Robert Bratschi
Swiss politician (1891-1981)
Robert Bratschi (6 February 1891 – 24 May 1981) was a Swiss politician and trade unionist.
Born in Bözingen (now part of Biel/Bienne), Bratschi found work with the Swiss Federal Railways, becoming a station master, and then an administrative worker. He joined the Swiss Railwaymen's Association (SEV), and was elected as its general secretary in 1920. He also joined the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP), and in 1922 was elected to Bern City Council, and to the National Council. In 1932, he moved to serve on the council of the Canton of Bern, while remaining on the National Council.
From 1934, Bratschi was president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, the leading position in Swiss trade unionism. In 1950, he also won election as president of the International Transport Workers' Federation.
At the end of 1953, Bratschi stood down from all his trade union positions, to become a director of the Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway. He remained politically active, and in 1957/58, served as President of the National Council of Switzerland. He supported the SP accepting seats on the Federal Council, and played a key role in agreeing the "magic formula" in 1959, which enabled them to do so.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Robert Bratschi” is swiss politician (1891-1981). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Robert, Bratschi and Swiss, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15621529. VIAF identifies the subject as 53152380119901761950. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1981, 1920 and 1922.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert Bratschi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.