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Franz Steinegger wanted to join the Bundesrat twice, and at least for the first time you played an important role, Mrs. Wipfli. They lived in 1989 in concubinage, in "complicated circumstances", which was one of the reasons for the non-election of your husband. How many times did you want to be married at that time?
Ruth Wipfli: That would have been better. I clearly remember the scene in the "SonntagsBlick", I wore a blue skirt and you saw my knees – which brought me a lot of unpleasant calls. It was already a special situation, suddenly there was this pressure.
Franz Steinegger: "His most beautiful task is called Ruth," was the title. But the living conditions were not decisive for my non-election. Kaspar Villiger matched better, had greater power of the house, the desired background.
But that certainly helped.
Steinegger: Yes, of course. It was the excuse for anyone who did not want me anyway. Ruth planned everything then and told me for a while that we should finally legalize our status. She also felt earlier that Elisabeth Kopp would be in trouble. I have repressed these things a little bit.
Wipfli: Yes, the titles should have been avoided!
Did people also murmur about their living conditions in the village?
Steinegger: This was no problem. Everyone knew it and still chose me several times as mayor. Here it was a fact, an event became national. Blame was also the case Kopp, who had a strong observation of the living environment of the candidates of the Bundesrat. A year later, with Moritz Leuenberger, this is no longer a problem. He also lived in concubinage
Wipfli: This was not just concubinage. You have not divorced either.
Steinegger: I just did not have the time!
Did you celebrate your wedding even more opulently in 1993?
Wipfli: On the contrary!
Steinegger: It was a simple legalization. Ruth was pregnant, we could not wait anymore. Marriage was the most pragmatic way. So that it is not a big box, we did extra in Realp. Since I knew the registrar and that I knew he was not telling anyone
Wipfli: I did not like the date of the wedding depends the weather.
Steinegger: The best man brought. He was also an official, and if the road to Realp had been snow, we could have walked on the road in case of emergency.
Has this supra-pragmatic attitude been given to you, Steinegger: not that. My mother was a very strong personality, emancipated in the sense that she always watched as the money came in addition to my father's work. We had to pick ourselves up early, and that has shaped us. We just did it. And developed accordingly differently. A sister has become a nun, the youngest is a real 68, with her own demo schedule
And you were somewhere in between, at the University of Zurich, where you studied. With you too?
Steinegger: I followed the tumult of the 68ers with interest, but also with a certain distance. In conversation with individual squatters, it quickly became clear that not everyone had the big political plan and many rebelled because it suited their lives. My protest was more concrete: I rebelled against authorities who were no longer questioned. Teachers who let us copy texts for hours as Roman slaves. But with all the 68er movement I could do little at the end. I bought a booklet from student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit and I tried to read it. Impossible! A neo-Marxist Suada, entangled and twisted.
Mrs. Wipfli, you were twelve years old in 1968. Have you missed the rebellion?
Wipfli: On the contrary! My rebellion was probably more intense than Franz's, I went to Altdorf in a school where girls were not allowed to wear trousers, except it was really cold. If someone was wearing a sleeveless dress, the nuns would put a newspaper on the desk to cover their arms. It was the last. After primary school, it has improved. Suddenly, there were Manchester pants, batik bibs, patchouli and the power of flowers!
Franz Steinegger and Ruth Wipfli in 1989. Photo: Keystone
But they were still in Altdorf
Wipfli: Yes, but in a new school. There were two high schools, and only one had girls. We were there with 120 boys from the rest of Switzerland. We wore warm pants and knitted stockings. Ha! It was a constant balance between adjusted and unmatched.
L 'inclined once entirely on the wrong side?
Wipfli: Almost. At the age of 17, I went to a municipality in Ticino, which managed and cultivated mostly potatoes. I lived there very well, there was a lot of music, and yet I knew quickly: This is not for me.
Why?
Wipfli: It was too common for me. We dined together every night, and then there was a big feeling: how do you feel? How is it going? How did your day go? This eternal revelation of his own feelings has left me in the spirit.
Did these experiences later have consequences for the model of the family you chose?
Wipfli: I would say yes. For me, it was always clear: I will not get married right away, have children and stay at home.
Where were you, Mr. Steinegger, when your future wife lived in a Ticino commune?
Steinegger: In the army. ,,
So you did not know you yet?
Steinegger: No, it was later.
Wipfli: There were meetings. I still remember sitting on a podium at a Rotary event. He as a lawyer and I as a student. Then the men went together to the Flüelen beer – and just let me sit. Later, I sat next to a Rotary Christmas next to Franz.C was a rather stale evening. ,
How was it when they became a couple and Steinegger became president of the Swiss FDP?
Wipfli: He was never there. But the opposite would have been more unpleasant. I need my freedoms and I have my own commitments. The important thing was not to put yourself in a waiting position – it would have been death for the relationship. As long as you have similar ideas about proximity and distance, it works.
Steinegger: We were lucky that it works. The party chairman is one of the most fake posts of all time. You are always moving.
Wipfli: Yes, no, it worked because I already had my own professional world at the time. But there were stupid situations. You are traveling with a couple, then someone comes and shakes your hand. Ah, Mr. Steinegger, I have a question. You just wait and wait.
"I made the companion
because it was obvious.It's different for him." Ruth Wipfli
What is your relationship today?
Wipfli: Anders, ha!
Steinegger: We can say that: I had gone before and she kept the office.And now I keep the office
Wipfli: Not so blatant
Steinegger: Bizli Scho.
Is he alone in the office?
Steinegger: No.
Wipfli: It's not as if I were still there.I just have commitments here and there because of my involvement in sport and political functions [19659005] Do you, Mrs. Wipfli, feel it's yours now?
Wipfli: No, that's not it.But sometimes, I notice how much women and men understand their tasks differently. He once said to me, "I was not born to accompany." And he is right. I just did not ask myself that question. I made the companion, because it was natural. For him, it's different.
What's bothering the role of the mate?
Steinegger: These organizations, in which they participate (Swiss Tennis, Swiss Olympic et al., Editor's note), are a big family. It does not matter where you meet: always the same people, always the same conversations. Usually, I do not go with that. I just have other priorities. Just to be in the same room at night, it's not worth it. ,,
Wipfli: . ,, that's exactly what I did for you. ,
Steinegger: You suddenly went away sometimes too.
What about other tasks? Who cooks? Who cleans? Who buys? Wipfli: Slightly off, yes. (laughs) That's what my husband is doing now.
Steinegger: So not everything. We have help for the household. But if we eat together during the weekend, I'll do the cooking.
Is this flexibility in role assignment a reason why your relationship still works?
Steinegger: We are not constantly in pair mode. For example, at the office, she's not really my wife.
Wipfli: What?
Steinegger: By Relationship.
Wipfli: Partner!
Steinegger: My perception at work is just different. And by the way, everyone also has a bit of their own life. We do not talk about it either.
Is joint business a burden on the relationship?
Wipfli: Yes, I do not think it's optimal. This is not desirable. But with us, it has not changed. When he went into politics, one of us had to fill the post here. It would not have happened otherwise. But this is certainly not a dream model
What are the negative sides?
Wipfli: You hear it: I am the employee. We occupy many different roles. In addition, there is also staff. When we have a session with all members of the team, I can not speak as I talk to them at home. This is not positive for the relationship.
See the same, Mr. Steinegger?
Steinegger: Yes. Working together is a trigger for differences
If you look back on your biography: is there anything you would do differently today?
Steinegger: I slipped into situations and I had to try out with the decorum. That was the case of Mrs. Kopp, for example. Maybe I 'd try to speed up the problems and push them less
Wipfli: This is not a model of desire to associate with the partner. Today, I would try to solve it differently. But at the time, in the 80s, it did not work.
But you would not put another skirt if the photographer came from the "Sunday vision"?
Wipfli: my knee. On the picture were also the stepsons of their first marriage. They were exactly the same age as me. In childhood, we had played together. It seemed a little strange.
Steinegger: The fact that we are a little transgenerational has been demonstrated time and time again. When I looked around for the evening of our son's class, I suddenly recognized familiar faces among the parents: girls disappearing into the room with my sons-in-law. (laughs)
Wipfli: We go on a family outing every year
Who are we?
Wipfli: Two of us, our son, his sons-in-law and all who belong to them. There are about 50 people in the meantime. It's getting more and more colorful.
Complicated relationships?
Wipfli: Complicated? In fact only on paper. In fact, it is easy. It's just a cake. And you're done.
Steinegger: Yes. Together with Moritz Leuenberger, Christoph Blocher and Martin Ebner. We often talked with Leuenberger in old Kantorei. He was intellectually superior. Blocher was rarely there, then, always with a tie and a big file.
In the series "Summer of Love" we speak with couples of love and what has changed since 1968. To date, published: Tamy Glauser and Dominique Rinderknecht (Tages-Anzeiger)
Created: 23.07.2018, 23:09 Clock
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