Fritz Courvoisier

Monument in La Chaux-de-Fonds in honor of Fritz Courvoisier and Ami Girard

Fritz Courvoisier (actually Frédéric-Alexandre Courvoisier ; born June 1, 1799 in La Chaux-de-Fonds , † December 10, 1854 in Neuchâtel ) was a Swiss politician and watch manufacturer . He was one of the military leaders of the revolution of 1848 in Canton Neuchâtel , which led to the end of Prussian rule. From 1851 until his death he was a member of the National Council.

biography

He was the son of watch manufacturer Louis Courvoisier and Julie Houriet. Courvoisier received his primary education in a boarding school in Couvet , which was run by his cousin, the reformed pastor Charles-Henri Courvoisier. In order to improve his knowledge of German, he graduated from high school in Basel from 1813 to 1815 , after which he did an apprenticeship as a watchmaker . In 1826 he married Anna Rothpletz from Aarau , with whom he had two sons; She died in 1836 at the age of 30. Courvoisier worked for his family's watch factory and was a business traveler for 15 years. His travels took him to Egypt , Russia , Portugal and Turkey . In Bastia he joined the Freemasons .

In 1831 Courvoisier was elected to the Corps législatif , which was founded by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. created new parliament. As captain of La Chaux-de-Fonds, he took part in the first radical liberal popular uprising in September of the same year . He went to Lucerne to get the Swiss Confederation to intervene against Neuchâtel with Jakob Kopp , the President of the Diet . After his plan failed, he was sentenced to two years in exile . Courvoisier then lived in La Ferrière and Biel in the canton of Bern , and did not return to La Chaux-de-Fonds until 1837. In order to set himself apart from his conservative brothers, he left the family business and founded his own watch manufacture. In 1847 he fought in the Sonderbund War in a Bern regiment because Neuchâtel had declared itself neutral.

Courvoisier was widely recognized as the leader of the local Republicans. In January 1848 he took part in the founding of the patriotic commission in La Chaux-de-Fonds and was appointed commander of the troops there. He secretly contacted Ulrich Ochsenbein , the chairman of the commission that drafted the federal constitution. He assured him that after the overthrow of the royalists, the Republicans could immediately form a provisional government. On February 29, 1848, Ami Girard arrived with 200 soldiers from the Vallon de Saint-Imier and convinced him to march to the canton capital of Neuchâtel . On March 1st at 8 pm, Neuchâtel Castle was in the hands of the insurgents; the government of the Prussian governor Ernst von Pfuel was deposed and the canton of Neuchâtel was declared a republic.

The Provisional Government under Alexis-Marie Piaget wanted to propose Courvoisier as cantonal police chief, but he preferred to run his company. He ran successfully in the National Council elections in 1851 , and he was also a member of the cantonal parliament . In 1852 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the general staff of the Swiss Army . Courvoisier was particularly committed to the construction of the Neuchâtel – Le Locle railway line . On December 10, 1854, he died of a stroke .

literature

• Pierre-Yves Chatelain: Biographies Neuchâteloises . tape 2 . Editions Gilles Attinger, Hauterive 1998, ISBN 978-2-88256-099-5 , p. 93-98 .

Web links

• Éric-André Klauser: Couvoisier, Fritz. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .