Friedl Volgger

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Friedrich "Friedl" Volgger (born September 4, 1914 in Ridnaun ; † May 15, 1997 in Bolzano ) was a South Tyrolean resistance fighter, politician, journalist and an important player in the development of the South Tyrolean People's Party and the achievement of regional autonomy. Due to his commitment against the Italianization , against the option for the German Reich and his advocacy of the autonomy of South Tyrol , he was imprisoned in succession by the fascist rulers during the course of his life, during the Nazi regime and a third time in democratic Italy.

Life

1914-1945

Friedl Volgger attended the Vincentinum in Brixen and initially aspired to become a priest as a theology student at the Brixen seminary and at Saint Joseph's College of Mill Hill . However, after a few years he moved to the University of Innsbruck , where he completed his studies in German and history in 1939 with a dissertation on the history of Ridnaun.

Volgger, who worked as a catacomb teacher at a young age and was therefore arrested by the fascist authorities, witnessed the annexation of Austria and became a staunch opponent of National Socialism . After graduating in 1939 , he joined the daily newspaper Dolomiten , headed by Canon Michael Gamper , where he resolutely opposed the option for the German Empire .

Volgger, Gamper and other leading Dableiber as Erich Amonn and Josef Mayr-Nusser founded in the same year the Andreas-Hofer-Bund (AHB), which he chaired until the 1943rd Volgger immediately took an open position against the National Socialist Völkischer Kampfring Südtirols (VKS).

In 1943 Volgger was imprisoned for his work in the AHB and deported to the Dachau concentration camp . Volgger was only able to return after the end of the war and was therefore not involved in founding the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) in May 1945, but immediately took over the role of party secretary after his return.

As an anti-fascist, he obtained permission from the American military administration to found the Alpine Club South Tyrol (AVS) in 1945 .

1946-1997

As an SVP functionary, Friedl Volgger was diplomatic and negotiated in Belgrade and Vienna about a possible return of South Tyrol to Austria. As part of the Austrian delegation, Volgger also took part in the negotiations on the Gruber-De-Gasperi Agreement in Paris. From 1948 to 1953 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in the first legislative period after the Republican constitution came into force . Subsequently, Volgger returned to the editorial office of the daily newspaper Dolomiten , headed by Canon Michael Gamper, and after his death in 1956 acted as editor-in-chief ("Hauptschriftleiter"). After the change in leadership in the SVP in 1957, Volgger became deputy party chairman and close confidante of the new chairman Silvius Magnago . During this time (February – April 1957) he was imprisoned because of his alleged connections to the Liberation Committee of South Tyrol , apparently on the initiative of the Bozen Carabinieri officer Josef Brandstätter, but soon released after international protests and for lack of evidence. In 1960 he took part - again with the Austrian delegation - together with Alfons Benedikter and Luis Sand as an observer and chronicler in the UN negotiations on the South Tyrol issue. In the same year he was also elected to the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol and thus at the same time to the South Tyrolean parliament .

In 1963 he became editor-in-chief of the Südtiroler Volksbote , the party newspaper of the SVP from the House of Athesia , after Volgger von Toni Ebner sr. Due to significant differences in the assessment of the night of fire and the business-friendly SVP movement, Aufbau was removed from the Dolomiten editorial team. In 1967, in order to prepare for the election campaign for the Senate , Volgger resigned from his state parliament and regional council mandate. In 1968 he was elected to the Senate, to which he was a member until 1972. Between 1969 and 1973 he was also chairman of the Federal Union of European Nationalities .

In 1978 Friedl Volgger founded the association La Strada with Giancarlo Bertagnolli and others in Bozen - the path that takes care of drug addicts and people who are otherwise excluded. His daughter Burgi was chairwoman of the association for a long time. In 1984 Volgger published his memoir Mit Südtirol am Scheideweg , which provoked diverse reactions.

Honors

memoirs

  • With South Tyrol at a crossroads: lived history . Haymon, Innsbruck 1984, ISBN 3-85218-168-2 (reprinted several times).
    • (in Italian) Sudtirolo al bivio: ricordi di vita vissuta. Bolzano: Casa ed.PRAXIS 3, 1985.
  • With South Tyrol at a crossroads: memories of concentration camp prisoners, journalists and politicians . Edition Raetia, Bozen 2014, ISBN 978-88-7283-501-2 (revised and supplemented edition).

literature

  • Siegrid Pescoller: Friedl Volgger - a life for South Tyrol: biography . Diploma thesis, Innsbruck 2001.
  • Hans-Günter Richardi : Resistance behind the barbed wire: the South Tyrolean Friedl Volgger as "prisoner in protective custody No. 66166" in the Dachau concentration camp ( periodicals Pragser Wildsee 1). Innsbruck-Vienna-Bozen: StudienVerlag 2007. ISBN 978-3-7065-4489-4 .
  • Othmar Parteli: Friedl Volgger - Germanist, journalist and politician . In: Dolomiten , September 4, 2014, p. 32.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Volgger: Contributions to the settlement and economic history of Ridnaun . Rough phil. Diss., Univ. Innsbruck 1939.
  2. ^ Friedl Volgger: With South Tyrol at the crossroads . Innsbruck 1984. pp. 199f. and 208f.
  3. ^ Friedl Volgger: With South Tyrol at the crossroads . Innsbruck 1984. pp. 245f. and 257f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Volgger, Friedl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Volgger, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian resistance fighter, journalist and politician (South Tyrol), member of the Camera dei deputati
DATE OF BIRTH September 4, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Ridnaun , South Tyrol
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1997
Place of death Bolzano , South Tyrol