Karl Scheurer

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Karl Scheurer (around 1920)

Karl Scheurer (born September 27, 1872 in Sumiswald , † November 14, 1929 in Bern , resident in Erlach ) was a Swiss politician ( FDP ). From 1901 to 1910 he was a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern . He was then a government councilor until 1919 , where he headed the judiciary and military directorate in his first five years of office and then headed the financial directorate. At the same time, he was represented in the National Council from 1911 to 1919 . Finally he was elected to the Federal Council in December 1919 and headed the military department from 1920 until his death .

biography

Study and job

Scheurer was the second oldest child of the famous politician Alfred Scheurer and Verena Grossenbacher. After the father was elected to the government council in 1878 , the family moved to Bern . In 1882 the Scheurers moved to Gampelen , where they owned a farm with a vineyard. Karl Scheurer completed the upper school in neighboring Ins . Later he lived with his uncle, a veterinarian, in Burgdorf , where he attended high school. In 1892 he began to study law at the University of Bern . He joined the Zofingia and presided over the fraternity for several years. He completed his studies after eight semesters with a license to practice law . After short internships in Burgdorf and Pruntrut , he opened his own law firm in Bern in 1897. At the age of 27 he became a deputy judge at the Bern Higher Court . In the military he had the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded a howitzer division until 1915 .

Cantonal and federal politics

Scheurer began his political career in 1901 when he was elected to the Grand Council , where he represented the Erlach district and belonged to the FDP parliamentary group. In 1909 he was Vice President of the Grand Council. In 1910 he was elected to the government council , after which he took over the management of the judiciary and military directorate. Scheurer initiated numerous reforms. These included the implementing provisions for the new civil code , a new code of civil procedure and a new railway law. In close collaboration with Otto Kellerhals , he reformed the penal system . With an administrative reform he ensured a quick mobilization in case of war.

In 1913 Scheurer served as President of the Government Council, and in 1915 he took over finance management. Ex officio , he was now at the same time a board member of the Berner Kantonalbank and a member of the board of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn . In parallel to his executive mandate, he was elected to the National Council in the parliamentary elections in 1911 and then represented the constituency of Bern-Seeland . He did not like this office, which is why he decided not to run again in 1917. His party colleagues persuaded him to run again. In 1919 he finally gave up his mandate from the National Council because he did not want to stand for election in accordance with the newly introduced proportional voting system.

After Eduard Müller's death on November 9, 1919, Scheurer was considered the most promising candidate for his successor in the Federal Council . He was stubbornly urged to run for office from various quarters - by the Catholic Conservatives, the Liberals and the Liberals. He did not seek this position himself, but was persuaded by peasant leader Rudolf Minger and rather reluctantly agreed. In the Federal Council election on December 11, 1919, Scheurer received 155 of 193 valid votes in the first ballot; The former FDP party president Emil Lohner received 20 votes, and other people 18 votes.

Federal Council

On January 1, 1920, Scheurer took over the military department . In the following years he contributed significantly to the modernization of military technology. He was able to convince the people to reject a popular initiative submitted by the Social Democrats to abolish military justice ; on January 30, 1921, only 33.6% agreed to this matter. During his entire term in office, Scheurer had to grapple with the anti-army stance of the Social Democrats, who put up stubborn resistance to the military budget every year. He was the last head of the military department to wear the military uniform on defilees and other official occasions.

From right: Anna Kellerhals-Scheurer (sister of the Federal Council) and Verena Scheurer-Grossenbacher (mother) in 1934 at the inauguration of a memorial stone for Karl Scheurer

In 1923, when he was Federal President , Scheurer initiated a new troop order. The most important innovations included the establishment of an aircraft and motor vehicle troops, the strengthening of the mountain troops and the upgrading of the Landwehr. Due to differences of opinion on detailed issues, there was a break with the Chief of Staff Emil Sonderegger , who suddenly resigned and announced his resignation to the press without prior consultation. This brusque demeanor, which Scheurer viewed as a serious lack of discipline, caused great excitement. Despite this incident, he was able to convince parliament of the new troop order in 1924, especially since he received support from the former General Ulrich Wille .

Scheurer suffered from various ailments during his tenure. In a riding accident, he suffered a chronic leg injury, and also had pain in the sciatic nerve and increasing visual disturbances. In 1929 his longstanding goiter deteriorated noticeably. At the end of October, after a long hesitation, he had his goiter operated. Two weeks later he died on November 14, 1929 at the age of 57 after several heart attacks and fever attacks.

literature

Web links

Commons : Karl Scheurer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Böschenstein: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 301.
  2. ^ Böschenstein: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 301-302.
  3. ↑ a b Böschenstein: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 302.
  4. ↑ Referendum of January 30, 1921. admin.ch , August 20, 2013, accessed on August 22, 2013 .
  5. ^ Böschenstein: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 302-303.
  6. ^ Böschenstein: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 303-304.
  7. ^ Böschenstein: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 304.
predecessor Office successor
Eduard Müller Member of the Swiss Federal Council
1920–1929 		Rudolf Minger
personal data
SURNAME Scheurer, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician (FDP)
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Sumiswald
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1929
Place of death Bern