Dual citizen on the Federal Council
Emil Frey fought in the American Civil War as an army major. In 1890 he became a Federal Councillor. His dual citizenship didn’t bother anyone.
Pascale Meyer
Historian and former curator at the Swiss national museum
Lured by the Republican ideas but also by the prospect of ‘a good, cheery war’, Frey decided to join the northern states’ army fighting for the abolition of slavery, against the southern states. He joined the regiment of the German Colonel Friedrich Hecker. Hecker was no mere unknown; in 1848, the Baden revolutionary leader and his forces had marched against Karlsruhe to overthrow the government. After his heavy defeat he left Germany, and found his new vocation as a freedom fighter in the USA. Emil Frey joined his army, in which scores of German and Swiss soldiers were already fighting.
Captivity as a prisoner of war in Richmond
Back in his old homeland, Frey launched an unprecedented political career, first as a Landschreiber, a type of provincial civil clerk, in his home canton of Basel-Landschaft. From 1866 he was a member of the governing council, where he lived up to his reputation as a reformer, pushing through a progressive law on factories, among other things. Six years later he resigned in order to become editor and co-proprietor of the Basler Nachrichten newspaper.
But it wasn’t long before the impending complete revision of the Federal Constitution reignited Emil Frey’s political ambitions, and he was elected to the National Council as a radical. He made several bids for a seat on the Federal Council, but was unsuccessful each time. Frustrated, he left Switzerland again. He spent the next six years as Swiss envoy in Washington. After his return, he went back to working for the Basler Nachrichten. But he was drawn back into politics, and in 1890 he rejoined the National Council. And Emil Frey finally achieved his goal: at the end of that year, he was elected to the Federal Council. His dual citizenship was no obstacle.
Dual citizenship not a problem
After leaving the Federal Council in 1897, the dual citizen was director of the office of the International Telegraph Union in Bern for almost 25 years, and Switzerland benefited from his important international contacts. Frey died in 1922 – the passing of a charismatic politician whose political work (he is regarded as one of the pioneers of the social welfare state) and outstanding international connections were quite remarkable for the time.
The fact that Emil Frey had dual citizenship and had fought in a foreign army didn’t bother anyone at that time. Even now, there’s no rule that would prohibit dual citizenship – but it would be frowned upon. For that reason, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis renounced his Italian citizenship before the election even took place. Emil Frey, on the other hand, remained an American citizen for the rest of his life.
