Robert Haab

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Haab 1928/29

Robert Haab (born August 8, 1865 in Wädenswil ; † October 15, 1939 in Zurich ; resident in Wädenswil) was a Swiss politician ( FDP ) and judge . From 1899 to 1908 he worked at the higher court of the canton of Zurich , from 1912 to 1917 as a member of the general management of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). In between he was a member of the Zurich government , and in 1917 was temporarily the Swiss envoy to Germany . Without ever having been a member of the National Council or Council of States, he was elected to the Federal Council in 1919 . Until 1929 he was in charge of the postal and railway department . In this office he pushed ahead with the electrification of the SBB route network and expanded the post, telephone and telegraph companies .

biography

Study and job

The only son of the businessman Robert Haab senior and Elisabeth Stamm attended primary and secondary school in his birthplace, Wädenswil. He received his high school education at the Rämibühl Cantonal School in Zurich . After passing his Matura , he studied law at the universities of Zurich , Strasbourg and Leipzig . In 1888 he received his doctorate from the University of Jena with a thesis on the history and dogmatics of the Heitz trading company. After a short time as an employed lawyer in the Zurich law firm Honegger & Zuppinger, he opened his own law firm in Wädenswil on July 1, 1889 . After ten years of professional activity as an independent lawyer, Haab was elected judge at the higher court of the Canton of Zurich in 1899 . In 1908 he was President of the Supreme Court.

In the military, Haab had the rank of lieutenant colonel . In 1892 he married Clara Landis (1871-1924), a daughter of the Richterswil textile industrialist and National Councilor Heinrich Landis . The couple had three children together. His son Robert Haab jr. later was professor and rector of the University of Basel .

Politics, Administration and Diplomacy

Haabs political career began in 1892 with the election to the Wädenswiler council , which he 1894-1899 as mayor board. In 1894, he was also elected to the Cantonal Council of the Canton of Zurich as a candidate for the FDP . He belonged to this until 1902 and again from 1906 to 1908. In 1908 the people of Zurich elected him to the government council , the executive branch of the canton. He first headed the judiciary, police and military directorate, then the building directorate. At the same time he was in the management of the Swiss Southeast Railway for 17 years .

In 1912, Haab resigned as a member of the government, having been appointed by the Federal Council as a member of the General Management of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) the year before . He succeeded Plazid Weissenbach jr. and headed the legal department of SBB. In addition to this task, the Federal Council entrusted him with various special economic missions to Germany and Romania during the First World War . At the beginning of 1917, the state government sent him to Berlin as an envoy , maintaining his traditional post with the SBB.

Haab only stayed a few months as envoy in the German capital. After Federal Councilor Ludwig Forrer announced his resignation at the end of the year, Council of States Paul Emil Usteri was initially under discussion as a successor, but he refused - as did National Councilors Alfred Frey and Hans Sträuli . The Zurich FDP then proposed two candidates, in addition to Council of States Oskar Wettstein and Robert Haab. In the Federal Council election on December 13, 1917, Haab received 163 out of 208 valid votes in the first ballot, Wettstein received 20 votes, and other people 23 votes. Haab had not expected his election and was therefore not even present in the Federal Palace. He sent a telegram to say that he would accept the election.

Federal Council

Robert Haab (undated photo)

On January 1, 1918, Haab took over the management of the Post and Railway Department . He was able to contribute the experience he had gained at SBB. He had to lead his department through the difficult times of the last months of the war and the post-war period. His predecessor Forrer had started to plan the electrification of the federal railways , but had to stop this work due to the war. Haab now put this project into practice; By 1928, more than half of the SBB route network was already under power. The electrification, which took place at an unprecedented rate, and the associated involvement of industry and commerce, also resulted in a containment of the then threatened unemployment and a marked reduction in the country's dependence on coal imports. In addition, he undertook a profound reorganization of the SBB, which was completed in 1926.

Haab's Department issued significant new regulations on the postal and telecommunications system, with which the postal, telephone and telegraph companies (PTT) developed into a state model company. In 1921, the PTT also took on responsibility for Liechtenstein's postal and telecommunications services and, from 1923, transmitted the first radio broadcasts in Switzerland. Haab was Federal President for the first time in 1922 . In this role he chaired the pre-conference of neutral states for the Genoa Conference and opened the Lausanne Conference on a peace treaty with Turkey . His second presidential year in 1929 was marked by the beginning of the global economic crisis . On September 20, 1929, Haab confirmed a report published two days earlier in the daily newspaper Volksrecht , according to which he would resign at the end of the year for health reasons. He was succeeded by Albert Meyer .

further activities

After his resignation, Haab moved back to Zurich and devoted himself to charitable and cultural issues. He was also a member of various boards of directors , including the Swiss Bankers Association and the Maggi company . In 1934, at the request of the Federal Council, he took over the presidency of the Swiss Volksbank . The municipality of Richterswil had made him an honorary citizen in 1922 , and in 1933 the University of Zurich awarded him an honorary doctorate in law and politics. He died on October 15, 1939 at the age of 74 after returning seriously ill from a spa stay in the Engadine . He found his final resting place in the Manegg cemetery in Zurich . The sculptor Otto Charles Bänninger created a larger than life bronze statue in honor of Haab in 1940, which was erected in his home town of Wädenswil in Rosenmatt Park.

Fonts

  • Contribution to the history and dogmatics of the trading company. Heitz, Strasbourg 1888 ( digitized version ).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Ziegler: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 296.
  2. ↑ Morgenblatt, Agramer Tagesblatt (ed.): The new Swiss Federal President: Dr. Robert Haab . No. 346 . Zagreb December 16, 1928 ( hwwa.de ).
  3. ^ Ziegler: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 296-297.
  4. ^ A b Ziegler: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 297.
  5. ^ Bernhard Studer: Swiss Railways: on the way to the future . Alba, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-87094-163-4 , p. 134 .
  6. ^ Karl Kronig: Post, Telephone and Telegraph Companies (PTT). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  7. ^ Ziegler: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 298-299.
  8. ^ Ziegler: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 299-300.
predecessor Office successor
Ludwig Forrer Member of the Swiss Federal Council
1918–1929 		Albert Meyer
personal data
SURNAME Haab, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician (FDP)
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Waedenswil
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1939
Place of death Zurich