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'''Samuel Brawand''' (born 18 May 1898 in Grindelwald, Switzerland, died 11 July 2001 in Grindelwald) was a Swiss politician (SP) and mountaineer.<ref name="Bern">{{cite web|url=http://www.be.ch/web/index/kanton/kanton-mediencenter/kanton-mediencenter-mm/kanton-mediencenter-mm-detail.htm?id=2326|title=Alt Regierungsrat Samuel Brawand wird 100 jährig|last=Zölch-Balmer|first=Elisabeth|language=German|date=13 May 1998|accessdate=30 January 2013|publisher=Kanton Bern}}</ref><ref name="Grindelwald">{{cite web|url=http://www.grindelwald.com/local-de.php?page=315&frameset=7|title=Samuel Brawand, cantonal Government Minister from Grindelwald|year=2010|publisher=Grindelwald|accessdate=30 January 2013}}</ref>

==Life== Brawand, who came from a modest background, lost his father, a mountain guide, at the age of four when he was killed by lightning at the top of the Wetterhorn.<ref name="Kopp">{{cite journal|url=http://alpen.sac-cas.ch/html_d/archiv/2001/200109/ad_2001_09_11.pdf|journal=Die Alpen|date=September 2001|title=Samuel Brawand &ndash; Einblick in drei Jahrhunderte|last=Kopp|first=Christine|pages=26–27|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050104042252/http://alpen.sac-cas.ch/html_d/archiv/2001/200109/d_26_27.pdf|archivedate=4 January 2005|accessdate=30 January 2013|language=German}}</ref> After Brawand had graduated from the Lehrerseminar (school for teachers) in Hofwil, he worked as a primary school teacher, a small farmer, rancher and cattle breeder, and very intensively as a guide, especially for climbers from Japan. As a mountaineer, he made a name for himself with the first ascent of the Mittellegigrat (the northeast ridge of the Eiger) on 10 September 1921, serving as guide for Maki Yūkō along with fellow guides Fritz Amatter and Fritz Steuri.<ref name="Kopp"/><ref name="Harrer">{{cite book|last1=Harrer|first1=Heinrich|authorlink1=Heinrich Harrer|first2=Kurt|last2=Maix|others=Trans. Hugh Merrick|title=The White Spider: The Story of the North Face of the Eiger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Htg-t2DUPkgC&pg=PA57|page=57|publisher=Rupert Hart-Davis|year=1959|isbn=0-586-08874-1}}</ref><ref name="Brawand 1">{{cite web|url=http://www.eigerworld.ch/pdf/text.pdf|title=Erinnerungen an Yuko Maki|trans-title=Memories of Yuko Maki|first=Samuel|last=Brawand|date=July 1989|location=Grindelwald|language=German|pages=5–6|accessdate=2 August 2013|archive-date=22 February 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050222220735/http://www.eigerworld.ch/pdf/text.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite book|title=Mountaineers: Great Tales of Bravery and Conquest|last=Douglas|first=Ed|others=Smithsonian Institution|location=New York, New York|publisher=DK Publishing|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7566-8682-6|page=212}}</ref>

Brawand's first political position was a Gemeinderat (municipal council) seat held in Grindelwald. From 1933 to 1935 he belonged to the Grand Council of Bern and from 1935 to 1947 to the National Council (the second chamber of the Federal Assembly).<ref name="Bern"/><ref name="Grindelwald"/> During World War II Brawand presided over the Begnadigungskommission (Clemency Commission) of the National Council. From 1947 to 1962, Brawand was a member of the Conseil d'Etat of the Canton of Bern and headed the governing body for building and railway management.<ref name="Bern"/><ref name="Grindelwald"/> From 1950 to 1951 and from 1961 to 1962 he was President of the Conseil d'Etat (i.e. head of government) of Bern.<ref name="Grindelwald"/>

From July 1962 to June 1968 Brawand was director of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway (BLS). From 1955 to 1967 he again served in the National Council.<ref name="Bern"/><ref name="Grindelwald"/> As chairman of the Federal Road Commission Brawand played an important role in the modernization and expansion of roads in Switzerland, including the creation of the Swiss freeways.<ref name="Grindelwald"/> Brawand served on the administrative boards of several railway companies, was a member of the Internationalen Simplonkommission (International Simplon Commission) and President of Kraftwerke Oberhasli.

On 2 December 1961 Brawand was made an honorary citizen of his home town of Grindelwald. In 1962 he was honored by the University of Bern with an honorary doctorate. Brawand gained fame as a writer and as a scholar of the Grindelwald dialect. He died in Grindelwald on 11 July 2001 at the age of 103.<ref name="Grindelwald"/>

== References == <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{DNB-Portal|11140617X}} * {{HLS|5683|Brawand, Samuel}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brawand, Samuel}} <!--- Categories ---> Category:1898 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Alpine guides Samuel Category:Members of the National Council (Switzerland) Category:People from Grindelwald Category:Swiss men centenarians Category:20th-century Swiss educators Category:Swiss farmers Category:Linguists from Switzerland Category:Swiss mountain climbers Category:20th-century Swiss writers Category:20th-century Swiss linguists