View source for Eduard von Steiger

{{Short description|Swiss politician}}
{{Infobox politician
| name                = Eduard von Steiger
| image               = Eduard von Steiger.gif
| signature           = Eduard von Steiger - Signature dans l'annuaire des Autorités fédérales - 1943.jpg
| birth_name          = Adolf Eduard von Steiger
| caption             = Official portrait, 1951
| occupation          = Lawyer, politician
| children            = 1
| office              = 51st [[President of the Swiss Confederation]]
| term_start          = 
| term_end            = 
| term                = 1 January 1951 – 31 December 1951
| prior_term          = 1 January 1945 – 31 December 1945
| constituency        = [[Canton of Bern]]
| successor           = [[Jean-Marie Musy]]
| office2             = Member of the [[Federal Council (Switzerland)|Federal Council]]
| term2               = 1 January 1941 – 31 December 1951
| relations           = [[René Derolez]] (son-in-law)
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1881|07|02|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1962|02|10|1881|07|02|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Bern, Switzerland]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Beatrice Gabrielle von Muelinen|1914}}
}}

'''Adolf Eduard von Steiger''' ({{IPA|de-CH|ˈeːdu.ard fɔn ˈʃtaɪɡər|lang}}; 2 July 1881 – 10 February 1962) was a Swiss lawyer and politician who served as the 51st [[President of the Swiss Confederation]] twice in 1945 and 1951 for [[Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents]] (presently known as [[Swiss People's Party]]). Von Steiger served as a Member of the [[Federal Council (Switzerland)|Federal Council]] from 1941 to 1951 and previously on the [[Grand Council of Bern]] from 1914 to 1939.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ratsmitglied ansehen |url=https://www.parlament.ch/en/biografie/eduard-von-steiger/3548#! |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=[[Federal Assembly (Switzerland)|Federal Assembly]]}}</ref>

He is known for his role in enacting Swiss policy towards the immigration of Jewish refugees during [[World War II]] fleeing [[Nazism]], which led to Switzerland's border being closed to them on 13 August 1942.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephens |first=Thomas |date=2017-09-26 |title='The boat is full': 75 years later |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/jewish-refugee-policy_-the-boat-is-full-75-years-later/43531288 |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=SWI swissinfo.ch |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kempster |first=Norman |date=1998-06-10 |title=Swiss Slowed Jews' Escape, Report Says |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-10-mn-58506-story.html |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Though archival evidence suggests this policy was initially proposed by Swiss national police chief Heinrich Rothmund, Steiger approved and enacted it together with President [[Philipp Etter|Philip Etter]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=International Commission of Experts (ICE) |first= |date=2002 |title=Switzerland, National Socialism, and the Second World War: Final Report. |url=https://www.uek.ch/en/schlussbericht/synthesis/ueke.pdf |journal=Pendo Verlag |volume= |issue= |pages=114 |doi= |isbn=3858426032 |issn= |via=Pendo Verlag}}</ref>  He was known for the sentence "the boat is full" (which was later turned into the movie [[The Boat Is Full]]), which he uttered during a speech justifying Switzerland's restrictive policy on 30 August 1942.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/25/movies/the-boat-is-full.html | title='The Boat is Full' | work=The New York Times | date=25 April 1981 | last1=Maslin | first1=Janet }}</ref> On this basis, on 2013, the local youth branch of the [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|Swiss Social Democratic Party]] in [[Langnau im Emmental]], petitioned to revoke his honorary municipal citizenship which he held there since 1944.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2013-02-19 |title=Eduard von Steiger bleibt Ehrenbürger von Langnau |url=https://www.bazonline.ch/eduard-von-steiger-bleibt-ehrenbuerger-von-langnau-471227358994 |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Basler Zeitung |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Von Steigers Ehrenbürgerrecht {{!}} Dodis |url=https://www.dodis.ch/de/von-steigers-ehrenbuergerrecht |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.dodis.ch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Walliser Bote 19. Februar 2013 — e-newspaperarchives.ch |url=https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=WAB20130219-01.2.19.7&srpos=1&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-Eduard+von+Steiger-------0----- |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.e-newspaperarchives.ch |language=de}}</ref>  However, Langnau's municipal council rejected this petition and von Steiger remains an honorary citizen there.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=swissinfo.ch |first=S. W. I. |date=2013-02-18 |title=Bundesrat Eduard von Steiger bleibt Ehrenbürger von Langnau |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/bundesrat-eduard-von-steiger-bleibt-ehrenbuerger-von-langnau/35018774 |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=SWI swissinfo.ch |language=de}}</ref>  

Von Steiger was a lawyer with a private practice in Bern. He also served on a variety of boards such as ''Schweizerische Volksbank'' (a predecessor of [[Credit Suisse]]) from 1933 to 1940 and [[Swiss Federal Railways]] from 1938 to 1940. He also served on the bank council of the [[Swiss National Bank]] from 1931 to 1941, during his tenure as Federal Councilor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Base de données des élites suisses {{!}} Steiger, von-Mülinen, von, Eduard (1881 - 1962) |url=https://www2.unil.ch/elitessuisses/personne.php?id=52522 |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www2.unil.ch}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Von Steiger was born 2 July 1881 in [[Langnau im Emmental]], the oldest of five children, to Albrecht von Steiger (1851–1928), an engineer, and Anna Sophia Johanna von Steiger ([[née]] von Wattenwyl; 1860–1931). The family belonged to the [[Swiss nobility]] with both his parents being from the Bernese Patriciate. He studied law at the Universities of Geneva, Leipzig and Berne.

== Political career ==
He became a member of the Conservative Party, was elected a Municipal Councilor of Berne and a Member of the Cantonal Parliament of Berne, all in 1914. He was President of the town of Berne from 1922 to 1929. He was also President of the parliamentary faction of the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents.

In the Cantonal Parliament, he presided over the Commission of Justice, 1922–26, and over the State Economic Commission, 1929–34. He was President of the Parliamentary Council and elected to the Cantonal Executive Council of Berne in 1939.

He was elected to the Federal Council on 10 December 1940 and handed over office on 31 December 1951. He was affiliated to the [[Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents]] (BGB/PAI), now the [[Swiss People's Party]].

During his time in office, he held the [[Department of Justice and Police]] and was 51st [[President of the Confederation (Switzerland)|President of the Confederation]] twice in 1945 and 1951.

== Personal life ==
In 1914, von Steiger married Béatrice Gabriele von Muelinen, colloquially Beatrix von Steiger (1889–1974), a daughter of Hans-Friedrich von Muelinen and Mathilda Emma Alice von Muelinen ([[née]] de Bary).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Der Bund 26. August 1974 — e-newspaperarchives.ch |url=https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=DBB19740826-01.2.22.2&srpos=5&e=------197-de-20--1--img-txIN-beatrix+von+steiger-------0----- |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.e-newspaperarchives.ch |language=de}}</ref> Her father was a [[Forester|head forester]] for the city of Bern, whilst her mother was a devoted poet and author who served as president and honorary president of the Bernese Lyceum Club and hailed from a silk manufacturing dynasty in Basel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Der Bund 6. April 1936 Ausgabe 02 — e-newspaperarchives.ch |url=https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=DBB19360406-02.2.20&srpos=2&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-Hans+Friedrich+von+M%C3%BClinen-------0----- |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.e-newspaperarchives.ch |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Der Bund 14. September 1952 — e-newspaperarchives.ch |url=https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=DBB19520914-01.2.41.2&srpos=1&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-von+M%C3%BClinen%252Dde+bary-------0----- |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.e-newspaperarchives.ch |language=de}}</ref> They had a daughter;

* Marie Madeleine Gabrielle von Steiger (born 1915), married to Belgian-born [[René Derolez|René Lodewijk Maurits Derolez]], a philologist and professor for English and [[Germanic philology]] at [[Ghent University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Old English Newsletter Online |url=https://www.oenewsletter.org/OEN/print.php/memorials/derolez/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.oenewsletter.org}}</ref>

Von Steiger died on 10 February 1962 in [[Bern|Bern, Switzerland]] aged 80.

==External links==
*{{Swiss Federal Councillor|eduard-von_steiger}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/017041}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{succession box | before = [[Rudolf Minger]] | title = [[Member of the Swiss Federal Council]] | years = 1940&ndash;1951 | after = [[Markus Feldmann]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Swiss Presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steiger, Eduard von}}
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Emmental District]]
[[Category:Swiss Calvinist and Reformed Christians]]
[[Category:Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland)]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Swiss Confederation]]
[[Category:Justice ministers of Switzerland]]
[[Category:World War II political leaders]]
[[Category:University of Geneva alumni]]
[[Category:Leipzig University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Bern alumni]]
[[Category:Von Steiger family|Eduard]]