On the tracks of Rudolf Wettstein

A native of Zurich who successfully climbed all the rungs of the political ladder in 17th-century Basel, this son of a cellarer in the hospital rose to become mayor of this city. Johann Rudolf Wettstein has a firm place not only in the memory of the people of Basel. As the representative of the Swiss Confederation at the negotiations that led to the Peace of Westphalia, he brought about the Confederation's formal independence from the German Empire.