Helmut Hubacher

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Helmut Hubacher (1986)

Helmut Hubacher (born April 15, 1926 in Krauchthal , Canton Bern , † August 19, 2020 in Pruntrut ) was a Swiss politician ( SP ), author and columnist . From 1975 to 1990 he was SP President and was a member of the National Council from 1963 to 1997 .

job and career

Helmut Hubacher completed an apprenticeship at SBB and was politically active as a young socialist and from 1953 as a union secretary. From 1956 to 1968 he was a member of the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt. In 1963 he was the first substitute to join the National Council, to which he was a member until 1997. In 1963 he also became editor-in-chief of the Basler Arbeiter-Zeitung , which under his leadership was renamed Die AZ Abend-Zeitung that same year . From 1975 to 1990 he was President of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP). In particular, the official visit by a delegation of the SP Switzerland to the GDR in 1982, on which he met Erich Honecker , aroused public criticism. Hubacher never distanced himself from visiting the East German dictatorship, which is still used as an occasion for criticism.

But he also became known for scandalizing the army. For example, he drew attention to abuses in procurement such as the purchase of the “Florida” radar system and the construction of the Swiss Panzer 68 . Despite his criticism, Hubacher always confessed to national defense. Hubacher positioned the Social Democratic Party as a modern left people's party.

From 1991 he lived in active retirement and wrote books as well as a weekly column for the Basler Zeitung (BaZ) and from 2019 to 2020 the bi-weekly column “Der Alte” for Blick . In the BaZ he took a critical look at the Swiss political landscape. Due to an illness, Hubacher had to end his BaZ column in June 2020 after 22 years and announced his withdrawal from the public.

Private

Helmut Hubacher had been married to his wife Gret, nee Hungerbühler, since 1949, they had three children and lived in the village of Courtemaîche in the canton of Jura . They met at the Young Socialists in Basel. Hubacher wrote his texts on the typewriter - he did not use the Internet.

Works

• File number EMD - Notes from the Federal Palace . Z-Verlag, Basel 1989, ISBN 3-85990-099-4 .
• Crime scene federal building. Zytglogge, Gümligen 1994, ISBN 3-7296-0491-0 .
• Welfare or a descent - an unsettled Switzerland. Zytglogge-Verlag, Gümligen 1997, ISBN 3-7296-0538-0 .
• Ogi - power and powerlessness. Opinio, Basel 2001, ISBN 3-03999-000-4 .
• File number CH - Micheline , Moritz , Merz & Co. Zytglogge Oberhofen am Thunersee 2004, ISBN 3-7296-0685-9 .
• Schaubühne Bern - Federal Councilors and other soloists. Zytglogge, Oberhofen am Thunersee 2007, ISBN 978-3-7296-0732-3 .
• Stories à la carte - columns and anecdotes. Zytglogge, Oberhofen am Thunersee 2010, ISBN 978-3-7296-0806-1 . With a preface by Peter Bichsel .
• Hubacher's Blocher . Zytglogge, Oberhofen am Thunersee 2014, ISBN 978-3-7296-0880-1 .
• The word on Monday - columns. Zytglogge, Basel 2015, ISBN 978-3-7296-0902-0 . With a foreword by Frank A. Meyer .
• I was happy to do that. Political and personal memories. Zytglogge, Basel 2016, ISBN 978-3-7296-0932-7 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Helmut Hubacher in the catalog of the German National Library
• Helmut Hubacher on the website of the Federal Assembly
• Thomas Schibler: Hubacher, Helmut. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Helmut Hubacher: "The Willy Brandt of Swiss Social Democracy" , article on OnlineReports from December 17, 1997
• Philipp Loser: The background noise. In: Tages-Anzeiger , August 20, 2020 (obituary).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Former SP President Helmut Hubacher has died. Swiss radio and television , August 20, 2020, accessed on August 20, 2020 . Helmut Hubacher is dead - the former SP party president was 94. watson.ch, August 20, 2020, accessed on August 20, 2020 . 
    
2. ^ Ernst Bollinger: Basler Arbeiter-Zeitung. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . March 27, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2019 .
3. ↑ Erwin Bischof: Honecker's handshake: Relations between Switzerland and GDR 1960-1990, democracy or dictatorship . Interforum, Bern 2010, ISBN 978-3-03302338-3 , p. 77 ff .
4. ↑ Paola Carega: "The political left was blind in one eye". In: Swissinfo. April 6, 2010, accessed October 31, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Hubacher's high wire act in East Berlin. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. March 23, 2010, accessed July 7, 2020 . 
6. ^ ^{A b c} Marc Tribelhorn, Heidi Gmür, Marc Tribelhorn, Heidi Gmür: "I never wanted to be everyone's darling" | NZZ . March 27, 2018, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed July 7, 2020]).
7. ↑ Helmut Hubacher: Column “The old man” I love Switzerland. In: Blick.ch , June 26, 2020.
8. ↑ Helmut Hubacher: Will it be quieter without “Blocher-Zeitung”? In: Basler Zeitung . April 12, 2018, ISSN  1420-3006 ( bazonline.ch [accessed February 12, 2019]).
9. ^ Basler Zeitung: Social Democrat Helmut Hubacher pays tribute to Somm. Retrieved February 12, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Philipp Loser: His last time. In: Basler Zeitung , June 27, 2020 ( Paywall ).
11. ↑ Helmut Hubacher: The last time. In: Basler Zeitung , June 27, 2020 ( Paywall ).
12. ^ Philipp Loser: Helmut Hubacher's accounting. In: Tages-Anzeiger from May 25, 2014 (archive)