Erich Amonn

Erich Amonn (born June 28, 1896 in Bozen ; † November 19, 1970 there ) was a South Tyrolean entrepreneur and politician. The scion of a Bolzano merchant family took over in 1913 along with his brother Walther Amonn the company Amonn . As part of the option , he decided to remain in his home country and was actively involved in the South Tyrolean resistance during the operational zone of the foothills of the Alps . After the Second World War , the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) was founded under his leadership , and he became its first chairman. In 1948 he resigned from his position as chairman and was a member of the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol for a term of office and thus also worked in the South Tyrolean parliament . He had a lasting impact on South Tyrol's politics in the first decade after the end of the war. After the “Palace Revolution” in 1957, which brought a new leadership team to the top of the party, his influence declined significantly.

The entrepreneur

Erich Amonn came from an important South Tyrolean entrepreneurial family. From 1913 he ran the Amonn company together with his brother Walther . After taking part in the First World War , the company reached a size and diversification that was considerable for South Tyrol, consisting of the manufacture and sale of paints, the paper, hotel supplies, agriculture and consumer goods sectors. The financial strength built up and the considerable real estate assets made the food sector - after the company was handed over to his children - the most important branch of the company by joining the DESPAR chain .

The politician

The " Dableiber " Amonn belonged to the bourgeois resistance groups in South Tyrol during the operational zone of the foothills of the Alps . He was a leading member of the anti-Nazi Andreas Hofer Bund founded in 1939 . For economic-political and tactical reasons, he joined the National Fascist Party together with his brother Walther in November 1940 , which he was accused of by optante circles.

On May 8, 1945, Amonn invited nineteen shop stewards from all parts of South Tyrol to a meeting at Villa Malfèr in Gries , where the South Tyrolean People's Party was founded as a gathering party for the German and Ladin-speaking population. Erich Amonn and Karl Tinzl's appeal to the population appeared on May 19, 1945 in the first issue of the “ Dolomites ” after the Allies approved the daily newspaper. The reappearance of the "Dolomites", together with the founding of the SVP, was one of the pivotal points in the political reorganization of the South Tyroleans. The establishment of the SVP, which Amonn took over as chairman, met with an incredible response in South Tyrol after many years of political oppression.

In 1948 Amonn acted as leader of the South Tyrolean delegation that took part in the negotiations for the development of the First Statute of Autonomy . In the following years, the legislative and local administrative competences granted to the region of Trentino-South Tyrol under this agreement proved to be of no use in order to serve South Tyrolean interests due to ongoing harassment from the central government and Trentino . The inner-party opposition therefore demanded greater emphasis on the Tyrolean standpoint, active engagement by Austria, a hard line towards Rome and the internationalization of the South Tyrolean question. Amonn, a representative of a more moderate stance, judged the situation differently in principle, continued to force the previous negotiating strategy with Rome and Trento, and believed that South Tyrol could only gain further autonomy in the long term through detailed work. In the 1948 elections he was able to win a mandate for the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol and thus at the same time for the South Tyrolean state parliament , which he held until 1952.

In the course of the 1950s, in addition to the unsatisfactory political situation, there were serious economic changes, which made themselves felt in the German-speaking population through rural exodus and - due to a labor market favoring the Italian-speaking population - emigration. In addition, there were first explosive attacks in South Tyrol from November 1956 , which expanded in the following years and contributed significantly to the exacerbation of the ethnic conflict. Under these conditions, on May 25, 1957, the SVP's state assembly saw a momentous change in the governing bodies, which was accompanied by a lasting change towards a much tougher party line. The then forty-three-year- old Silvius Magnago was placed at the head of the party, who moved away from Amonn's previous political strategy and gradually excluded him from the most important party bodies.

After 1961, Erich Amonn increasingly withdrew from the company and from public life and died on November 19, 1970 after a long illness.

literature

• Hans Heiss , Stefan Lechner: Erich Amonn. Citizens, entrepreneurs, politicians. 1896-1970. A portrait . Raetia, Bozen 2019, ISBN 978-88-7283-693-4 .

Web links

• Entry on Erich Amonn in the representative database of the South Tyrolean Parliament (PDF)
• History of the SVP

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eduard Widmoser: South Tyrol A-Z . Volume 1, Südtirol-Verlag, Innsbruck, 1982, ISBN 3-87803-005-3 , p. 53
2. ↑ Hans Heiss, Stefan Lechner: Erich Amonn. Citizens, entrepreneurs, politicians 1896–1970: a portrait . Raetia, Bozen 2019, ISBN 978-88-7283-693-4 , pp. 175f.
3. ↑ The South Tyrolean People's Party introduces itself ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Annuska Trompedeller: Karl Tinzl (1888-1964): A political biography . 1st edition, Studien-Verlag, Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 978-3-7065-4322-4 , p. 120
5. ↑ Annuska Trompedeller: Karl Tinzl (1888–1964): A political biography . 1st edition, Studien-Verlag, Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 978-3-7065-4322-4 , p. 119