Ferdinand Wedenig

Ferdinand Wedenig (born May 10, 1896 in Gurnitz , † November 11, 1975 in Klagenfurt ) was an Austrian politician of the SPÖ . From 1947 to 1965 he was Governor of Carinthia .

Ferdinand Wedenig learned the trade of a merchant at the commercial school after primary school. He joined the Social Democrats and was imprisoned after the February uprising in 1934.

On August 22, 1944, he and 159 other former Social Democratic functionaries were arrested as a result of the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, and taken to the Dachau concentration camp . After the war he became a member of the provisional Carinthian state government for the SPÖ, for which he also worked as party secretary and member of the National Council.

When Hans Piesch (SPÖ) resigned in April 1947 because of allegations of his Nazi past, Ferdinand Wedenig succeeded him as governor. He was able to hold this position for a total of four legislative periods up to 1965. On his decree, Slovenian was abolished as a compulsory subject in elementary schools in the bilingual area of ​​Carinthia, for which he was heavily criticized by the associations of Carinthian Slovenes .

Other functions that he held included: a. Publishing director, chairman of the Carinthian Military Association and member of the municipal councils of Klagenfurt and Völkermarkt . Ferdinand Wedenig was made an honorary citizen in 1965 because of his services to the city of Klagenfurt.

literature

• Ferdinand Wedenig , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 03/1957 of January 7, 1957, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

• Ferdinand Wedenig on the website of the Austrian Parliament
• Interview with Governor Wedenig in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library (1956)
• Entry on Ferdinand Wedenig in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )