Züriputsch
The Zurich coup was a reactionary overthrow of the government of the canton of Zurich on September 6, 1839. The German media reporting on this overthrow brought the word putsch (originally bang, violent shock, puff, impact) , originally used only in Switzerland , into the another German-speaking area.
course
On March 10, 1831, the canton of Zurich enacted a radical, liberal constitution that implemented popular sovereignty , freedom of belief, freedom of the press, freedom of trade and industry, separation of powers , secularization of the education system and other liberal postulates. This "renewal" (regeneration) went back to a popular movement ( Ustertag ) that had been brought into being by radical and liberal opinion leaders in 1830. Zurich was one of seven Swiss cantons (so-called regeneration cantons ) that were named after the French. July Revolution of 1830 renewed their constitutions in the liberal sense and guaranteed each other within the framework of the Seven Concordat on March 17, 1832. At the beginning of 1832, part of the victorious liberals, the "radicals", allied themselves with representatives of the countryside against the domination of the city. As a result, the demolition of the city fortifications was enforced, which were considered a symbol of urban power and the demarcation between city and landscape. The leaders of the radical movement were Conrad Melchior Hirzel and Friedrich Ludwig Keller .
After the regeneration of the state, the education system and the church should also be renewed. In April 1833 the University of Zurich was founded and the secularization of the elementary school was enforced. In the future, teaching should no longer be given by the Reformed pastor, but by trained primary school teachers at the newly founded teacher training college , the Küsnacht Cantonal School. In order to renew the church, too, on February 2, 1839, at the instigation of Mayor Hirzel, the Great Council appointed the German reform theologian David Friedrich Strauss from Tübingen to the theological faculty of the University of Zurich . Strauss had caused a sensation in the entire German-speaking area with his book “Das Leben Jesu”, with which he wanted to demythologize the person of Jesus . However, there was such a protest against this appeal throughout the canton that the government had to reverse it. The dispute over the person of Strauss went down in Zurich's history as the " ostrich trade ". The government then believed it had the situation under control again, and Mayor Hirzel went on vacation to St. Moritz.
For the opposition, the ostrich trade was a godsend. The conservative rural population in the canton of Zurich, critical of modernization , was systematically incited against the new elementary school teachers and the radical-liberal government. The traditional religion and the position of the (especially Reformed) clergy are endangered by modernization. The education council did not manage to calm the anger of the people, although it even demanded evidence of the "moral conduct" of all elementary school teachers. In addition, a general attitude of the rural population against any kind of renewal also played a certain role. The rapid modernization of all areas of life overwhelmed the often poorly educated simple population. Demagogues and agitators had an easy time of it, as z. B. had shown during the machine storm in Uster ( Usterbrand ) in 1832. To combat the modern elementary school, a tightly organized "faith committee" was formed in the spring of 1839, which had branches in all districts and communities. The committee acted as a kind of counter-government and prepared organizationally for the overthrow.
The upheaval was triggered by an interview with the Bernese State Councilor Charles Neuhaus , who stated that his government would strictly adhere to the Seven Concordat and, if necessary, move out to Zurich with 15 battalions to protect the liberal government. The Zurich government hastened to reject the unsolicited offer of help, but could not prevent the rumor from spreading in the countryside that Bernese troops were already on their way to suppress the protest movement in order to "exterminate the right religion".
On September 5, 1839, pastor Bernhard Hirzel from Pfäffikon ZH let the bells ring because he believed in the rumors. Under the slogan "Forward, he who is a good Christian!" The rural people moved to the city of Zurich under his leadership. On the morning of September 6th, around 2000 gunmen arrived in Oberstrass near Zurich. The government had already met since 4 a.m. and sent two representatives to Oberstrass to appease the rural people and to persuade them to leave. Its leaders, however, asked to be allowed to hand over a petition to the government and wanted to be fed. After this mediation attempt, the government holed up in the post office near Paradeplatz and had Colonel Salomon Hirzel cordoned off the area with the help of 350 student officers.
When the wild bunch from the countryside arrived on Münsterplatz - as the city walls had been torn down, they could not be prevented from entering the city - they clashed with the government troops. Suddenly, shots rang out and the situation escalated. The infantrymen opened fire and the dragoons cleared the place. Fourteen putschists were left dead on the square. Government councilor Johannes Hegetschweiler , who actually wanted to deliver the order to stop the fire, also died.
As a result of the battle, the government council of the canton of Zurich effectively disbanded because it no longer knew how to deal with the situation. At that moment, Colonel Paul Carl Eduard Ziegler , the municipality's president, took the initiative and formed a new, conservative government in the form of a provisional council of state. This consisted of four members of the overthrown government and three new members from the circle of the opposition, including its leader, Johann Jakob Hürlimann . The new government tried to avert impending intervention by other radical-liberal cantons or by the highest body of the Confederation at the time, the daily statute , by guaranteeing that the constitution of 1831 would continue to exist. However, the other cantons of Switzerland were far too divided for an armed intervention in Zurich to be possible.
In a tumultuous meeting on September 9, 1839, the State Council unconstitutionally decided to dissolve the Grand Council of the Canton of Zurich and called new elections. The new, conservative Grand Council met within ten days, which, according to the call for elections, should not consist of "scientifically educated" but of "godly" men. The council - also unconstitutionally - filled all authorities with new, reactionary heads. The so-called "September regime" did not last long, however. As early as 1845, the Liberals took power again in Zurich.
See also
literature
- Brief Zurich Constitutional History 1218–2000 (PDF; 3.2 MB) . Published by the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich on behalf of the Directorate of Justice and the Interior on the day the Zurich Constitutional Council was constituted on September 13, 2000. Chronos, Zurich 2000. ISBN 3-905314-03-7
- Emil Zopfi : Shot and Ice - when Zurich's country folk staged a coup against the government . Historical novel. Limmat Verlag, Zurich 2005. ISBN 3-85791-487-4
- Züriputsch. September 6, 1839 - Victory of the just cause or September disgrace. A publication by the Antiquarian Society Pfäffikon and the Paul Kläui Library in Uster. Pfäffikon / Uster 1989. ISBN 3-85981-155-X
