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Fridolin Anderwert (1876)

Joseph Fridolin Anderwert (born September 19, 1828 in Frauenfeld , † December 25, 1880 in Bern , entitled to live in Emmishofen and Tägerschen ; usually called Fridolin Anderwert ) was a Swiss politician , lawyer and judge . As a long-standing member of parliament and government council of the canton of Thurgau , he implemented several political reforms. At the federal level, he was active in the National Council and in the Federal Supreme Court . In 1876 he was elected to the Federal Council as a representative of the radical parliamentary group (today's FDP ) , and in his office as Minister of Justice he initiated the creation of the Swiss Code of Obligations . Anderwert is the only Federal Councilor to date to have died due to suicide .

biography

Studies and canton politics

Anderwert came from a respected family of politicians from Emmishofen (today part of Kreuzlingen ), his father Johann Ludwig Anderwert was a member of the government of the Canton of Thurgau from 1841 to 1849 . After finishing school in Tägerwilen , Frauenfeld and Konstanz , he first studied history and philosophy at the University of Leipzig . This was followed by studying law at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg and at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin . In 1851 he began to work as a lawyer in Frauenfeld , from 1853 to 1856 he held the office of district judge.

From 1861, Anderwert belonged to the Thurgau Grand Council . At the beginning he was supported by Eduard Häberlin , who at that time dominated Thurgau politics almost at will. But from 1864, Anderwert turned against him because of his accumulation of offices. Together with Adolf Deucher , he developed into one of his bitterest opponents. In 1868 he initiated the revision of the Thurgau cantonal constitution, which aimed directly at the "Häberlin system". Anderwert was President of the Constitutional Council in 1868/69 and was able to push through numerous reforms. This included, among other things, the popular election of the government council, the establishment of the Thurgauer Kantonalbank , the abolition of denominational parity and the incompatibility of various offices. With the adoption of the new cantonal constitution by the people in 1869, Häberlin lost its almost unrestricted power. In the same year, Anderwert, then President of the Grand Council, was elected to the Government Council and was a member of it until 1874. As a member of the cantonal government, he was responsible for education; Among other things, he increased the wages of teachers and created advanced training schools.

Federal politics

After his successful candidacy in the parliamentary elections in 1863 , Anderwert also entered the National Council . Within the radical faction, he positioned himself on the left wing. In 1870/71 he was President of the National Council and in this function swore in Hans Herzog as General during the Franco-German War . As a member of the Revision Commission, Anderwert was significantly involved in the total revision of the Swiss Federal Constitution . He advocated unification of the law, the optional referendum and the popular initiative .

During the Kulturkampf , Anderwert took an uncompromisingly anti-papal stance. He oriented himself on Josephinism and called for the state to take precedence over the church, freedom of religion and a ban on the Jesuits . He particularly disliked the dogma of infallibility that had been proclaimed at the First Vatican Council in 1870 . In September 1871 he took part in the Catholic Congress in Solothurn , at which the assembly, at his request, constituted itself as the “Swiss Association of Liberal Catholics” and renounced the Roman Catholic Church . The association formed the nucleus of the later Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland .

In 1872, Anderwert was twice a candidate for a seat in the Federal Council . On July 12, he was defeated in the fourth ballot to Johann Jakob Scherer from Zurich . Five months later, on December 7th, he drew the short straw against Wilhelm Matthias Naeff , who had been in office since 1848 , which was confirmed again despite numerous concerns. Anderwert failed because he had advocated a centralized variant when the federal constitution was completely revised . In 1874 the Federal Assembly elected him part-time federal judge , whereupon he presided over the criminal chamber.

The Federal Council elections on December 10, 1875 were turbulent. When the fifth member was elected, Anderwert was defeated in the first ballot to the moderate Joachim Heer from Glarus , who prevailed with 91 to 60 votes. In the first round of the election of the sixth member, Bernhard Hammer from Solothurn , another representative of the center, was ahead with 62 votes - two more than Anderwert. The latter took the lead in the second ballot with 80 to 78 votes and finally prevailed in the third ballot with 91 to 78 votes (Hammer made the election as the seventh member). The radicals' intention to bring two of their representatives to the Federal Council had thus been thwarted by the center and the conservatives.

Federal Council

Anderwert took up his post on January 1, 1876, and took over the Justice and Police Department . Since the radicals no longer made up a majority in the Federal Council, he was forced to significantly moderate his views and to make more compromises. He remained true to his convictions, but he put the interests of the country and the applicable law above the wishes of his supporters. When Anderwert rejected the appeal of a rejected political refugee two years later, dogmatic radicals and democrats even accused him of being a “socialist eater”. When he was re-elected on December 10, 1878, he was confirmed in the first ballot, but only with 91 votes.

Anderwert's most important project as Minister of Justice was the creation of the Swiss Code of Obligations . When he was advised in the federal councils, his work was widely recognized. The responsible Commission President Rudolf Niggeler stated that the draft was not a perfect work, "but the best [...] that could be achieved under the current circumstances". At the end of 1880, the legislative body was largely discussed, so that it could come into force in 1883.

Circumstances of death

On December 7, 1880, Anderwert was elected President for 1881. Immediately thereafter, a malicious campaign against him broke out in the press. The main focus was on the overweight bachelor's eating habits , but rumors that were never proven were spread that he was a regular guest at brothels. Individual newspapers wrote that his election as Federal President was a shame for all of Switzerland. Marked by exhaustion and insomnia, Anderwert committed suicide on Christmas Day 1880 on the Kleine Schanze with a pistol shot. The only published sentence in his suicide note was: "They want a victim, they should have it." Two camps formed and blamed each other for Anderwert's Suzid. Some blamed the press alone, others pointed out the result of the autopsy . According to this, a significant enlargement of the heart had seriously affected the health of the mentally ailing Federal Council, which probably triggered severe depression .

literature

Web links

Commons : Fridolin Anderwert  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Köbler: Who was who in German law , version of December 5, 2006
  2. ↑ a b Blum: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 152.
  3. ↑ Blum: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 152-153.
  4. ↑ a b c Blum: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 153.
  5. ↑ a b Blum: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 154.
  6. ↑ Blum: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 154, 156.
predecessor Office successor
Wilhelm Matthias Naeff Member of the Swiss Federal Council
1876–1880 		Louis Ruchonnet
personal data
SURNAME Different, Fridolin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anderwert, Joseph Fridolin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Frauenfeld
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1880
Place of death Bern