Josef Krainer senior

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Josef Krainer senior memorial in St. Lorenzen.

Josef Krainer senior (born February 16, 1903 in Sankt Lorenzen bei Scheifling , † November 28, 1971 in Allerheiligen bei Wildon ) was an Austrian politician ( Christian Social Party / ÖVP ) and long-time governor of Styria . He is the father of Josef Krainer junior , who was also governor.

Life

Josef Krainer came from a Styrian farming family and was a farmer himself. He initially worked as a lumberjack ("chaste"), but also began to be politically active at an early age.

Between 1927 and 1936 he was chairman of the white-collar workers 'and workers' organization in agriculture and forestry in Styria, and in 1934 he was appointed a member of the state parliament. In 1936, at the instigation of Governor Karl Maria Stepan, he became President of the Styrian Chamber of Labor and Vice Mayor of Graz .

After Austria was annexed to the Third Reich , he was arrested, but soon after the intervention of the later Gauleiter of Styria Sigfried Uiberreither was released. He then bought a brick factory near Gasselsdorf and later also maintained contacts with dissidents and resistance fighters, which is why the authorities were again looking for him and he had to stay in hiding until the end of the war. The local post commander of the gendarmerie had warned him of the imminent arrest in February 1945. Then Krainer was hid at the “Stindlweber” farm in Stammeregg as a lumberjack and later as a strahhacker (manufacturer of litter for animal husbandry by chopping up plant residues) at the neighboring farm “Glirsch” in Kornriegl, where he had a place to sleep in the stable under which himself a pit was located that could serve as a hiding place (both villages later belonged to the municipality of Großradl , and since 2015 to Eibiswald ). In Kornriegl he belonged to the organization O5 and was the head (staff leader, representative of the O5 in Styria) of a resistance group called "Brigade Kornriegl" or "Bataillon Kornriegl". But he also had contact with Fritz Tränkler, a commander of the Kampfgruppe Steiermark (Koralmpartisans) supported by the Soviet Union . However, the Christian-oriented Krainer refused to work with this group.

Immediately after the end of the Second World War , he became mayor of Gasselsdorf and a little later he sat in the Styrian regional government as an agricultural councilor. For a short time he also acted as the managing state party chairman of the Styrian People's Party (STVP). He made use of his contacts to the British and Soviet occupying powers . a. to ensure basic services for the population.

Before the state elections in October 1949, Krainer's contacts with resistance movements sparked fears of losing votes in the ÖVP . There had been criticism of Krainer because of these contacts; at an election rally in western Styria he was called a "partisan seppl" by a heckler. The Styrian SPÖ also tried to circulate this derogatory nickname and in this way openly vied for the votes of former National Socialists. In the background was the VdU's first appearance in this election. These fears ultimately turned out to be unfounded, and Krainer remained governor.

Governor of Styria

On July 6, 1948, Josef Krainer succeeded Anton Pirchegger as governor. His tenure was mainly characterized by the reconstruction of Austria and Styria. With consistency and often against the resistance of political opponents, he implemented a comprehensive modernization of the state, with Krainer particularly looking at the expansion of Styrian industry and infrastructure. He also had to cope with setbacks - for example, the oil refinery he favored in Lannach was ultimately not built.

His national political strategy was primarily based on his personal popularity. The then new concept of designing the state election as a personality choice ("Krainer election ") also went back to his initiative . The Styrian state elections were held from 1957 onwards regardless of the date of the National Council elections, whereby the STVP was consistently able to achieve better results than the federal party in the respective National Council elections.

It was important to Krainer to win over the electorate beyond the classic Christian-Social camp for his goals. For example, the former Landbund politician Franz Thoma was appointed to the state council and later to agriculture minister on Krainer's initiative. In this context, he promoted the integration of former National Socialists and German Nationalists into the Styrian People's Party , especially during the 1950s . The instruments used for this include a. the Ennstaler Kreis , which he helped initiate , as well as the “Junge Front” by Ernst Strachwitz , and various returnees and amnesty committees (e.g. the amnesty action committee led by Franz Allitsch, who later became member of the state parliament).

In the 1960s, Krainer and his state party secretary Alfred Rainer approached the critically-minded young generation and invited them to work in the STVP.

The small Slovene-speaking population in southern Styria was granted official recognition that would have been granted to them in principle under the State Treaty , while Krainer's tenure was denied.

In 1971, Krainer died of a heart attack while hunting pheasants. His party colleague Friedrich Niederl succeeded him as governor .

Federal politics

Krainer, who was highly valued because of his ties to the people, was not only of great influence on state politics, but also had a strong position within the ÖVP at the federal level. He was regarded as a vehement advocate of federalism and internal party reformers, who often accompanied the politics of the federal party under Julius Raab , Alfons Gorbach and Josef Klaus with sharp criticism and put the federal government under pressure. At the same time he endeavored to renew the People's Party on a sustainable basis - with the “New Austrian Society” he initiated the first major reform movement within the ÖVP together with Karl Gruber and Fritz Molden . This moment of renewal led to the replacement of Raab - the new federal party chairman from 1960 was Alfons Gorbach, who also became Federal Chancellor on April 11, 1961. With the launch of articles critical of the government in the Kleine Zeitung and other campaigns, Krainer sen. later, however, also played a key role in the fall of Gorbach. On the other hand, he always turned down offers to become Federal Chancellor himself.

Between 1965 and 1968 he was also a member of the Federal Council , which he also briefly chaired.

International politics

Krainer used his position on a quasi-independent Styrian foreign and European policy - for example, he maintained contacts with British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and with other politicians on both sides of the Iron Curtain .

Styrian politicians, above all Krainer, also recognized the opportunities that the country on the southern border had offered by the hesitant softening of the CP course under the Yugoslav head of state Josip Broz Tito : economically, culturally and politically. That is why Styria, with Krainer, Koren (later Kurt Jungwirth) and State Office President Alfons Trapper, focused on targeted borderland funding for the southern districts of the country and a new neighborhood policy towards the Yugoslav and Hungarian regions ("Styrian Academy", regulation for dual owners, permanent Regional commission with the Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, the three-country biennial "trigon" (also with Italy), with Hungary and Croatia the "Mogersdorf Symposion" and the cooperation in the area of ​​"Alps-Adriatic", based on university initiatives). The high point of this opening policy was Tito's reception by Krainer in Graz Castle in 1967. In addition, the governor pushed for a move to the European Economic Community (EEC) that went beyond participation in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Others

In 1952, Josef Krainer was appointed Commander- in-Chief by Cardinal Grand Master Nicola Cardinal Canali as Commander with the Star of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and invested in the Nonnberg Collegiate Church in Salzburg on August 25, 1952 . He was also an honorary member of both the K.Ö.St.V. Babenberg Graz in the ÖCV , as well as in the K.St.V. Waldmark Mürzzuschlag in the MKV .

In 2011, on the 40th anniversary of his death, the ORF documentary appeared: “Josef Krainer sen. The Styrian legend ”.

The Josef Krainer Prize , which has been awarded since 1973, is named after him.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Herbert Blatnik: 75 years ago: Josef Krainer on the run. Part 2. In: West Styrian Rundschau . No. 8, volume 2020 (February 21, 2020), 93rd volume. ZDB -ID 2303595-X . Simadruck Aigner u. Weisi, Deutschlandsberg 2020, p. 18. Using unspecified content from an experience report by the Documentation Center of the Austrian Resistance (DöW, on Fritz Tränkler) and newspaper reports according to a statement by Krainer in court on December 13, 1948.
  2. ↑ Herbert Blatnik: 75 years ago: Josef Krainer on the run. Part 1. In: West Styrian Rundschau . No. 7, volume 2020 (February 14, 2020), 93rd volume. ZDB -ID 2303595-X . Simadruck Aigner u. Weisi, Deutschlandsberg 2020, p. 12. Using quotations from: Ferdinand Fauland: Der Lärchene Stipfl. Anecdotes about Josef Krainer. Styria Verlag Graz-Vienna 1972 (2nd edition 1973). ISBN 3-222-10739-4 .
  3. ↑ a b DÖW (ed.); Heimo Halbrainer, Elisabeth Holzinger, Manfred Mugrauer, Wolfgang Neugebauer : Resistance and persecution in Styria. Workers' movement and partisans 1938–1945. Clio, Graz 2019. ISBN 978-3-902542-61-8 . Pp. 576-578.
  4. ^ DÖW, Resistance and Persecution. P. 39.
  5. ↑ Interview with Friedrich (Fritz) Tränkler regarding the actions of Kampfgruppe Steiermark, March / April 1984. Collection of interviews No. 142. In: DÖW, Resistance and Persecution. Pp. 39, 471-472.
  6. ↑ Dieter A. Binder / Heinz P. Wassermann: The Styrian People's Party or the return of the estates. Graz 2008, ISBN 978-3-7011-0111-5 , p. 18.
  7. ↑ Österreichischer Naturschutzbund (Ed.): Steirischer Naturschutzbrief . Graz 1988, p. 23 .
  8. ^ Josef Krainer senior: Lärchener Stipfl in green marrow Die Presse , August 17, 2007.
  9. ↑ Elisabeth Welzig: The 68er: Careers of a rebellious generation. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna-Cologne-Weimar 1985, ISBN 3-205-07284-7 , p. 123.
  10. ↑ Österreichisches Volksgruppenzentrum (Ed.): 2nd Report on the Implementation of the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in the Republic of Austria . 2007, p. 67 .
  11. ^ Stefan Karner: Styria. From the First World War to the present. Haymon Verlag, Graz 2012, ISBN 3-852-18860-1 .
  12. ^ "The history of the Austrian Lieutenancy" , page 33, accessed on March 17, 2012
  13. ^ Josef Krainer Prize to Seberg and Strassegger. In: steiermark@orf.at. March 17, 2015, accessed February 26, 2020 .

literature

  • Hans Werner Scheidl: The monarchs of the Second Republic. Portrait of provincial governors. Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna, 2002 ISBN 3-8000-3847-1
  • Ferdinand Fauland: The larch Stipfl. Anecdotes about Josef Krainer. Verlag Styria, Graz-Vienna-Cologne 1972 ISBN 3-222-10739-4

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Hans Heger President of the Austrian Federal Council
January 1, 1967 - June 30, 1967 		Anton Brugger
personal data
SURNAME Krainer, Josef senior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (CS, ÖVP), member of the Federal Council
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Sankt Lorenzen near Scheifling
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1971
Place of death All Saints' Day at Wildon