Christian Waldner

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Christian Waldner (born October 8, 1959 in Bolzano ; † February 15, 1997 there ) was a South Tyrolean politician. After initially being politically active in the South Tyrolean People's Party , he co-founded the separatist party Die Freiheitliche in 1992 . In 1997 Waldner was found murdered; After years of litigation, his former companion Peter Paul Rainer was ultimately found guilty.

Life

A native of Bolzano studied at the Universities of Innsbruck and Verona Social and Economic Sciences and Law . He graduated in Innsbruck with the diploma thesis submitted in 1984: South Tyrol as an independent economic area from an economic, business and financial point of view: possibilities and limits . From 1987 to 1992 he worked as an assistant at the Institute for Auditing, Fiduciary and Accounting at the University of Innsbruck, parallel to his work as a hotel manager in Bolzano.

Waldner was initially politically active in the ranks of the ruling South Tyrolean People's Party . From 1982 to 1989 he worked as a youth officer for the SVP in Bolzano. In 1987, as a result of a self-determination rally he had attended in Vienna in 1986 , he was placed under house arrest on charges of “damaging Italian reputation abroad” . However, the charges were soon overturned after international protests. In 1989 a group consisting of Waldner, Stephan Gutweniger, Pius Leitner and Peter Paul Rainer took over the management of the South Tyrolean Shooting Association and the SVP youth organization Junge Generation . Together they tried unsuccessfully to bring the ruling party to a decidedly (German) national line, which was ultimately intended to promote the separation of South Tyrol from the Italian state . After the South Tyrolean autonomy negotiations with Italy and the submission of the declaration of dispute settlement before the United Nations , Waldner and his colleagues left the South Tyrolean People's Party in 1992.

In the same year Waldner and some companions founded the separatist party Die Freiheitlichen, oriented towards the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria , and became its first chairman . In the 1993 elections , he succeeded in entering the South Tyrolean parliament and thus also the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol ; Pius Leitner was able to win a second mandate for his party. Due to internal conflicts, Waldner was voted out of party chairman in 1994 and excluded from the party in 1995 because of alleged financial irregularities. As a result, he founded the one-man parliamentary group in the state parliament, Die Liberalen , which he renamed Bündnis98 in 1996 . Most recently, he was increasingly looking for a rapprochement with the Lega Nord .

On February 17, 1997, Waldner was found murdered by five shots at the Reichrieglerhof near Bolzano. The probable date of death was set as February 15 as part of the following investigations. After several sensational trials, his former comrade-in-arms Peter Paul Rainer was found guilty at last instance and sentenced to a prison term of 22 years and six months.

literature

  • South Tyrolean provincial government (publisher): Südtirol-Handbuch 1997 . Brochure, Bozen 1997, p. 101 ( online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diploma thesis by Christian Waldner (University of Innsbruck, 1984)
  2. ^ Günther Pallaver : The historical development of the political parties in South Tyrol . In: Giuseppe Ferrandi, Günther Pallaver (ed.), La Regione Trentino-Alto Adige / Südtirol nel XX secolo. I. Politica e Istituzioni (Borders / Confini 4/1) . Trento, Museo Storico in Trento, pp. 591–630.
personal data
SURNAME Waldner, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian politician (South Tyrol)
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Bolzano
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1997
Place of death Bolzano