Walter Amstalden

Walter Amstalden (born August 30, 1883 in Sarnen ; † June 19, 1966 there ) was a Swiss politician and lawyer . Between 1931 and 1943 he was, among other things, Landammann of the Canton of Obwalden and from 1926 to 1943 Council of States .

biography

Amstalden was the son of Marquard Amstalden and Karolina Amstalden, b. Röthlin, from Kerns. He married Johanna Dillier. After attending the Benedictine colleges in Engelberg and Sarnen , he studied law at the University of Freiburg . In 1908 he opened a law firm in Sarnen. In addition, he was from 1909 to 1917 editor of the Obwalden Volksfreund . As early as 1910 he became Obwalden public prosecutor and remained so until 1930.

Political activity

Amstalden began his successful political career as a representative of the Catholic Conservative Party in Sarnen: from 1914 to 1926 he was a civic council, from 1916 to 1924 a village councilor and from 1920 to 1929 president of the Sarnen community. In 1918 he was elected to the board of directors of Obwaldner Kantonalbank , which he chaired from 1924 to 1954.

Amstalden was elected to the Cantonal Council in 1919. He belonged to this until 1930 and was its president from 1927-28. From 1926 to 1943 he represented Obwalden in the Council of States, which he presided over in 1935/36. In 1930 he was elected to the Obwalden government council, which he chaired every two years from 1931 to 1943 as Landammann. In addition, he was President of the Sanitary Council from 1930 to 1944, and from 1935 to 1947 the Board of Education as well as a member or president of various cantonal commissions, of numerous boards of directors, of the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA) and of business associations.

Amstalden was known for his legal knowledge, eloquence and leadership skills. Despite, or perhaps because of, its successful work, the Obwalden constitutional initiative “Against the accumulation of offices and for the limitation of the term of office” (“Against the bondage of offices and armchairs”) was adopted in 1942. The referendum campaign caused a sensation nationwide. Under the motto “Uri, Schwyz and Amstalden”, the initiators had above all criticized Amstalden's accumulation of offices and power and attacked the Catholic Conservatives, who ruled Obwalden as a unity party. The initiative was accepted with a clear majority with a participation of 75%. As a result, Amstalden had to resign from the Council of States in 1943, and around half of all municipal councils, cantonal councils and judges in the canton had to resign. In 1944, Amstalden also resigned as a member of the government, but remained Chairman of the Board of Directors of Obwaldner Kantonalbank, President of the Board of Education, College Administrator (1942 to 1954) and member of various cantonal commissions and was President of the Constitutional Council in 1947.

Awards

In 1936 Amstalden received an honorary doctorate from the University of Freiburg . In 1950 he became Commander of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem .

Trivia

The actor, director and author Simon Ledermann wrote the play "Seiler - Wenn eine eifach nid lugg lahd", which addresses the political struggle of the opponents Josef Seiler and Walter Amstalden. Josef Seiler (1907–2000) was the postman from Sarnen at the time, secretary of the “Progressive Party Obwalden”, editor of the liberal newspaper “Der Unterwaldner”, founder of the Seefeld cinema (Lichtspieltheater AG Sarnen) and an active speaker at the regional parishes. This struggle culminated in 1942 in the popular initiative “Against slaves and armchairs”, the main initiator of which was Josef Seiler. The piece premiered in Sarnen in 2012 under the direction of Simon Ledermann.

literature

• Roland Sigrist: Amstalden, Walter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Christian Sidler: Against slavery and armchair gluing. The story of a successful referendum in Obwalden at the time of the Second World War . In: Obwaldner Geschichtsblätter , Heft 20: 1994, pp. 179–186

Web links

• Publications by and about Walter Amstalden in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library
• Photo by Walter Amstalden from 1934 in the online inventory of the State Archives of the Canton of Bern

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obwaldner / Nidwaldner Kulturblatt (PDF; 5.1 MB) , supplement in the Neue Obwaldner Zeitung and the Neue Nidwaldner Zeitung of September 14, 2012, p. 9
2. ↑ Theater Sarnen, piece information: "Seiler - When a single nid lugg lahd." ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 18, 2012 
3. ↑ Between history and history , article in the Neue Obwaldner Zeitung from October 15, 2012