907 to 1909 as an assistant at the Aarau Cantonal Hospital and at the Surgical Clinic of the Basel Citizens' Hospital. He gained experience in war surgery in Bulgaria from 1915 to 1916. From 1917–1932 he was his father's successor as chief surgeon, and from 1933 also as director of the Aarau Cantonal Hospital. Bircher enjoyed the reputation of a leading Swiss surgeon in the 1920s. He published numerous scientific articles in the fields of goiter, stomach, knee joint and war surgery and, like Severin Nordentoft (1866–1922), is considered the founder of arthroscopy . Bircher performed the first arthroscopies of the knee joint in 1921 at the Aarau Cantonal Hospital with a device for mirroring the abdomen. At that time, Bircher was already using gas to fill the joint. This procedure and the indications still apply today. He was also involved in numerous medical science and political organizations (he was an honorary member of the Swiss Society for Surgery). From August 1926 to 1956 Bircher was editor of the Swiss Medical Weekly . From 1941 to March 1943 he was a co-organizer and in some cases head of the Eastern Front missions (Swiss military medical missions on the German side) of the Swiss Red Cross, which were highly controversial among the Swiss public . He let the Germans know: "We thank your Führer that we are allowed to take part in the fight against Bolshevism." In 1942 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy .

military

His career in the Swiss Army began in 1905 when he was promoted to first lieutenant. In 1910 he was appointed captain. In 1911 he joined the General Staff Corps, and in 1914 Bircher became Chief of Staff at the Murten Fortification (1914–1917). He never made a secret of his sympathies for German militarism . In 1916 he triggered the “ De Loys Affair ” with his public criticism of the “ Entente- friendly” attitude of the Swiss Federal Council . After his appointment as division commander, Bircher was in command of the 4th division from 1934–1937 and the 5th division from 1938–1942 . Together with Federal Councilor Rudolf Minger , Bircher was a leading advocate of Swiss armament and preparation for war from 1935, among other things he initiated the border protection. Bircher, who taught at the military science department of ETH Zurich from 1926 to 1939, was considered a leading Swiss military and military writer: 1931–1937 Central President of the Swiss Officers ' Society, 1931–1946 editor-in-chief of the General Swiss Military Journal . Thanks to his numerous publications in the fields of war history (including numerous books on the Battle of the Marne ), troop psychology and military policy, he maintained, in some cases, intensive contacts with the German and French military between 1918 and 1955.

Vigilante groups

In 1918 Bircher founded the vigilante groups known as the Patriotic Associations in Aarau and in 1919 their merger, the Swiss Patriotic Association . With the vigilante groups, of which the Aargau Patriotic Association was the most important, with over 15,000 members at times, right-wing bourgeois forces reacted to the general strike with the aim of averting what they saw as the threat of a socialist overthrow in Switzerland. The vigilante groups, organized under private law, were mainly financed by banks, insurance companies and industrial companies, but armed from federal arsenals and partly through smuggling from Germany. They had a highly problematic hybrid position between the auxiliary police and the ideological paramilitary . Bircher maintained close relationships with German volunteer corps and their exponents such as Waldemar Pabst .

politics

Originally liberal, Bircher was one of the founders of the right-wing conservative farmers, trade and citizens' party in the canton of Aargau in 1920 . In 1942 he was elected to the National Council, where he made a name for himself with military, asylum and health policy advances (1943–1947 member of the Powership Commission and 1946–1950 of the Military Commission). In the controversy over the admission of Jewish refugees, he called out at a meeting in 1942: “The emigrants want to gain an economic position with us [...] They will spread their poison. They form a foreign body in the people that must be removed again. " His motion to fight tuberculosis (mandatory screen display) resulted in a corresponding supplementary law, which - fought by the medical profession and the bourgeoisie - was defeated in a referendum vote in 1949.

economy

In economic terms, Bircher has held several board memberships, namely at SIG Holding , the international association fabric factory in Schaffhausen, the oil and fat works SAIS and the Albis works.

criticism

For the historian Hans Ulrich Jost , Bircher, as a member of the student associations Argovia , Wengia and Helvetia, was a typical representative of a worldview interspersed with elitist, partly social Darwinist , anti-modern, racist and anti-democratic elements. His sharp front line against the political left and his friendliness towards German led him to considerable sympathy for the front movement and National Socialism . Consequently, in 1937 Bircher pondered a war of the future, which in his opinion would be a " total war ". In a private letter in the 1920s, he called the national newspaper of the time a "Saujudenblatt".

Fonts

Military history, medicine and psychology
  • The battle of the Marne. A study of war history and military politics. Drechsel, Bern 1918.
  • The Battle of Ourcq (= contributions to research into the Battle of the Marne. Issue 1). Self-published, Leipzig 1922.
  • Medical, especially surgical thinking and military command. Sauerlander, Aarau / Leipzig 1933.
  • with Ernst Clam : war without mercy. From Tannenberg to the battle of the future. Scientia, Zurich 1937.
  • with Walter Bode: Schlieffen . Man and idea. Nauck, Zurich 1937; Scientia, Zurich 1940.
  • Doctor and soldier. A psychological consideration (= lectures from practical surgery. Volume 24). 2nd Edition. Enke, Stuttgart 1941.
medicine
  • Chronic peritoneal tuberculosis. Your treatment with X-rays. Sauerländer, Aarau 1907 (= Diss. Univ. Basel 1907).
  • On the pathogenesis of Cretan degeneration. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin a. a. 1908 (= supplement to the medical clinic. Volumes 4, 6).
  • The goiter problem. Th. Steinkopff, Dresden a. a. 1937 (= Medical Practice. Volume 23).

literature

  • Eugen Bircher (ed.). Swiss doctors on the Eastern Front: Defense medical essays and experience reports. Zofingen 1945.
  • Festschrift to celebrate the 65th birthday of Dr. Eugen Bircher, February 17, 1947. Schwabe & Co., Basel 1947.
  • Hans Hemmeler (Ed.): Festschrift Eugen Bircher. The soldier, military writer and politician Dr. med. Eugen Bircher, Colonel Division z. D., National Council, dedicated on the 70th birthday of the Aargau Patriotic Association of Friends, Comrades and Co-workers. Scientific advice: Hektor Ammann . H. R. Sauerländer & Co., Aarau 1952.
  • Rudolf Bucher: Between betrayal and humanity: Experiences of a Swiss doctor on the German-Russian front 1941/42. Frauenfeld 1967.
  • Michael Eyl (CET): Doctor and War. Eugen Bircher - the neutral one. Ferdinand Sauerbruch - the apolitical. In: Soziale Medizin 9th vol., No. 3 (April 1982), pp. 20-22.
  • Claude Longchamp : The environment of the Swiss medical mission behind the German-Soviet front 1941–1945 (1967/68): Economic and political aspects of a humanitarian mission in World War II. Bern 1983.
  • Daniel Heller: Eugen Bircher. Doctor, military, politician. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-85823-195-9 .
  • Hans Ulrich Jost : The reactionary avant-garde. The birth of the new right in Switzerland. Chronos, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-905311-09-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Mettenleiter : Personal reports, memories, diaries and letters from German-speaking doctors. Supplements and supplements II (A – H). In: Würzburg medical history reports. 21, 2002, pp. 490-518, here p. 494
  2. ↑ a b Mettenleiter: Testimonials, memories, diaries and letters from German-speaking doctors. 2002, pp. 490-518.
  3. ^ The weekly newspaper, March 25, 1994
  4. ^ Willi Gautschi : History of the Canton of Aargau 1885–1953 . tape 3 . Baden Verlag, Baden 1978, p. 234-239 .
  5. ↑ Eugen Bircher and Ernst Clam : War without mercy. From Tannenberg to the battle of the future. Scientia, Zurich 1937.
  6. ↑ Aaron Kamis-Müller: Anti-Semitism in Switzerland. 1900 to 1930. Chronos, Zurich 1990, ISBN 978-3-905278-61-3 .
personal data
SURNAME Bircher, Eugene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss surgeon, officer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Aarau
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1956
Place of death Aarau