Eduard von Steiger

Adolf Eduard von Steiger (Swiss Standard German: [ˈeːdu.ard fɔn ˈʃtaɪɡər]; 2 July 1881 – 10 February 1962) was a Swiss lawyer and politician who served as the 51st President of the Swiss Confederation twice in 1945 and 1951 for Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (presently known as Swiss People's Party). Von Steiger served as a Member of the Federal Council from 1941 to 1951 and previously on the Grand Council of Bern from 1914 to 1939.

He is known for his role in enacting Swiss policy towards the immigration of Jewish refugees during World War II fleeing Nazism, which led to Switzerland's border being closed to them on 13 August 1942. Though archival evidence suggests this policy was initially proposed by Swiss national police chief Heinrich Rothmund, Steiger approved and enacted it together with President Philip Etter. He was known for the sentence "the boat is full" (which was later turned into the movie The Boat Is Full), which he uttered during a speech justifying Switzerland's restrictive policy on 30 August 1942. On this basis, on 2013, the local youth branch of the Swiss Social Democratic Party in Langnau im Emmental, petitioned to revoke his honorary municipal citizenship which he held there since 1944. However, Langnau's municipal council rejected this petition and von Steiger remains an honorary citizen there.

Von Steiger was a lawyer with a private practice in Bern. He also served on a variety of boards such as Schweizerische Volksbank (a predecessor of Credit Suisse) from 1933 to 1940 and Swiss Federal Railways from 1938 to 1940. He also served on the bank council of the Swiss National Bank from 1931 to 1941, during his tenure as Federal Councilor.