Nicolaus Hermann

Nicolaus Hermann, xylography, 1888

Nicolaus Hermann (born October 21, 1818 in Sachseln ; † August 4, 1888 there ) was a Swiss politician. He was, among other Senate , National Assembly , Supreme Court President and Diet Envoy and Landammann of Obwalden .

Life

Hermann was born as the fourth and youngest child of the wealthy businessman and local politician Alois Hermann and his wife Katharina Spichtig-Hermann (1783–1868). His father ran the Krone economy below the Sachsler church and was elected to the church and district administrator in 1817. After attending school in Sachseln, at the college in Sarnen and at the convent school in Engelberg , Hermann briefly studied philosophy at the Jesuit college in Freiburg and law at the University of Munich .

In 1839 he returned from Munich to Obwalden and continued to run his father's tavern, the Alte Krone . In 1847 he married Anna Maria Josefa Ignatia (1819–1889). The marriage remained childless.

Act

In 1839 Hermann became councilor of Sachseln and district administrator in Sarnen. From 1841 to 1842 he was Landsäckelmeister and ruling Landammann in 1842/43 and 1845/46 . During this time he was several times envoy from Obwalden to the Federal Diet . Also in 1848 he was re-elected governing Landammann. Hermann supported the new Federal Constitution of 1848. In 1849 he became a member of the Council of States of the canton of Obwalden. He held this office for 23 years until he failed in a new re-election in 1872. From 1853 to 1874 he was also a member of the Federal Supreme Court , of which he was President in 1865.

Together with Franz Wirz, Hermann was one of Nikodem Spichtig's political foster sons . As ringlord from 1815 to 1847 and as governor from 1821, he had led the canton for almost three decades. While Hermann was a Councilor of States, Wirz served as a National Councilor from the parliamentary elections in 1878 until his death.

In 1862 Hermann founded the first newspaper in Obwalden, the Obwaldner Wochen-Zeitung , which he renamed the Obwaldner Zeitung in 1865 . Until the newspaper was discontinued at the end of 1873, he was the newspaper's editor and publisher. Since 1870 a rival paper appeared with the Obwalden Volksfreund .

In 1878 Hermann moved to the Obwalden government council and was again Landammann several times (1878, 1881, 1884 and 1887). He was also delegated to Bern again, but now as a National Council . He held this office until his death in 1888.

Hermann played an essential part in the draft of the Obwalden cantonal constitution of 1850 and its revision in 1867, as well as in the entire cantonal legislation.

With that Hermann was the outstanding Obwalden politician for almost 50 years.

Offices

• 1841–1888 Mayor of Sachseln
• 1849–1872 Council of States of the Canton of Obwalden (Catholic Conservative), 1861/62 President of the Council of States
• 1850–1857 President of the Obwalden War Council
• 1850–1868 President of the Obwalden Cantonal Court
• 1853–1874 member of the Federal Supreme Court, 1865 President
• 1868–1878 President of the Obwalden Higher Court
• 1878–1888 National Councilor of the Canton of Obwalden

literature

• Niklaus von Flüe : Nicolaus Hermann 1818–1888. The most important Sachsler politician of the 19th century , self-published, Kerns 2009.

Web links

• Roland Sigrist: Hermann, Nicolaus. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .