Anton Afritsch (journalist)

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Anton Afritsch (born December 8, 1873 in Klagenfurt , † July 7, 1924 in Graz ) was an Austrian journalist and politician . He was the initiator of the Kinderfreunde movement .

life and work

Anton Afritsch was born in Klagenfurt as the son of a factory worker; he did not know his father, who died young. He first learned the carpentry trade, after moving to Graz he joined the social democracy and became editor of the Styrian socialist party newspaper Arbeiterwille . After the First World War he became a city councilor in Graz and was responsible for welfare and youth welfare.

Child friend

After more and more street children had joined the games and excursions he went on with his own children, Afritsch recognized the lack of care and support that the children of most workers suffered from, and in 1908 founded the officially apolitical Graz “ Workers' Association Children's Friends ” . In his endeavors for the well-being of children and intellectual freedom, the humanist Afritsch, contrary to the zeitgeist, had no fear of contact with the bourgeois camp. He himself tried very hard to keep the action free from party interests, so neither to prefer socialist songs to folk songs or socialist to other children's books, nor to take part in May marches with the children.

Alois Jalkotzy describes his person as "lovable, but not talkative, very independent in his judgments and not reluctant to do so." Otherwise, Afritsch was, as usual among the elite of the labor movement, an opponent of alcohol, but to the annoyance of some comrades a great lover of Virginia cigars (not smoking was also one of the ideals of the labor movement).

Some of his short stories, such as Around a Pair of Shoes or The Race, testify without any pathos to his own tough childhood and recall the stories of Peter Rosegger, whom he greatly admired .

Afritsch's wish from 1909 "It would be nice if something could happen in other places too ..." came true within a few years: Similar associations, which soon came into being in other places, merged in 1917 to form a Reich organization, the 1921 the party (SDAPDÖ) was incorporated. Such organizations also developed in other countries.

Afterlife

In 1958, on the 50th anniversary of the founding, the Kinderfreunde opened their first children's village , the Anton Afritsch Children's Village , in the Steinbergschlössl near Graz . The Afritschgasse in Vienna's 22nd district has been named after him since 1927, as is the Afritschgasse in Graz and a number of charities (e.g. Anton-Afritsch-Heim, Wiener Neustadt; Anton-Afritsch-Kindergarten, Graz).

Afritsch's son Josef was a politician and Austrian interior minister, Anton junior also a politician (both SPÖ) and temporarily a member of the Federal Council. The youngest, Viktor , became an actor.

Remarks

  1. ↑ A. Afritsch in Der Kampf, November 1, 1909, quoted in "75 Years ..." p. 61.
  2. ↑ A. Jalkotzy in "75 Years ..." p. 115.
  3. ^ Franz Taucher, The Child Friend Anton Afritsch, in "75 Years ..." p. 28.
  4. ↑ A. Afritsch in Der Kampf, November 1, 1909, quoted in "75 Years ..." p. 63.

literature

Web links

Commons : Anton Afritsch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Afritsch, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian journalist and politician, initiator of the Kinderfreunde movement
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Klagenfurt
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1924
Place of death Graz