Karl Benziger
Karl Benziger ( Josef Carl Benziger ; born October 16, 1799 in Feldkirch , † May 4, 1873 in Einsiedeln ) was a Swiss publisher and liberal-conservative politician .
biography
Benziger was born on the run from the French in Feldkirch in 1799. His family returned to Einsiedeln in 1800 without any fortune. His father founded a bookstore in 1803, which he expanded together with his brother Franz Sales Benziger by taking over the printing company from the Einsiedeln monastery publishing house. Benziger joined his father's business at the age of 16. Together with his younger brother Josef Nikolaus Benziger, he built up the international publishing house Benziger with branches in the USA ( New York and Cincinnati ) for German-speaking emigrants. In the beginning, the publisher mainly produced edification literature . In 1860 he and his brother handed the company over to the next generation.
Benziger became a canton judge in 1825, and in 1827 councilor and governor of the Einsiedeln district . In 1829 and 1831 he was Landammann of the Einsiedeln district. He promoted the local school system and was a co-founder of the local savings fund and the Einsiedeln Hospital . When the canton of Schwyz was separated into two half-cantons in 1833, he was governor of the half-canton of Ausserschwyz , but he strove for the reunification of the cantonal parts with a new cantonal constitution with equal rights for the entire population of both cantons and an independent judiciary. In the reunified canton he was elected to the Grand Council . In the confusion of the Sonderbund , he campaigned against warmongering and for an amicable agreement with the liberal cantons. He saw the necessary progress in the liberal fundamental freedoms, but rejected the action of the liberals in the Aargau monastery dispute , the violent dissolution of the Sonderbund and the subsequent occupation of the original cantons, the reparation payments and the new federal constitution . In 1848 he was elected to the government council of the canton of Schwyz. From 1848 to 1850 he was provincial governor and from 1850 to 1852 he was the first Ausserschwyz governor of the canton Schwyz. He then resigned from the government and was elected to the Cantonal Council, where he stayed until 1862.
literature
- Franz Georg Maier: Benziger, Joseph Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 61 ( digitized version ). (only genealogical information, the actual text is in the online NDB under Benziger, Joseph Nikolaus )
Web links
- Franz Auf der Maur: Benziger, Karl. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Friedrich Pfau : Biographical Lexicon of the German Book Trade of the Present. Leipzig: Pfau, 1890, p. 32.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Benziger, Karl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Benziger, Josef Carl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss publisher and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 16, 1799 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Feldkirch |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 4, 1873 |
| Place of death | Einsiedeln |