Walther Stampfli

Walther Stampfli

Walther Stampfli (born December 3, 1884 in Büren SO ; † October 11, 1965 in Zurich , entitled to live in Aeschi ) was a Swiss politician ( FDP ) and manager . After graduating, he worked as a journalist for the Oltner Tagblatt for ten years , then as secretary of the Solothurn Trade and Industry Association. From 1921 he was the executive secretary of the von Roll'schen Eisenwerke , from 1929 its commercial director. His political career began in 1912 when he was elected to the Solothurn Cantonal Council , to which he was a member for 25 years. From 1931 he represented the Canton of Solothurn in the National Council . 1940 Stampfli was approved by the Federal Assembly in the Federal Council elected and took over because of his economic expertise, the Department of Economic Affairs . In the years of the Second World War he had to ensure the supply of the country with food, raw materials and energy, for which he had to come to terms with the Axis powers . He supported Friedrich Traugott Wahlen in implementing the " cultivation battle ". Stampfli also promoted old-age and survivors' insurance from 1944 , which was introduced four years later. After retiring in late 1947, he remained in business for over a decade.

biography

Studies, work and family

He was the second oldest of six children of the district teacher Kaspar Stampfli and Emilie Füeg. The father also ran an agricultural business part-time; the younger brother Oskar Stampfli officiated later as Councilor of the Canton of Solothurn . Walther Stampfli attended primary school and the district school in his birthplace Büren. He later graduated from the Solothurn Cantonal School , where he belonged to the Wengia Solodorensis student association . After passing his Matura , he began studying mathematics and natural sciences at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich in 1902 , which he broke off after two years. Within a year he obtained a diploma as an insurance salesman from the University of Göttingen . In 1905 the member of the Helvetia student union returned to Switzerland to continue his studies at the law and political economy faculty of the University of Zurich . Under Heinrich Herkner he received his doctorate in 1906 with a thesis on private insurance.

Stampfli belonged to the left, socially critical wing of the Liberals . On January 1, 1908, he took over the editing of the Oltner Tagblatt and in the following ten years led frequent journalistic campaigns against the Catholic Conservatives. At first he sympathized with the Social Democrats , but distanced himself significantly from them after the national strike in November 1918. Stampfli married Ida Kuoch, daughter of the federal telegraph director Thomas Kuoch, in June 1916 and had three children with her. From 1918 he worked as secretary of the Solothurn Trade and Industry Association, from 1921 as executive secretary of the von Roll'schen Eisenwerke in Gerlafingen . Within the company, he was promoted to director of commercial and social affairs in 1929. In addition, he presided over the Solothurner Kantonalbank from 1935 and was a member of the board of directors of the Rentenanstalt .

Due to his professional activity, Stampfli had close business relationships with the German Reich even after the seizure of power , but he was an avowed opponent of the National Socialist ideology. His sister-in-law was married to a German industrialist, a Jew. This was after the Reichskristallnacht of 9./10. Arrested November 1938 and confiscated his property. Stampfli immediately traveled to Germany and, thanks to his connections, was able to free the relative from prison and bring him to safety in Switzerland with his sister-in-law. However, his attitude towards the extreme right was ambivalent . After the Second World War he was a sponsor of Waldemar Pabst (murderer of the German Marxist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht ), who worked for the Solothurn arms factory . In addition, Stampfli is said to have exerted massive pressure on federal prosecutor René Dubois , who investigated Pabst and the arms dealer Gregori Messen-Jashin in the 1950s and who committed suicide under mysterious circumstances.

Cantonal and federal politics

Stampfli's political career began in 1912 when he was elected to the Cantonal Council . In the following 25 years he represented three different constituencies, at times he was parliamentary group president of the Solothurn Liberals . His political opponents described him as an excellent, passionate and extremely tough speaker. In 1917 he was subject to the joint candidate of a social-democratic-conservative alliance in the government council election, and in 1922 he was President of the Cantonal Council. Stampfli ran successfully in the National Council elections in 1931 and was now also politically active at the federal level. He represented the interests of the economy to socialist and corporatist claims that during the Great Depression had caught on in large parts of the population.

On the other hand, Stampfli also campaigned for the expansion of the welfare state. He was involved in the “Swiss Association of Benefit Funds and Foundations for Old Age and Invalidity”, the association of private pension institutions. In 1925 the people had approved the constitutional basis for old-age and survivors' insurance. Stampfli supported Economics Minister Edmund Schulthess in his efforts to create an implementation law, but the "Lex Schulthess" was clearly rejected in a referendum vote on December 6, 1931. A state pension model initially failed, which is why Stampfli promoted the expansion of private pension provision. In 1934, after Heinrich Häberlin resigned, he was asked whether he wanted to run for the Federal Council . He resigned, stating that he could not be held responsible to his family for exchanging his post as director for the insecure government activity. In 1937 he gave up his mandate in the Cantonal Council and concentrated on the National Council.

A year and a half later, Switzerland experienced one of the most critical moments in its history in the early stages of World War II , because after the end of the campaign in the west and France's surrender on June 25, 1940, the country was completely surrounded by the Axis powers . Foreign Minister Marcel Pilet-Golaz tried to calm the population down in a radio address, but did the opposite, as his words were perceived as conformist. In addition, the seriously ill economics minister Hermann Obrecht had announced his resignation at the end of July five days earlier. Since none of the other Federal Councilors wanted to change departments, a successor with economic expertise had to be found. Rather reluctantly, Stampfli was put up as a candidate by the FDP parliamentary group , whereupon the Catholic Conservatives and the BGB promised their support. In the Federal Council replacement election on July 18, 1940, the Federal Assembly elected him in the first ballot with 142 of 217 valid votes; the Social Democrat Gustav Wenk received 51 votes, and other people 24 votes.

Federal Council

On August 1, 1940, Stampfli took over as planned as head of the Department of Economic Affairs . At that time it was the actual key department, as it looked after more than half of all business matters of the Federal Council. In particular, it had the task of ensuring Switzerland's supply of food, raw materials and energy and creating jobs. Stampfli had to find a balance between Switzerland's neutrality and the blackmailing of the Axis powers. After initial hesitation, he supported a plan that Friedrich Traugott Wahlen , the head of the department for agricultural production and housekeeping at the War Food Office , had been preparing since 1937: With the help of the " cultivation battle ", the agricultural area was to be systematically increased and thereby the degree of self-sufficiency increased. Against the resistance of the army, Stampfli was able to ensure that the necessary resources and workers were available. There were repeated disputes with General Henri Guisan , with the Federal Council mostly prevailing.

Stampfli expanded the militia system- based war economy introduced by his predecessor . By 1943 the number of employees in the trade delegation had increased 17-fold to over 3,600. Switzerland had to deliver weapons to the Germans and Italians and allow transit traffic through the Gotthard . In return, tough negotiations were able to ensure that iron, coal and other raw materials continued to reach Switzerland. At times, more than 90% of imports were handled via the port of Genoa , which resulted in the rapid development of an independent Swiss ocean-going shipping company . Gradually, Stampfli succeeded in appearing more self-confident by countering demands from the Axis powers with counterclaims in favor of the Allies .

The later Federal Councilor Hans Schaffner said of Stampfli's direct manner and sometimes impulsive conduct of negotiations: "If the negotiations stalled because the German demands were unacceptable to Switzerland, Stampfli quoted the German delegation leaders and spoke to them. It was often very loud. He was not squeamish with the emissaries of the Nazi regime and sometimes downright shouted at them in his room. " The more the fortunes of war leaned on the side of the Allies, the more they hardened their position vis-à-vis Switzerland and, in turn, made demands. This led Stampfli to say during a Federal Council meeting that the Germans had never treated them worse, that is, the Allies. He justified his giving in to the Axis powers with the principle "first live and then philosophize". He also said: “I don't care what our descendants will say. I'm more interested in what today's generation would say if they had no coal and nothing to eat. "

In domestic politics, too, Stampfli proved to be a skilled negotiator: when the workers of the Bally shoe company demanded that a collective labor agreement be concluded , boss Iwan Bally (then a member of the Solothurn Council of States ) categorically refused. The unions then asked Stampfli for support. He forced Bally to sign a contract by threatening that the army would otherwise no longer purchase military shoes from his company. During the war, Stampfli prevented the state from intervening in the domestic economy that was not due to the war economy, as he feared the final suppression of trade and business freedom . After the end of the war, he began to gradually dismantle interventionist provisions. He only succeeded in doing this, however, because in 1947 the people and the cantons just agreed to a federal resolution that anchored individual corporatist provisions in the federal constitution. This included the establishment of consultation procedures and the general binding nature of collective bargaining agreements.

Preparatory work for the introduction of old-age and survivors' insurance (AHV) was started at the end of the 1930s, but faded into the background due to the war. Due to numerous political advances, Stampfli began to vigorously promote the AHV in 1943. In 1944 he was Federal President . In his first official act, the New Year's address, he announced the imminent introduction of state pension schemes. A little later he set up a commission of experts that worked out the basics together with the Federal Social Insurance Office . Stampfli managed to win over parties, trade associations and unions for his project of a rather modestly funded old age and survivors' insurance, which guaranteed the continued existence of private pension funds. In the referendum of July 6, 1947, the federal law on old-age and survivors' insurance was passed with 80.0% of the votes, with a participation of 79.7%. The AHV started its activity on January 1st, 1948. Since then, Stampfli has been known as the “father of the AHV” - just like Hans-Peter Tschudi , who significantly expanded the social welfare organization in the 1960s.

further activities

With the adoption of the AHV, Stampfli had achieved his most important political goal and also created a lasting legacy, which is why he resigned as Federal Councilor at the end of 1947. His authoritarian leadership style, which tolerated no contradiction, had been useful during the war. In the post-war period , however, he encountered more and more resistance from parliamentarians. He withdrew from politics and was then back in management positions in business. From 1948 to 1960 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of von Roll'schen Eisenwerke, and from 1948 to 1963 of the Biberist paper mill. In addition, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Bank Corporation , the Bally Group and Escher Wyss AG .

Stampfli's lifelong social commitment was shaped by his daughter, who was severely disabled due to a birth defect. He presided over the «Swiss Working Group for the Integration of the Disabled into the Economy». In 1952 he was one of the founders of the Brunau Foundation, which four years later opened an integration center for the mentally and physically disabled in Zurich and which he chaired until 1963.

literature

• Georg Hafner: Walther Stampfli . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 371-376 .
• Georg Hafner: Federal Councilor Walther Stampfli (1884–1965): Head of the war economy in World War II, Federal Councilor father of the AHV . Dietschi Verlag, Olten 1986.
• Martin Meier, Stefan Frech, Thomas Gees, Blaise Kropf: Swiss Foreign Economic Policy 1930–1948: Structures - Negotiations - Functions . Ed .: Independent Expert Commission Switzerland - Second World War . Chronos Verlag, Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-0340-0610-1 .
• Federal Councilor Dr. Walther Stampfli as a souvenir . Cooperative community center Rössli, Balsthal 1974.

Web links

Commons : Walther Stampfli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Georg Hafner: Stampfli, Walther. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Walther Stampfli in the Dodis databaseof diplomatic documents in Switzerland
• Newspaper article about Walther Stampfli in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hafner: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 371.
2. ^ ^{A b} Hafner: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 371-372.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Stampfli, Walther (1884–1965). In: Base de données des élites suisses au XXe s. University of Lausanne , accessed June 2, 2019 (French). 
4. ^ Hafner: Federal Councilor Walther Stampfli (1884–1965). Pp. 179-181.
5. ↑ Wolfgang Hafner: The crisis - and overcoming it . In: Historischer Verein des Kantons Solothurn (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Solothurn history . tape 84 . Solothurn 2011, p. 14 .
6. ↑ ^{a b} Walther Stampfli. In: History of social security in Switzerland. Federal Social Insurance Office , 2013, accessed on June 2, 2019 . 
7. ^ ^{A b} Hafner: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 372.
8. ^ Hafner: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 372-373.
9. ^ Hafner: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 373-374.
10. ^ German Vogt: Switzerland in the stranglehold of the Allies and Germany . In: Historischer Verein des Kantons Solothurn (Hrsg.): Yearbook for Solothurn history . tape 78 . Solothurn 2005, p. 133 .
11. ↑ Festschrift for the inauguration of the memorial relief in honor of Stampfli, 1975.
12. ^ Herbert Reginbogin : The comparison - The politics of Switzerland at the time of the Second World War in the international environment . Ed .: Working Group Lived History . Th. Gut Verlag, Stäfa 2006, ISBN 3-85717-176-6 , p. 22-23 .
13. ^ Parliamentary initiative Hegetschweiler Rolf; Shop opening times in public transport centers. Ernst Leuenberger's website , September 30, 2004, accessed June 2, 2019 . 
14. ^ Hafner: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 374.
15. ^ Yvo Hangartner: Economic article . In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
16. ^ ^{A b} Hafner: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 375.

predecessor	Office	successor
Hermann Obrecht	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1940–1947	Rodolphe Rubattel