Emil Bonetti

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Emil Bonetti (born August 28, 1922 in Hard ; † July 9, 2007 in Dornbirn ) was a Catholic chaplain who led several social projects in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg . Bonetti was especially known for his work in the “House of Young Workers” in Dornbirn, a housing project that offered people on the fringes of society a place to stay, and received several awards. The sponsoring association of the project is now called "Association of Friends Kaplan Bonetti".

Live and act

Youth and Wehrmacht desertion

Emil Bonetti is the son of Italian immigrants. In February 1940, the 17-year-old from Vorarlberg was drafted into the Reich Labor Service and released from the Reich Labor Service on December 1, 1940 as head foreman . As early as January 7, 1941, he was forced to join the Mountain Infantry Replacement Regiment 136 in Landeck , with which he remained until he volunteered for the Africa Corps in early 1943. In the Africa Corps he was assigned to the 2nd / Panzer Grenadier Regiment 3 in Sicily. From May 1943 he worked for this as an interpreter and regimental clerk. At the beginning of August 1943, Bonetti deserted from the German Wehrmacht and initially hid successfully among the Italian civilian population.

Finally, he decided, under a false identity, to heed an appeal that recruited Italian workers to join the German arms industry. Equipped with forged Italian papers under the name Emilio Bonetti , he traveled to the Tyrolean community of Wörgl , where he was briefly employed as a warehouse accountant and interpreter in a reception camp. On August 31, 1944, however, the hoax was discovered and Bonetti was arrested. After being transferred to Innsbruck prison , he was sentenced by the court of Division No. 418 , Innsbruck branch, to five years ' imprisonment , loss of military status and loss of rank for “desertion in the field” . Emil Bonetti subsequently served part of his prison sentence in Fort Zinna in what is now the German state of Saxony . He was then assigned to a punishment company and sent to the front , where he stayed with a farmer as an agricultural worker in February 1945 and finally saw the end of the war.

Studied theology and worked as a priest

After the war, Emil Bonetti completed his Matura as an external student at the Bregenz grammar school and then studied philosophy and theology at the Canisianum in Innsbruck from 1947 to 1952 . On July 25, 1952, Emil Bonetti was ordained a Catholic priest . He then became a chaplain in the parishes of Dornbirn-Haselstauden and Hohenems .

In 1957 he finally took over the management of a project from Edwin Fasching , which from then on would determine his activities significantly and which would become his life's work. The newly founded “House of Young Workers” directly at the Dornbirn train station was initially designed as a workers' hostel for migrant guest workers from Carinthia and Styria . Over time, the residents and the tasks of the home changed. The inner Austrian guest workers were initially replaced by those from Yugoslavia and Turkey , in order to finally make room for asylum seekers and people in massive social problems such as drug addiction and unemployment and homelessness. Kaplan Bonetti took care of the organizational management and the spiritual and spiritual care of the house for five decades of his life.

In addition, he was also a religion teacher in Dornbirn vocational schools, as a prison chaplain in the prison of Feldkirch active and as a chaplain in the parishes Dornbirn Haselstauden and Rohrbach.

Emil Bonetti died on July 9, 2007 at the age of almost 85 from a long-standing cancer.

Awards and honors

Emil Bonetti has received numerous awards for his extensive social commitment. He was appointed clerical councilor by the Bishop of Feldkirch , received the Toni Russ Prize of the Vorarlberger Nachrichten in 1979, the medal of honor of the state of Vorarlberg in silver in 1982, the medal of honor of the municipality of Hard, the ring of honor of the city of Dornbirn and finally on 20. May 2007 by Governor Herbert Sausgruber personally the medal of honor of the state of Vorarlberg in gold , the highest honor of the state of Vorarlberg.

After his death, the “House of Young Workers” was renamed “Kaplan Bonetti Sozialwerke”. On June 23, 2016, the city council of Dornbirn decided to rename part of Gilmstrasse in honor of Emil Bonetti to “Kaplan-Bonetti-Strasse” with effect from September 1, so that the main building of the institution is now at “Kaplan-Bonetti-Strasse” 1 "carries.

literature

  • Hanno Platzgummer: Emil Bonetti (1922–2007) “desertion in the field” . In: Hanno Platzgummer, Karin Bitschnau, Werner Bundschuh (eds.): "I cannot serve a state that is guilty ..." Vorarlberger before the Wehrmacht courts . Dornbirn, 2011. ISBN 978-3-901900-25-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Emil Bonetti: "desertion in the field" . Part of the Malingesellschaft documentation on deserters and people persecuted for Wehrmacht crimes from Vorarlberg.
  2. ↑ State press office Vorarlberg: "House of Young Workers" celebrates its 50th birthday on www.ots.at
  3. ↑ milestones. Association of Friends Kaplan Bonetti, accessed on September 3, 2019 .
  4. ↑ New street names in Dornbirn. Dornbirn City Archives, accessed on July 15, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Kaplan-Bonetti-Strasse 1st Association of Friends Kaplan Bonetti, accessed on September 3, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Bonetti, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Catholic priest
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Hard
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 2007
Place of death Dornbirn