Friedrich Baumann (master builder)

Friedrich Baumann (born January 16, 1835 in Walperswil , † May 22, 1910 in Bern ) was a Swiss builder and politician .

F. Baumann, ca.1900

childhood

Friedrich Baumann was born in Walperswil in the Bernese Seeland in 1835 as the illegitimate child of Marie Baumann (1804–1888) in the most modest possible circumstances. His father, the area veterinarian, Christian Batschelet (1813-1897) denied paternity and emigrated to America in 1840. That is why the mother and her baby had to go to prison in Nidau Castle for two and a half days, according to the case law at the time . The grandfather Daniel Baumann von Bümpliz was a tenant in Walperswil on the farm of Johann Marolf. The mother looked after the housekeeping there since the grandmother's death. An uncle, named Daniel, was a weaver and ran his business in a room in the tenant house. The boy spent his childhood in this modest home.

schooldays

His uncle was an inquisitive young man and obtained permission for the boy to go to school when he was five. After just two years, the lower school teacher pushed him off to high school. But here too he soon stood out from the other students. Uncle Daniel and the high school teacher applied for him for a vacancy at the Aarberg secondary school . The year 1843 brought the second major fire and subsequent famine to the unfortunate Walperswil. The mother and the boy, saving nothing but bare life, moved to another uncle in Gimmiz (district of Walperswil). At the age of ten he is allowed to attend secondary school in Aarberg. For six years now the boy has been traveling for over an hour every day through the great moss to Aarberg. In 1846 there was a change of teachers at the secondary school, which was to determine the future of the young Baumann. The newly elected young teacher was none other than the later excellent Bernese schoolboy Jakob Egger von Aarwangen . From the Pestalozzi School with partly Swiss teachers near Ludwigsburg , this brought completely new aspects to the teaching with it. In the state school he was only allowed to expand this to a very limited extent. But since the young University of Bern was very attractive all over the country, he founded a private class to prepare for high schools. Egger invited the poor to attend the courses free of charge. In this course he came to an education that he should never have hoped for. The course was otherwise attended by the sons of financially strong Zealanders who, in the new order, also wanted to take the helm of state on their way through the university.

Apprenticeship as bricklayer and stone carver

Fritz Baumann was confirmed in 1851 and left school. His first source of income was the bark harvest near the Beiach Forest. He then found an open apprenticeship with master stone mason Kästli in Münchenbuchsee (1851–1854). Much earlier than planned in the curriculum, the apprentice came to the drawing board and even took on independent tasks as a site manager. He was in charge of the bridge construction carried out in Haustein near Mett (Biel / Bienne) and near Dotzigen . His landlord in Dotzigen, a passionate hunter, took a liking to the brisk fellow, invited him to hunt and initiated him into all the proper customs. That later became his hobby. In 1853, the teacher Egger was appointed to the seminar in Münchenbuchsee . That was another stroke of luck for Baumann. In the harsh summer months, he worked from four in the morning to eight in the evening, otherwise 12 hours. Nevertheless, after work he still found time to continue his education in mathematics, languages, zoology and other subjects with the help of teacher Egger's books and guidelines. These nocturnal and Sunday studies suffered unpleasant interruptions in the following years due to drill exercises and military service as a sniper until 1857.

Architecture studies

In the meantime, one of the master's sons had started his studies at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic . Baumann was able to take out a loan of 580 francs for one year from his master, set off against work on his return. So he added to his savings and moved to Karlsruhe . The construction school consisted of three annual courses and required practical training. There were no intermediate degrees. An entrance examination was required from course to course. Baumann passed the exam for the last course, and he was able to complete his studies in a year on the condition that he catch up on all the written and drawing work from the previous courses. A bundle of booklets and over 150 drawings and projects testify to its amazing performance. The Swiss have organized themselves into a “Helvetia” country team. There he meets comrades whose names are familiar to every technically trained Swiss today. Heinrich Sulzer ( Sulzer AG ) Winterthur, Theodor Bell ( Bell Maschinenfabrik ) Kriens, Socin Basel, Vischer Basel, are probably the best-known among them. Baumann was also on friendly terms with the painter Bernhard Studer in Karlsruhe , who portrayed him.

Entry into professional life

After earning a debt in Münchenbuchsee, he worked in Basel and Bern. The beginning of the sixties brought the reorganization of the army. All technically trained evacuators are called up to Thun and trained as sapper officers. A lot of service inhibits his professional activity. In addition, the wild speculation of those years also led to a devastating standstill in the construction industry. Baumann foresees this and is looking for other options.

Peat extraction

In 1867 he resigned as a construction manager of a large corporation to take over the management of the run-down Bern peat company in Hagneck . His organizational talent makes this company so flourish that it has to purchase a freight steamer in order to be able to transport the products to the railroad by water. Here in Hagneck, his dream comes true for the first time: he can offer his mother his own home.

Work as a builder and politician

In 1872 he decided on a successor and finally settled in Bern as a master builder. In the following year, he bought a neglected patrician estate in the Breitenrain from the architect Eggimann, which he made homely and the necessary stables and barns. It became a permanent home for him and soon after also for his mother. With this year also began its steady economic rise. From 1878 to 1898 he was a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern, where he managed a considerable amount of work in many commissions. 1888–1895 he was a city councilor for the city of Bern (legislature). He was also active as a city councilor on many commissions. From 1886 to 1910 he oversaw the fortunes of the Schweizerische Volksbank (takeover by Credit Suisse 1993) as Chairman of the Board of Directors and the General Management. As a master builder, he built private buildings, hospitals, institutions, state and federal buildings.

When the building trade picked up again and, as always in such cases, untrained and unskilled rented houses speculators scolded each other and the workers began to organize against the masters, so he took up the craftsmen's schools and called the competent specialists together to avoid further neglect of the profession. In 1897 he became the founding president of the Swiss Association of Master Builders. In 1887 he married Marie-Louise Bigler. One of his sons was the architect and sculptor Erwin Friedrich Baumann , who dealt with his father's life in the biographical novel Hans Marbot.

Remarks

1. ↑ see: http://www.query.sta.be.ch/detail.aspx?ID=627365 to http://www.query.sta.be.ch/detail.aspx?ID=627387
2. ^ EF Baumann “Hans Marbot” BOD, Norderstedt, 2008.
3. ↑ See also “Historisch-Biografisches Lexikon der Schweiz, Supplement” Viktor Attinger, Neuchâtel, 1934.