Johann Bützberger

Johann Bützberger (born November 16, 1820 in Bleienbach , † February 2, 1886 in Langenthal ) was a Swiss politician . For more than three and a half decades, from 1850 until his death, he was a member of the National Council without interruption . He is considered one of the most important politicians in the canton of Bern and in particular in the Oberaargau region in the second half of the 19th century.

biography

Youth, studies and work

Johann Bützberger was the fifth of eight children of the turner of the same name and Verena Dennler. He attended the village school of his home community Bleienbach and wanted to become a teacher, but failed the entrance exam for the teachers' seminar . He later did an apprenticeship with an attorney in Aarberg and took up a position as a clerk at the Bern Higher Court . Despite the lack of a Matura , he studied law at the University of Bern , which was still possible at the time. He was particularly influenced by Professor Wilhelm Snell , whose radical liberal views he enthusiastically adopted. In 1842 Bützberger joined the Helvetia student union , in 1843 he took over the chairmanship from his friend Jakob Stämpfli for a year. In 1844 he was admitted to the bar and did a short internship in Thun . There he met Irma Margarita Bischoff, whom he later married and with whom he had four children. In the same year he founded his own law firm in Langenthal .

Canton politics

In August 1846 Bützberger was elected to the Grand Council , in which the radicals dominated. As soon as he was in office, he applied on behalf of the Petitions Commission for the reinstatement of Wilhelm Snell, who had been dismissed as professor at the University of Bern by the previous conservative government. The council rejected the application because the post had already been filled, but granted financial compensation. Eventually Snell was reinstated in 1849 by court order. In 1847 Bützberger successfully opposed the recall of the controversial theologian Eduard Zeller .

In the Grand Council, Bützberger repeatedly took a position on the new Federal Constitution of 1848. In his opinion, it was not centralized enough, and he particularly disliked the Council of States as the representation of the cantons . After Ulrich Ochsenbein was elected to the Federal Council in November 1848 , he was nominated as its successor in the Government Council, but was subject to the more moderate Johann Ulrich Lehmann . When Albrecht Jaggi resigned in August 1849 , Bützberger was elected. He turned down the choice, however, in favor of the independent professional practice as a lawyer.

In 1850 the conservatives around Eduard Blösch gained a narrow majority in the Grand Council and began to consistently fill state posts with their supporters. This approach caused great resentment, especially in the radical Oberaargau . In January 1852, Bützberger started a campaign aimed at recalling the conservative cantonal government. Over 16,000 citizens signed the referendum. In the referendum on April 18, 1852, however, only 46% approved the recall. After the elections of May 1854, the so-called “fusion” took place, with Bützberger expressly advocating this close cooperation between radicals and conservatives. He was a member of the nine-member commission that determined the composition of the government. From 1858 the radicals ruled alone again.

Bützberger was considered a talented rhetorician and repeatedly advocated the socially disadvantaged in the council when advising various legislative proposals. This concerned, for example, the expansion of the school system and inheritance law for illegitimate children. He was also successful in demanding that the law against cruelty to animals be tightened , which he enforced against the will of the government. In 1866, after having served on the Grand Council for twenty years, he did not stand for re-election.

Federal politics

Before the first National Council elections in October 1848, Bützberger expressly rejected a candidacy. When Karl Neuhaus died eight months later , he was nominated by the radicals of the Seeland constituency . In the by-election on July 8, 1849, he prevailed against Eduard Blösch with a turnout of only 11.2% and became a member of the National Council . Two years later, in the National Council elections in 1851 , he ran successfully in the constituency of Oberaargau . He was re-elected eleven times in a row, most recently in the National Council elections in 1884 . Bützberger was sworn in on August 1, 1851, and six days later he gave his first speech in the National Council. In doing so, he sharply attacked the Federal Council , which three weeks earlier had ordered the expulsion of the leaders of the failed Baden Revolution .

Federal Councilor Ulrich Ochsenbein fell out of favor with the radicals, as he had turned more and more to the conservatives. His re-election seemed ruled out, which is why the Bernese members of the Federal Assembly met for discussions on December 4 and 5, 1854. Rather surprisingly, they agreed to nominate the relatively inexperienced Bützberger as a candidate for the Federal Council, despite his poor knowledge of French. Many non-Berne MPs were angry because they had not been consulted and felt they were faced with a fait accompli. While Alfred Escher found Bützberger acceptable, Jakob Dubs described him as an "advocate without a statesmanlike eye". On December 6th, the choice finally fell on Jakob Stämpfli ; Bützberger, who was reluctant to accept the nomination, received 23 votes.

In 1856, Bützberger resolutely opposed the state treason trial against the leaders of the Sonderbund (and in particular Constantin Siegwart-Müller ). With his opinion, he was able to prevail in the National Council, while Guillaume-Henri Dufour's call for reconciliation was ineffective. Despite the refusal to grant an amnesty, Siegwart-Müller was able to return to Switzerland in 1857 and then lived undisturbed in the canton of Uri . From the mid-1860s onwards, Bützberger vigorously advocated standardization of the law. In particular, he spoke out in favor of the abolition of ohm money , although the canton of Bern in particular would suffer severe financial losses as a result (the Federal Assembly finally agreed on a 20-year transition period).

In the 1870s, Bützberger supported the total revision of the Federal Constitution (implemented in 1874), but could not gain much from the envisaged right of referendum because it did not go far enough for him. Instead, he suggested the right of initiative, as it gave the people more opportunities to exert influence. Federal Councilor Emil Welti fought Bützberger's proposal with the argument that the right of initiative would deprive Switzerland of its contractual capacity to the outside world. With the rejection of the draft constitution of 1872, the right of initiative also lapsed, as it was not included in the compromise proposal of 1874 that was ultimately adopted. A period of busy legislative activity followed as the laws had to be adapted to the new federal powers. Bützberger played a leading role, especially in the area of ​​civil law. The liability law contributed significantly his signature.

Military justice

Shortly before the outbreak of the Sonderbund War of 1847, Bützberger joined the judicial staff as captain . During the campaign he was an auditor for the Diet Army. In 1852 he was promoted to major and in 1856 was appointed chief judge of the 3rd division. In this position he worked during the subsequent Neuchâtel trade. In 1870/71, during the occupation of the border as a result of the Franco-German War , he was chief judge of the 1st division. After being promoted to colonel , he held the post of senior auditor from 1873 to 1876 .

literature

• Fritz Kasser: National Councilor Johann Bützberger in the political struggles of his time (Part 1) . In: Yearbook of the Oberaargau . tape 24 . Yearbook Association Oberaargau, Langenthal 1981, p. 131–168 ( PDF, 3.8 MB ).
• Fritz Kasser: National Councilor Johann Bützberger in the political struggles of his time (Part 2) . In: Yearbook of the Oberaargau . tape 26 . Yearbook Association Oberaargau, Langenthal 1983, p. 263-307 ( PDF, 5.6 MB ).

Web links

• Peter Stettler: Bützberger, Johann. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Publications by and about Johann Bützberger in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library