Gerhard Pendl

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Gerhard Pendl (born July 10, 1934 in Linz ) is an Austrian physician and emeritus university professor . As chairman of the Association for the Care of the Grave of Walter Nowotny with a commemorative speech in November 2006 at his grave , he gained media and broader recognition .

Medical career

Pendl initially worked as a pharmacist in pharmaceutical wholesaling, then graduated from high school in 1958 and began studying medicine at the University of Vienna . During his studies he became a member of the Academic Burschenschaft Upper Austrian Teutons in Vienna . In 1964 the doctorate followed . After working briefly at the Linz General Hospital , Pendl continued his medical career as an assistant at the Neurosurgical University Clinic in Vienna. From 1972 to 1976 Pendl was under H.-P. Jensen Senior Physician at the Neurosurgical University Clinic in Kiel. This was later followed by the position of chief physician at the neurosurgical department at the Ostseeklinik Damp / Schleswig-Holstein, which Pendl had set up. In 1978 he returned to the University of Vienna as first senior physician, where Pendl completed his habilitation in 1980 and was appointed associate professor in 1987.

From April 1990 Pendl worked as a full university professor for neurosurgery and until his retirement in 2002 he was also head of the University Clinic for Neurosurgery in Graz. Furthermore Pendl u. a. also Dean (1997–1999) and Vice Dean (1999–2002) of the Medical Faculty.

Due to his achievements, the Graz University Clinic took on the pioneering role in the Gamma Knife sector in 1992 . Since the commissioning of one of the most expensive medical devices in Austria, the gamma knife method has attracted worldwide attention. Pendl remembers: “Many medical professionals in Europe, America and Asia rely on the know-how from Graz. And we were able to set up some centers around the world, like in Shanghai. ”The method is one of the most effective and also one of the gentlest therapies for difficult-to-treat benign tumors, vascular malformations and functional disorders.

Pendl is the author of around 300 scientific publications.

Right-wing national activist

Gerhard Pendl has been chairman of the Association for the Care of Walter Nowotny's Grave since it was founded . Every year on the anniversary of Nowotny's death, the association organizes a wreath-laying ceremony at his grave, in which fraternity members, representatives of the Austrian Comradeship Association and right-wing extremist skinheads also take part.

On November 12, 2006 Pendl held a commemorative speech for Nowotny at his grave as the club chairman, which had received extensive media coverage , including in the daily newspapers Der Standard , Wiener Zeitung , Die Presse and in the Salzburger Nachrichten , as well as on ORF television reported on the speech in ZIB 2 on November 13, 2006. This also led them to numerous OTS broadcasts in the Austria Press Agency (APA).

The text of the speech, which Pendl had sent in a statement on November 26, 2006 to the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and which the Constitutional Court cited in full on March 6, 2008 in its rejection of a constitutional complaint (see below ):

"Ladies and gentlemen!

As chairman of the Association for the Preservation of the final resting place of the Major of the German Air Force, Walter Nowotny, which is still to be recognized as a grave of honor, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you all. The brother of our hero, Mr. Dkfm. Nowotny from Linz is unfortunately unable to attend for health reasons, but there is no concern about his condition.

I greet Mr Madzak from the Austrian Soldiers Association and Comradeship Association of Upper Styria and his Fahnenjunker Florian Andel, the Comradeship Association / District Association Spitz with his chairman Walter Graf, I also greet Mr Zastrow, who was awarded the Knight's Cross as a simple soldier.

Dear friend!

You still have respect for the soldier death of our brothers, fathers and grandfathers; but this also includes many a sister, mother and grandmother, whom we do not want to forget. We do not see ourselves as pilgrims to a holy place, but it is our duty, against the emotional scars of do-gooders who do not leave alone the dead, to show that there is still a troop in the German lands, the Do not forget or disparage our innocent soldiers and their terrible death:

Why offend the dead when they no longer suffer from it ( Henry de Montherlant ). And this year, too, the grave with the bindings of the people commemorating our hero will again be desecrated by stupid uncultivated people - yes, I pronounce it as it is: stupid uncultivated people. And no newspaper or television company will report on the desecration of the grave ; yes, it is probably also creeping into the infamous ' secret joy' of the RAF sympathizers.

And so Walter Nowotny is once again the victim of an attitude, this time one to which the peace of the dead is no longer sacred. And I say again to the adversaries of the war generation, the generation of civil servants and those who disrupt the peace of the dead: the wreaths that are to be bestowed upon them are already withered today.

Who will be your hero when other times come, which are already heralded by a gloomy glow of the weather? But as the chairman of this group, who has worked to protect this war grave, I hope that the day will come when our efforts will no longer be necessary and every decent citizen will find the grave of Major Nowotny and all other resting places of his former friend and visit the enemy in silent memory.

Let Walter Nowotny rest, just as we are not allowed to drag him into daily politics!

But to watch over him and to honor him, nobody should defend us. "

- Gerhard Pendl : Quoted from: Rejection of a constitutional complaint, VfGH , B 225/07, March 6, 2008, p. 3

As a result of this speech, the management of the Medical University of Vienna (MUW) publicly distanced itself from Pendl and his statements and announced that the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture would try to recall him as a member of the University Council .

After the senate had passed resolutions with the required 2/3 majority and unanimously by the MUV rectorate, the rector sent Federal Minister Elisabeth Gehrer a letter dated November 15, 2006 for “serious breach of duty” within the meaning of Section 21, Paragraph 14 of the University Act Pendls. According to a further letter dated November 23, a regular extraordinary session of the Senate, which according to the statutes of the Medical University of Vienna provides for an eight-day invitation period, could only take place on this date. Pendl was informed of the recall request by letter dated November 15. In a press release, FPÖ party chairman Heinz-Christian Strache described this as “left opinion terror” and “ left fascism ”.

With his statement of November 26th, Pendl provided the full wording of his speech as well as a statement by the lawyer Harald Ofner (former Minister of Justice, FPÖ) and categorically rejected the allegations.

With the decision of the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Culture of December 28, 2006, the recall was confirmed. The reasons given include the fact that this speech "which was critically reported in a great many Austrian media [...] damaged the university's reputation with regard to the fact that its membership of the University Council of the Medical University of Vienna was and is well known. The uncritical attitude towards National Socialism expressed in this speech seriously violated the statutory obligation not to damage the reputation of the university. This uncritical attitude can be seen, for example, in the fact that the grave of Walter Nowotny is an honorary grave ('... for us still to be recognized as a grave of honor ...') or in the 'hero worship' for Walter Nowotny ('... the to people who commemorate our heroes ... ';' ... to remember him with honor ... ',' Who will be your hero when other times come, which are already heralded by a gloomy glow of the weather? '). "

Gerhard Pendl appealed against this decision to the Constitutional Court (VfGH). The Constitutional Court, however, rejected the complaint in March 2008 and confirmed the correctness of the recall, citing the grounds that the "uncompromising rejection of National Socialism was a fundamental characteristic of the 1945 revived republic". This is a permissible interference with the rights of freedom of expression and assembly, as it also corresponds to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights .

Awards

Works

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Burschenschaftliche Blätter , 2006 No. 4, p. 158.
  2. ^ Parade at the Vienna Central Cemetery for Nazi officer Nowotny. In: Der Standard , November 12, 2006.
  3. ↑ Unirat speaks at Nowotny's ex-honor grave. Fraternity members, the comradeship association and right-wing extremist skinheads deposited wreaths for Nazi officers at Vienna's central cemetery. In: DerStandard.at , November 12, 2006: “The speech was given by Gerhard Pendl, chairman of the Association for the Care of the Grave Walter Nowotny and University Council of the Medical University of Vienna: It is' our duty to combat the emotional scars of the do-gooders who also the Do not leave the dead alone, to show that there is still a flag in these German lands that do not forget or even disparage our innocent soldiers and their terrible death, "he said."
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Constitutional Court, decision of March 6, 2008, B 225 / 07-8 ( full text online (PDF) on the VfGH website, accessed on May 5, 2019.): “Complaint of the em.o .Univ.Prof. Dr. Gerhard Pendl, […], represented by the lawyers Dr. Witt & Partner, […] the decision of the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Culture of December 28, 2006, […]: The complainant is neither in a constitutionally guaranteed right due to the contested decision nor in his rights because of the application of an illegal general norm get hurt. | The complaint is rejected. "
  5. ^ Meduni Wien applies for the dismissal of its university councilor Gerhard Pend. Press release from the Medical University of Vienna , November 13, 2006.
  6. ↑ Med-Uni-Rat Pendl is dismissed. In: Der Standard , November 14, 2006.
  7. ↑ a b Cf. also: Legal sentence for B225 / 07 of March 6, 2008 in the legal information system of the federal government (RIS), case law of the Constitutional Court (VfGH): "Principle: No violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights by dismissing a university professor emeritus from his position as a member of the University Council of the Medical University of Vienna for serious breach of duty following a public speech at the grave of a Nazi major; no violation of the freedom of expression in view of the uncritical attitude towards National Socialism expressed in the speech. "
  8. ↑ Strache: Left-wing terrorism of opinion against University Council Dr. Pendl Pendl. Threatening phone calls and anonymous letters at night. In: APA / OTS press release of the FPÖ federal party leadership, November 22, 2006, accessed on May 5, 2019.
  9. ↑ The dismissed Uni-Rat Pendl flashed at the Constitutional Court. In: Der Standard , April 18, 2008.
  10. ↑ Controversial eulogy: Pendl does not want to return decorations. In: Styria. ORF .at, November 15, 2006, accessed on May 5, 2019.
  11. ↑ Third NR President invites you to the Dinghofer Symposium in Parliament. Awards for Gerhard Pendl and Waldemar Steiner. In: Parliament correspondence of the Austrian Parliament , No. 1053, November 11, 2011. See, however:
  12. ↑ Florian Gasser: Burschenschaften: "Affektierte brown gentlemen". Austrian fraternities stand at attention on the right flank - too far to the right for German association brothers. In: Die Zeit , No. 6/2013, January 31, 2013 ( Article Online , p. 2 of 3): "'We fraternity members have to attribute it to ourselves that we too often cause and have caused confusion in this society', writes Gerhard Pendl, an old man of connection, in a book about the history of the fraternities. The medical professor is chairman of the association for the care of the grave of Walter Nowotny. Until a few years ago, the commemorative events for the Nazi flying ace at Vienna's central cemetery were a must in the right-wing scene. | Pendl, who was dismissed from the University Council by Minister of Education Elisabeth Gehrer in 2006 because of a speech at the grave of the Nazi hero, criticizes the misunderstood loyalty: 'We rightly protected our fathers and brothers for a long time, (...) but others have it too have not earned, protected out of false piety. '"
personal data
SURNAME Pendl, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian physician and neurosurgeon, emeritus university professor and right-wing national activist
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Linz