Franz Wirz (politician)
Franz Wirz (born January 13, 1816 in Sarnen ; † November 29, 1884 ibid) was a Swiss politician . From 1848 to 1866 he was a member of the National Council and from 1841 to 1876 he was a member of the government council of the Canton of Obwalden .
biography
The son of goldsmith and witness Franz Josef Wirz came from a long-established family from Rudenz near Giswil , which can be traced back to the 14th century and since then has decisively shaped the history of Obwalden. In his childhood, Wirz came into the care of Landammann Nikodem Spichtig as a ward . He attended the collegiate school in Engelberg and the Lyceum in Freiburg . From 1836 to 1838 Wirz worked as a substitute in the Obwalden state chancellery , then until 1841 as a land clerk . He served from 1841 to 1869 as a councilor for Sarnen and from 1850 to 1884 as a civic council . He was also a member of the school commission and the education council from 1844 to 1876.
Wirz was elected to the Obwaldner Land- and Cantonal Council in 1841 , to which he belonged continuously until his death and which he presided over in 1868, 1874 and 1876. From 1841 to 1876 he was a member of the government council , 13 years of which as governor . In 1841, 1842 and 1845 he was Obwalden envoy to the Diet , on whose behalf he judged as an arbitrator in a dispute between the cantons of Uri and Schwyz . As one of the leading Catholic-Conservative politicians in Switzerland, Wirz was a co-signatory in 1845 of the initially secret Sonderbund , which two years later led to the Sonderbund War. In 1847, 1850 and 1867 he worked on the revisions of the canton's constitution. From 1851 he also served as salt director.
In October 1848 Wirz ran for the first National Council elections and was elected by the Landsgemeinde . He belonged to the small conservative opposition; In 1866 he resigned. In his function as a government councilor, he spoke out against the revision of the federal constitution in 1872 and 1874 . In 1849 he was one of the founders of the «Savings Fund of the Canton of Unterwalden ob dem Wald» (forerunner of the Obwaldner Kantonalbank ). From 1877 he was the first president of the Historisch-Antiquarian Verein Obwalden, and from 1879 to 1882 he was editor of the Obwaldner Volksfreund newspaper . He campaigned for the canonization of the Obwalden hermit and mystic Niklaus von Flüe .
Wirz had married Regina Hermann in 1838 and was related by marriage to Nicolaus Hermann . His sons Adalbert Wirz and Theodor Wirz were also prominent Catholic-Conservative politicians.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Niklaus von Flüe: Wirz [Wirz von Rudenz] (OW). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wirz, Franz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 13, 1816 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sarnen |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 29, 1884 |
| Place of death | Sarnen |