Josef Raffeiner

Josef Raffeiner

Josef Raffeiner (born January 18, 1895 in Petersberg , Deutschnofen , † January 25, 1974 there ) was a German-speaking Italian politician from South Tyrol .

biography

During the First World War, Raffeiner fought in the Austro-Hungarian army on the Eastern Front and on the Italian Front from 1915 . He then studied law in Innsbruck and Rome. With the option he refused to emigrate to the German Reich , which is why he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and interned in the Reichenau camp. After his liberation shortly before the end of the war in 1945, he returned to Bolzano , where he devoted himself to building up the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP). From 1945 to 1947 Raffeiner acted as the party's state secretary. From 1948 to 1958 the lawyer represented the SVP in the Italian Senate .

In 1961 Raffeiner was one of the leading exponents of the party-internal building wing, which rejected the tougher line pursued since the change of leadership under Silvius Magnago in 1957 against the ruling Christian Democrats in Rome and Trento . In 1963 he let himself stand up for the Senate election as a “wild candidate” of this wing, which was particularly supported by economically liberal circles and with 15,200 votes caused the SVP a loss of around 4%. In 1964 Raffeiner founded the Tyrolean Home Party (THP). As the top candidate, he was able to win a mandate with 2.47% of the votes in the elections to the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol and thus at the same time to the South Tyrolean state parliament , which was the first time that a German-speaking politician who was not a member of the SVP was represented there. From 1965 to 1969, after the SVP refused to participate in the government, he was assessor in the regional government of Trentino-South Tyrol . Since the THP was politically isolated and increasingly becoming a reservoir for right-wing conservative dissatisfied, Raffeiner, who was also a talented draftsman and painter, withdrew from politics after the end of the legislative period.

literature

• Eva Gratl (ed.): Josef Raffeiner: a piece of the past . Edition Raetia, Bozen 1994, ISBN 88-7283-051-6 .
• Günther Pallaver : Departure to pluralism. South Tyrol's parties and party system . In: Gottfried Solderer (Ed.): The 20th Century in South Tyrol. Autonomy and departure . Volume IV: 1960-1979. Edition Raetia, Bozen 2002, ISBN 88-7283-183-0 , p. 66-67 .
• Wolfgang Raffeiner: Josef Raffeiner: Diaries 1945–1948 . Edition swoops, Bozen 1998, ISBN 3-900949-30-1 .

Web links

• Entry on Josef Raffeiner in the representative database of the South Tyrolean Parliament (PDF)
• Raffeiner as Senator during the 1st legislative period on the website of the Italian Senate
• Raffeiner as Senator during the Second Legislature on the website of the Italian Senate