Hans Sima

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Hans Sima (born June 4, 1918 in Saifnitz , Austria-Hungary , † October 7, 2006 in Klagenfurt , Austria ) was an Austrian politician ( SPÖ ). From 1965 to 1974 he was Governor of Carinthia .

Life

Childhood and youth

Hans Sima was born on June 4, 1918 in Saifnitz in the Carinthian Canal Valley . His parents came from a small-scale, mixed-language (German-Slovenian) family. After the armistice at the end of the First World War, the valley from Tarvisio to Pontafel (Italian: Pontebba) was occupied by Italian troops in November 1918, and in 1919 it was taken to Italy as spoils of war. Saifnitz then received the Italian name Camporosso.

When Hans Sima started school, he and his family moved - like many other people from Kanaltaler - to Carinthia within its new borders, namely to Sankt Veit an der Glan . There, Hans Sima got involved with the Red Falcons early on . After graduating from secondary school, he began training as a businessman in 1933. At the age of just 17, he was arrested for six months by the authorities of the Austro-Fascist corporate state because of his membership of the Social Democrats.

Political career

After completing his training, he was accepted into the public service of the Carinthian regional administration in 1938. With the end of the Second World War , from which he returned badly wounded, his political career began in social democracy: Hans Sima was appointed state party secretary of the Carinthian SPÖ - a position he would hold until 1956.

As a result, he not only held various functions in the SPÖ, but was also a member of the Carinthian Landtag (1949), member of the Federal Council (1953 to 1956), Provincial Councilor of the Carinthian Provincial Government (1956 to 1963) and Deputy Governor for his party ( 1963 to 1965). Finally, in 1965, he was elected Governor of Carinthia to succeed Ferdinand Wedenig .

As governor, Hans Sima sought a dialogue with the Carinthian Slovenes , but ultimately failed because of the hostile mood in the country that German nationals had stirred up against any concession to the Slovenian minority. After Chancellor Bruno Kreisky tried to find a final solution to the street sign dispute with the help of a federal law, there were bomb threats, damage and the dismantling of bilingual street signs and protests also in front of the Simas residential building ( street sign tower ). As a result, Sima lost the support of his party, so that he had to resign from his party function at the state party congress in 1974 and subsequently also the office of governor. Leopold Wagner succeeded him in both positions .

Hans Sima called the events "a terrible disappointment that he has not gotten rid of since those days".

His granddaughter Ulli Sima also went into politics for the SPÖ.

Promoter of art, innovator and cosmopolitan

Hans Sima was also a patron of the arts, who had a deep personal friendship with Werner Berg and Giselbert Hoke .

The University of Klagenfurt was founded during Hans Sima's tenure as governor - and he was a cosmopolitan: in his inaugural speech as governor of Carinthia in 1965, he emphasized the central function of Carinthia “at the intersection of three cultural areas” and began a lively diplomacy between Klagenfurt, Ljubljana and Trieste.

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
(for the following statement on the "danger of ... historical paraphrase".)

With his private foundation for the research of Carinthian contemporary history and for the promotion of the Alps-Adriatic idea, Sima was able to act against the danger of an updated historical rewriting right up to the end.

His political legacy

At the 15th state party congress in 1971, the then governor Hans Sima took a detailed position on issues relating to the Slovenian minority. He advocated a generous attitude of the majority towards the minority and condemned extremist positions on both sides.

As a young MP and as a Federal Councilor, he was particularly committed to financial issues. It was an important concern of Hans Sima to implement a catch-up program for the areas in southern Carinthia that were neglected by the pre-war governments. In 1968, on the initiative of Sima, Southern Carinthia was granted a "voting donation" of a remarkable 15 million schillings.

The motion submitted to the National Council on June 15, 1972 for the introduction of German and Slovenian place-name signs in mixed-language locations in Carinthia was also based on his initiative. The resulting disputes , known as the town sign tower , finally led to his resignation as governor in 1974. He then almost completely withdrew from politics.

Hans Sima was buried in Sankt Veit an der Glan .

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Minority Policy PdF document p. 133, accessed September 11, 2016.
  2. ^ Former governor Hans Sima has died. kaernten.orf.at, October 7, 2006
  3. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB)
  4. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Sima, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (SPÖ), member of the Federal Council
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Saifnitz
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 2006
Place of death Klagenfurt