Josef Schraffl

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Josef Schraffl (1919)

Josef Schraffl (born June 13, 1855 in Sillian , Tyrol ; † January 11, 1922 in Innsbruck ) was an Austrian politician ( CS ) and governor of Tyrol from 1917 to 1921.

First political steps

Josef Schraffl's father ran a small farm in Sillian in the Puster Valley and a general store connected with an inn. The young Schraffl was destined for a commercial career. When he was 17 years old, his father died and he had to take over his father's business. Soon he became chairman of the Sillian farmers' association and in 1884 or 1885 he was elected mayor of his home community. He held the mayor's office until 1908. In 1897 the local Raiffeisenkasse was founded and Schraffl was elected its first chairman.

Political rise

In December 1898 by-election for place in the country district Lienz-Sillian-Matrei parliament instead, was sent to the Schraffl for the first time in this body. In 1900 the mayor of Sillian, who was relatively little known beyond East Tyrol, was put up against the conservative ex-minister Josef Freiherr Di Pauli as a candidate for “Central Tyrol ” - for example today's South Tyrol  - for the then Reichsrat . In early 1901, Josef Schraffl won the vote with a narrow majority. Schraffl's special political abilities, his speaking skills, his organizational talent, but above all his loyalty to the people, had already shown in the election campaign.

Foundation of the Tyrolean farmers' association

The election of 1901 initiated the rise of the Christian Social Party in Tyrol. Schraffl was one of the recognized leaders of the party alongside Ämilian Schöpfer . On June 5, 1904, the Tyrolean Farmers' Union was founded in Sterzing . The pioneers and founders of this professional organization were above all Prelate Ämilian Schöpfer, the folk writer Sebastian Rieger  - better known as " Reimmichl " - and Josef Schraffl.

Schraffl had introduced the farmers' day in Sterzing with a tremendous amount of assembly activity and was also elected the first chairman of the federal government. He kept the leadership of the farmers' union until his death and it is he who made the professional organization of Tyrolean farmers a decisive factor in Tyrolean state politics. As chairman of the Tyrolean farmers' union, he was able to achieve a great deal for a better social and material position for the farmers. An editorial in the Tiroler Volksbote in 1905 named Schraffl the most popular folk man in Tyrol. In 1908 Schraffl was elected to the state committee - which roughly corresponds to today's state government - in which he took over the departments for traffic and road construction. In 1914 he was appointed President of the State Cultural Office.

Schraffl was a co-founder and later president of the Tyrolean farmers' savings bank, the agricultural bank and the credit association. Many of his plans for more modern agriculture and for harnessing the country's economic powers could only be realized after his death. ´

Governor 1917–1921

Josef Schraffl succeeded the popular Theodor von Kathrein as Governor of Tyrol in 1917 . At the end of the First World War , the southern parts of the region came to Italy through the Treaty of Saint-Germain . The Italian annexation of South Tyrol was formally completed in October 1920. Josef Schraffl responded to the measure in November of the same year by holding an official mourning rally for the Tyrolean state parliament in Innsbruck.

After the final collapse, Schraffl, together with other state representatives, advocated the establishment of a republic, which corresponded to the will of the Tyrolean people's representatives gathered in Innsbruck. The repatriation of the demobilized troops and supplying the population in the post-war years also fell into Schraffl's term of office.

Political end

Schraffl's grave at Innsbruck's Westfriedhof

In 1920 he was defeated by his party colleague Aemilian Schöpfer, formerly his friend and supporter, in the National Council elections in the East Tyrolean constituency, now one of his fiercest opponents, especially on the question of an economic connection between Tyrol and Bavaria .

This failure brought the first crack in the hitherto undisputed supremacy of Schraffl. When there were regional elections again in the spring of 1921, Schraffl's position in the country was already shaken. Schraffl himself recognized the hopelessness of his candidacy and stood up for the election of Franz Stumpf as governor. In June 1921 he was appointed head of the state government. The state parliament sent Schraffl to the Federal Council . Schraffl's main work was always dedicated to the farmers' union.

Josef Schraffl died on January 11, 1922 after a short illness at the age of 67 in Innsbruck.

literature

  • Tyrolean farmers 'calendar 1955 , 50 years of the Tyrolean farmers' association, anniversary edition; Edited by the Tiroler Bauernbund
  • Tiroler Bauernkalender 2004 , published by the Tiroler Bauernbund
  • Kulturinitiative Sillian (ed.): Sillian - history and present. Haymon Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3-85218-726-6

Individual evidence

  1. ^ R. Schober:  Schraffl, Joseph. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 11, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-7001-2803-7 , p. 158 f. (Direct links on p. 158 , p. 159 ).
  2. ↑ Martin Kofler: Sillian in recent times. In: Kulturinitiative Sillian (ed.): Sillian - history and present. Haymon Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-85218-726-6 , p. 332 ff.
  3. ↑ Laurence Cole: “Land divided and tales divided. Cultures of remembrance of the First World War in the successor regions of the Crown Land of Tyrol ». In: Hannes Obermair u. a. (Ed.): Regional civil society in motion - Cittadini innanzi tutto . Vienna-Bozen: Folio Verlag 2012. ISBN 978-3-85256-618-4 , pp. 502-531, reference pp. 504-505.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schraffl, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (CS) and first governor of Tyrol, member of the National Council, member of the Federal Council
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Sillian
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1922
Place of death innsbruck