Hans Siegrist

Hans Emil Siegrist (born December 2, 1860 in Constantinople , † July 26, 1931 in Brugg ) was a Swiss doctor and politician ( FDP ). From 1911 to 1919 he represented the canton of Aargau in the National Council .

biography

Siegrist, whose father had become wealthy during the Crimean War , was born in Constantinople and grew up in Brugg from 1864. He graduated from the canton school in Aarau and then studied medicine at the universities of Geneva , Zurich , Leipzig and Heidelberg . In 1886 he passed the state examination and initially worked as an assistant doctor at the cantonal women's hospital and at the medical and surgical clinic in Zurich. In 1888 he opened his own medical practice in Brugg. In the military he served as a medical officer and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel .

Siegrist's political career also began in 1888 when he was elected to the city ​​council of Brugg, from 1897 to 1917 he was mayor . During his tenure, Brugg experienced an economic and cultural boom. The town received its own power station in 1890, in 1896 as the first Aargau municipality to have a sewer system and in 1911 a gas works. These infrastructure projects, which also included road construction and a water supply, prompted numerous industrial companies to set up factories here. There was also the construction of a barracks, a new schoolhouse and the Vindonissa Museum .

In 1889 Siegrist was elected to the Aargau Great Council , to which he belonged continuously until 1929. In 1902/03 he was President of the Grand Council. His main concern was the reform of nursing in Aargau with a central sanatorium and decentralized nursing homes. He made a significant contribution to the health legislation of 1919/20. After the parliamentary elections in 1911 , Siegrist mainly represented health policy issues in the National Council until 1919 . In addition, he participated in the national park legislation and spoke out against Switzerland joining the League of Nations .

Siegrist was a member of the cantonal hospital commission from 1891 to 1928 , and provided free treatments at the Brugger Children's Hospital founded by Rudolf Urech . From 1911 to 1931, as Vice President of the Board of Directors, he played a key role in the development of the Brugg District Hospital. In addition, he was for many years president of the Meyerschen Anstalt in Effingen . His life's work, however, is the Aargau Tuberculosis Sanatorium Barmelweid above Erlinsbach , which started operations in 1912 after almost twenty years of preparation. Siegrist then worked as President of the Aargau Healing Association until his death and promoted the further development of the clinic, which still exists today.

literature

• Biographical Lexicon of the Canton of Aargau 1803–1957 . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 68/69 . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1958, p. 723-725 .

Web links

• Patrick Zehnder: Siegrist, Hans Emil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .