Ferdinand Kronawetter

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Ferdinand Kronawetter

Ferdinand Kronawetter (born February 26, 1838 in Vienna , † January 20, 1913 in Pottschach , Lower Austria ) was an Austrian left-liberal politician.

Life

Ferdinand Kronawetter was the son of a master locksmith. He studied law at the University of Vienna , where he received his doctorate in 1862. Since 1860 he had already been a concept intern at the Vienna City Administration.

In 1873 Kronawetter founded a democratic association in Vienna- Josefstadt , on the basis of which he was elected to the Reichsrat . There he joined the small faction of the Democrats. He was an outspoken opponent of liberalism and belonged to a group from which the Christian social movement later developed. But since he clung to the ideals of the revolution of 1848, he soon came into conflict with Karl Lueger . In 1879 he was re-elected to the Reichsrat with a large majority. However, he resigned this mandate in 1882 for moral reasons. In the meantime he had broken away from the Christian social movement.

Barely not elected in the 1882 election, he succeeded in re-entering the Reichsrat as a member of parliament in 1885. Since that time he worked closely with Engelbert Pernerstorfer and acted as an advocate for the workforce. However, he never belonged to the Socialist Group.

In 1891 Kronawetter was narrowly defeated by the United Christians ' candidate , Aloys von Liechtenstein . In 1892 he was elected in a by-election in the inner city with liberal support. In 1897 he joined the small fraction of the Social Policy Party . In 1898 Kronawetter retired from the magistrate. From 1896 to 1902 he was a member of the Lower Austrian Landtag. In 1901 Kronawetter was no longer a candidate for the Reichsrat. Kronawetter is considered to be the originator of the phrase taken up by August Bebel of anti-Semitism as “the socialism of the stupid fellow”.

In 1924, Kronawettergasse in Vienna- Favoriten was named after him, as was the municipal housing complex Dr.-Kronawetter-Hof (1925/26) in Pfeilgasse 47-49. In the hall there is a memorial plaque with a relief portrait of Kronawetter by Michael Drobil .

meaning

At the state level, Kronawetter demanded universal suffrage as early as 1879, but remained unsuccessful. In 1880 he supported an initiative application by Georg von Schönerer in this regard . The common goal was to break the supremacy of the liberals.

Kronawetter also demanded the right of nations to self-determination and was against the Berlin Treaty of 1878 in 1879 . He stood up for the constitutionally guaranteed basic rights of the population and fought against corruption. So in 1898 he brought charges against the Prime Minister Kasimir Felix Badeni for squandering state assets. He refused any kind of privilege.

He was committed to human rights, advocated a separation of church and state as an anti-clerical and spoke out against anti-Semitism . Kronawetter was described as the "conscience of the House of Representatives".

At the municipal level, Kronawetter made a name for himself as a basic redemption commissioner for the construction of the first Vienna high spring water pipeline , the acquisition of the area for the Vienna Central Cemetery and the reform of the municipal taxes. He also created the basis for the later municipalization of the tram through his complaint to the Administrative Court against the private tram company.

Kronawetter was an outspoken political lone fighter who did not join any major party.

literature

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