Fritz Dörflinger

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Fritz Dörflinger (* 1879 ; † 1945 ) was a Klagenfurt lawyer , commander during the Carinthian defensive struggle and as a politician ( German Democratic Party , later Greater German People's Party ), a member of several Carinthian state governments until 1927 .

Way into politics

Even as a young lawyer in the outgoing Austro-Hungarian monarchy , Fritz Dörflinger was involved in associations that can be assigned to the German National Movement . In 1908 he became the paymaster of the Klagenfurt local branch of the Salzburg University Association , a nationalist-minded association that had been active since 1903; he also worked in the Klagenfurt local branch of the Südmark Association , where he became deputy chairman in 1914.

At the beginning of the First World War , Dörflinger worked as a first lieutenant in eastern Galicia . In the further course of the war he rose to the rank of captain and worked in military justice . After the end of the war, he became a representative of the German People's Association for Carinthia (= German People's Party) in the provisional Carinthian state assembly . There he was active in the finance and economic committees. This first Carinthian Landtag met for the first time on November 11, 1918. It was not directly democratically legitimized, but intended as an interim solution until regular elections were held. Its composition was derived from the results of the 1911 Reichsrat election . Due to the emerging conflict with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , which made territorial claims on Carinthia and occupied parts of the country militarily, the election planned for 1919 was postponed. The provisional state assembly continued to operate under the leadership of the state administrator Arthur Lemisch until 1921 .

Since Yugoslavia had occupied large parts of southern Carinthia by the end of November 1918 and the newly constituted state government in Vienna was unable to counter these developments, the Carinthian regional assembly became active on its own. At the meeting on December 5, 1918, Fritz Dörflinger, together with Florian Gröger ( SDAP ) and Konrad Walcher ( CSP ), submitted an urgent motion to oppose the Yugoslav territorial claims. In the so-called Carinthian defensive struggle that followed and in the run-up to the Carinthian referendum , he was involved in the defense of the country both militarily and politically; he was in command of the Abwehr-Kompagnie Klagenfurt and was active in the Carinthian homeland service.

State party chairman

As early as November 19, 1918, a little more than a week after the constitution of the regional assembly, the representatives of the Carinthian Farmers' Union , the German People's Party , the Pan-German Association and the Völkisch-Social Association "German Unity" had come together under the name of the German Democratic Party . Fritz Dörflinger was elected chairman of this group of parties. The farmers' union remained for the time being as an independent organizational unit, while the German national parties were fully integrated. As chairman, it was Dörflinger's task to develop a joint party program.

At the congress of the German Democratic Party on April 25, 1920, Dörflinger, who had apparently temporarily suspended his chairmanship, was unanimously re-elected. On June 11, 1920, he was elected to the state council as a replacement for the late Alois Hönlinger and thus rose from a simple deputy to a member of the Lemisch I state government . In the run-up to the state elections in 1921 , Dörflinger's German Democratic Party partially collapsed - the Bauernbund had opposed its full integration and instead joined an electoral alliance with the German National Socialist Workers' Party . The remainder of the German Democratic Party then ran with Dörflinger as the top candidate for the Greater German People's Party . The party won 11.32% or 4 seats in the 42-seat Carinthian state parliament. The highest approval rate was obtained in Dörflinger's hometown of Klagenfurt with 32.47%. In the now incumbent state government Gröger, he retained his previous function as state councilor. Although the legislative period was set to only three years and the election in Carinthia was held late anyway due to the referendum , state elections were held again in 1923 . For this election, Dörflinger's party, which in the previous election campaign had carried out a strongly anti-Semitic, anti-clerical campaign aimed at annexation to Germany, joined forces with the Kärntner Landbund and the Christian Social Party to form a more moderate, bourgeois alliance called the Unity List . The common goal was to vote out the social democratic governor Gröger. The unity list achieved an absolute majority with 54.76%, its top candidate Vinzenz Schumy became the new governor and Dörflinger, third on the party list behind the Christian- social Franz Reinprecht , remained as a regional councilor in the new state government . In the run-up to the state elections in 1927 , the Landbund and Christian Socials fell out with each other, and the Landbund competed independently. Dörflinger's Greater German People's Party and the Christian Social Party maintained their cooperation under the name of the unity list . The German National Socialist Workers' Party also joined the alliance, which achieved 26.35% in the election. Fritz Dörflinger was still state party chairman and had no longer stood as a candidate for the state parliament. Hans Angerer was the top candidate and later a regional councilor in his place, while Dörflinger was his deputy.

Another life & murder

Although he was no longer a member of the newly elected state parliament , Fritz Dörflinger was re-elected as state party chairman of the Greater German People's Party at the 1928 party congress . In 1928 and 1929 Dörflinger had to testify as a witness in connection with the so-called Vici affair . In the subsequent court process ("Schumy trial") it was about the involvement of Carinthian politics in dubious wood deals with the Italian aristocrat Giuseppe Vici on the one hand and financial participation of individual politicians (including Dörflinger himself) in a forest enterprise, the brother of the Provincial Council Gustav Axmann belonged, on the other hand. During the 1927 election campaign, the affair that had actually happened in 1921 was picked up again by a Villach newspaper. In the course of this (probably politically motivated) campaign, the newspaper violently attacked Governor Schumy, who was still in office, but also Dörflinger's party.

In the years that followed, Dörflinger withdrew more and more from his public functions, but remained politically and socially active in the background. He was still a member of the board of directors of the newspaper Freieimmen , which had been the party newspaper of the Greater German People's Party in Carinthia since 1920 at the latest . In 1931 he became head of the following internal conflicts in the Art Association Carinthia newly founded Association of Visual Artists in Carinthia . From 1934 he was deputy chairman of the Khevenhüllerbund, an association of former soldiers of the Kuk infantry regiment "Graf von Khevenhüller" No. 7 , many of whom returned in 1918 and 1919 were also active in the Carinthian defensive battle.

The Greater German People's Party (like all other parties except the Christian Social Party ) was banned after the Austrian parliament was eliminated. After the annexation of Austria , Dörflinger no longer emerged politically. Nevertheless, he was abducted immediately after the war ended in 1945 and, in all probability, murdered. Most historians attribute the act to Yugoslav partisans , and according to a 2013 documentary, members of the Jewish Brigade may have committed the act.

Classification and aftermath

Fritz Dörflinger represented, despite the pragmatism which he displayed in the selection of his political partners, a consistently German national, i.e. H. Position directed against the conditions of the Treaty of Saint-Germain and the connection of Austria to Germany. He saw the unification of the two states as the only way out of the economic and social problems of his time. In an essay published in 1925 he sums it up as follows:

“It is safe to assume that a large proportion of the unemployed would rather get away with honest work than end their life with unemployment benefits. The handicapped production of goods is due in particular to the peace dictate of St. Germain, which did not leave our republic the necessary living conditions. [...] From this situation we still see only one way out that is effective in the long term, that is the connection to the large economic area of ​​the German Reich, which we must therefore persistently strive for, both for national and for economic reasons. This knowledge will not only become a common property of our people, even abroad will not be able to close themselves off to this insight in the long run. "

- Fritz Dörflinger : Thoughts on the development of Austria , Neues Grazer Tagblatt, April 12, 1925

The Carinthian Defense Fighters' Union honors Fritz Doerflinger continue to be important as a personality of the Carinthian defense fight. A street is named after him in the St. Ruprecht district of Klagenfurt . In the recent past it has been the subject of several discussions about contaminated street names. A commission of historians appointed by the city came to the conclusion that Dörflinger “did not excel politically during the war years and [...] was abducted and murdered by Yugoslav partisans in 1945, so that from today's perspective he is democratic legitimized function in the twenties is seen more as a victim than as a perpetrator. " Nevertheless, the memorial council of the city of Klagenfurt still has Fritz-Dörflinger-Straße on its list of contaminated street names.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Salzburg University Association . In: Free Voices . No. 68 . Klagenfurt June 10, 1908, p. 8 ( onb.ac.at ).
  2. ^ Kater, Michael H .: The "Ahnenerbe" of the SS 1935–1945. A contribution to the cultural policy of the Third Reich . 4th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-486-57950-9 , p. 117 .
  3. ↑ Südmark . In: Free Voices . No. 51 . Klagenfurt April 22, 1914, p. 3 ( onb.ac.at ).
  4. ↑ Our heroes in the field . In: Free Voices . No. 60 . Klagenfurt March 14, 1915, p. 7 ( onb.ac.at ).
  5. ↑ Schöner, G .: The district courts of Arnoldstein and Tarvis in the First World War . In: Carinthia I . 145th year, issue 4. Klagenfurt 1955, p. 829 ( onb.ac.at ).
  6. ^ The members of the provisional regional assembly for Carinthia . In: Workers will . Graz / Klagenfurt November 22, 1918, p. 5 f . ( onb.ac.at ).
  7. ^ Dachs, Herbert ; Dippelreiter, Michael; Schausberger, Franz : Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (=  publication series of the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library No. 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 72 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  8. ^ Provisional Carinthian Provincial Assembly. The illegal action of the southern Slavs in Carinthia. In: Free Voices . Klagenfurt December 7, 1918, p. 1 ( onb.ac.at ).
  9. ^ The appeal to the governor . In: Free Voices . Klagenfurt January 19, 1934, p. 3 ( onb.ac.at ).
  10. ↑ Daily news - German Association . In: Free Voices . Klagenfurt November 20, 1918, p. 2 ( onb.ac.at ).
  11. ^ The German People's Association for Carinthia . In: Free Voices . Klagenfurt December 4, 1918, p. 3 ( onb.ac.at ).
  12. ^ German Democratic State Party Congress . In: Free Voices . Klagenfurt May 1, 1920, p. 3 ( onb.ac.at ).
  13. ↑ Provisional National Assembly . In: Free Voices . Klagenfurt June 13, 1920, p. 3 f . ( onb.ac.at ).
  14. ^ Dachs, Herbert; Dippelreiter, Michael; Schausberger, Franz: Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (=  publication series of the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library No. 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 87 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  15. ^ Dachs, Herbert; Dippelreiter, Michael; Schausberger, Franz: Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (=  publication series of the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library No. 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 97 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  16. ^ Dachs, Herbert; Dippelreiter, Michael; Schausberger, Franz: Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (=  publication series of the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library No. 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 102-107 . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  17. ^ Dachs, Herbert; Dippelreiter, Michael; Schausberger, Franz: Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (=  publication series of the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library No. 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 111 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  18. ^ Party congresses in Carinthia . In: Salzburger Volksblatt . Salzburg March 21, 1928, p. 2 ( onb.ac.at ).
  19. ↑ In the Carinthian Parliament . In: Alpenländische Rundschau . Klagenfurt April 7, 1928, p. 10 ( onb.ac.at ).
  20. ^ Dachs, Herbert; Dippelreiter, Michael; Schausberger, Franz: Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (=  publication series of the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library No. 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 114 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  21. ↑ Cerafin, R .: contributions to the history of the Carinthian day literature. History of the newspaper industry in Carinthia. In: Carinthia I . 142nd year. Klagenfurt 1952, p. 557 note 16 ( onb.ac.at ).
  22. ^ The Association of Visual Artists in Carinthia . In: Reichspost . Vienna March 26, 1931, p. 8 ( onb.ac.at ).
  23. ^ The general assembly of the Khevenhüllerbund . In: Süddeutsches Tagblatt (=  Neues Grazer Tagblatt ). Graz April 14, 1934, p. 10 ( onb.ac.at ).
  24. ^ History of the Carinthian kuk infantry regiment "Graf von Khevenhüller No. 7" (hereinafter IR7). Jägerbataillon 25, accessed November 4, 2019 .
  25. ↑ a b BZÖ-Scheider: Endless discussion about street renaming in Klagenfurt must come to an end! In: APA press release. March 31, 2008, accessed November 4, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Jochen Bendele: Nazi Jäger tells his story. Kleine Zeitung, May 8, 2013, accessed November 4, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Fritz Dörflinger: Thoughts on the development of Austria . In: Neues Grazer Tagblatt . Graz April 12, 1925, p. 3 f . ( onb.ac.at ).
  28. ↑ Personalities of the Carinthian defensive struggle. Kärntner Abwehrkampfbund, accessed on November 4, 2019 .
  29. ↑ State capital Klagenfurt am Wörthersee: Contaminated street names. Retrieved November 4, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Dörflinger, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Carinthian member of parliament, regional councilor and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 1879
DATE OF DEATH 1945