Franz Pichler-Mandorf

Grave of Franz Pichler-Mandorf in Annabichl

Franz Pichler-Mandorf (born April 5, 1885 in Kötschach-Mauthen , † July 7, 1972 in Klosterneuburg ) was an Austrian politician ( Social Democratic Party of Austria ) and mayor of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt.

Life

Pichler-Mandorf was born in the Gailtal as the son of the owner of Mandorf Castle. He attended secondary school in Klagenfurt and Ljubljana and then graduated from the Graz University of Technology , where he graduated as a civil engineer. He then worked in the postal service in Graz and was transferred to Klagenfurt in 1913. From 1914 to 1918 he served as an officer at the front during World War I , then returned to the postal service in 1919 and became a Social Democrat member of the provisional state government. Together with Vinzenz Schumy and Karl Reinprecht, he was chairman of the Carinthian Homeland Service during the Carinthian defensive battle . In 1920 he became a local councilor, in 1921 vice mayor and in 1931 mayor of the city of Klagenfurt.

His term of office was marked by difficult political times, unemployment and poverty among the population. The thousand-mark barrier imposed by the National Socialist German Reich brought tourism to Carinthia to a standstill. In 1931 the first sample show took place in Klagenfurt, from which the wood fair later developed. In 1932 the city theater was closed and in 1933 the Carinthian State Gallery (today Museum of Modern Art Carinthia ) opened. After the dissolution of the Austrian parliament under the government of Engelbert Dollfuss and the introduction of the authoritarian May constitution , all political parties were banned and the elected mayors were removed and replaced by new ones loyal to the Austrofascist federal government. Pichler-Mandorf was deposed and imprisoned in the course of the civil war in February 1934 .

In 1935 he was appointed senior building officer in the Ministry of Transport, but in 1938, after Austria's "annexation" to the German Reich, he was again removed from his position for political reasons. After the war he worked in the Ministry of Reconstruction from 1945 and became head of the section in 1952. Above all, he led the reconstruction of the Burgtheater and the State Opera in Vienna. In 1960 he retired.

Pichler-Mandorf died on July 7, 1972 in Klosterneuburg and was buried in the central cemetery Annabichl in Klagenfurt in grave of honor No. 2 next to the cemetery cross. He was married to Lorenza Edle von Vahlkampf (1890–1972).

literature

• Gotbert Moro (ed.): The state capital Klagenfurt. From their past and present. 2 volumes. Self-published by the state capital, Klagenfurt 1970.

predecessor	Office	successor
Adolf Heinrich Bercht	Mayor of Klagenfurt 1931 - 1934	Adolf Wolf