Robert Tobler (23 December 1901 – 17 June 1962) was a Swiss far-right politician. Born in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, he followed his father by studying law at

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

and working as a lawyer.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...

'', 1990, p. 391 Initially attracted to

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

, he came into contact with

Hans Oehler Hans Oehler (18 December 1888 – 7 January 1967) was a Swiss journalist and a sympathizer of Nazism. Initially a journalist, Oehler turned his attention towards producing pro-German material. Later he was one of the founders of the ''Schweizer ...

and soon helped to found the New Front in 1930. As chairman of the new group he was heavily influenced by

Othmar Spann Othmar Spann (1 October 1878 – 8 July 1950) was a conservative Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist whose radical anti-liberal and anti-socialist views, based on early 19th century Romantic ideas expressed by Adam Müller et al. ...

, although

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

quickly became more important for the Front. He served as ''Gaufuehrer'' for Zürich in the National Front and ran the party paper ''Die Front'', which was funded by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Tobler was elected to the Swiss parliament in 1935, becoming the only member of the National Front (or indeed any pro-Nazi group) to hold a parliamentary seat in the country.Stephen P. Halbrook, ''Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II'', Da Capo Press, 2003, p. 37 He took over as Front leader in 1938, leading to his predecessor Rolf Henne splitting the movement. Tobler attempted to find a common ground with the government, although by this time it was too late as the movement already had a reputation as firmly pro-Nazi. He was imprisoned in 1940 as a

fifth columnist A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas Harris Mylonas is Associate Professor of Political Science and Internat ...

and the Front fell into decay. After his release he led the '' Eidgenössische Sammlung'' and ''Schaffhausen Nationale Gemeinschaft'', although both these groups were outlawed in 1943 as part of a wider ban on the National Front and its offshoots. Tobler took no further role in politics and died in his home town.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobler, Robert 1901 births 1962 deaths Politicians from Zürich Swiss Calvinist and Reformed Christians National Front (Switzerland) politicians Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 20th-century Swiss lawyers People associated with the University of Zurich Prisoners and detainees of Switzerland