Josef Stecher (politician, 1775)

Josef Stecher

Memorial plaque in Mals

Josef Anton Stecher (born October 6, 1775 , † December 31, 1862 in Mals , South Tyrol ) was the adjutant of Major Martin Teimer during the Tyrolean uprising of 1809.

Life

Josef Stecher was born in Malles in Vinschgau as the son of the councilor and innkeeper Ignatz Jakob Stecher (1743–1819) and Maria Brigitta Neurauter (1737–1804) as the second of seven children. After a commercial apprenticeship in Rovereto , he took over his parents' inn Zum Hirschen in 1806 after his older brother, Franz Jakob Stecher (1761–1797), died in combat with Calliano in the course of the Italian campaign in 1796/1797 . Stecher was married to Franziska Flora (1775-1854) from Glurns for 50 years . From this marriage came their son, Anton Stecher (1805–1895).

Role in the Tyrolean struggle for freedom in 1809

Due to his patriotic, pro-Austrian sentiments and not least because of his function as mayor in 1808, Stecher was initiated into the secret of the popular uprising at an early stage. He was appointed adjutant to Major Martin Teimer , took an active part in the second Bergisel Battle and worked as an ammunition commissioner and march administrator. With the Obervinschgau companies he was in the Ausserfern region , from where successful forays to Murnau and Weilheim in Bavaria were undertaken. In contrast to Hormayr and Teimer, who had already left Tyrol at the end of July, Stecher stayed in the country and took part in the fighting on the Küchelberg near Merano in November .

After a royal Bavarian official recognized and denounced him as a former adjutant of Major Teimer at the beginning of 1813, Josef Stecher was taken to Innsbruck with a military escort, from there to Munich, Passau and Ingolstadt, where he remained in custody for nine months. Despite numerous pardons and petitions from his wife to the King of Bavaria, Stecher only gained freedom after the reunification of Tyrol with Austria. At the beginning of December 1813 he was able to return to his homeland. He turned to the Austrian government for compensation for the losses suffered during his deportation. With regard to his compensation claims, he was advised to be patient and his request was later rejected.

In 1815, 1823, 1824 and 1825 he was repeatedly elected mayor in Mals and in 1841 he was appointed to the peasant class for the district of Vinschgau and Nauders at the Tyrolean state parliament in Innsbruck , which he held until the constitutional amendment in 1848.

After that, and especially after the death of his wife in 1854, he withdrew into private life and died on December 31, 1862 after two days of malaise at the age of 87.

Awards

Civil Medal of Honor in Gold on the Oer with ribbon

In 1817, Stecher was the awarding of the Golden civil Medal of Honor at Oer with ribbon for his proven loyalty to Prince and Fatherland and its many merits imperial recognition of Emperor Franz I granted.

On the occasion of the 100-year celebrations 1809–1909 , a plaque in Lasa marble was attached to Stecher's birthplace, the Gasthof Zum Hirschen in Mals .

In 1959 the rifle battalion Obervinschgau Josef Stecher was named in his honor .

literature

• Innsbrucker Nachrichten 1909, No. 230, pp. 5 and 6
• Tiroler Anzeiger 1909, No. 222, p. 5
• Innsbrucker Nachrichten 1909, No. 233
• Richard Schober, Eberhard Lang: History of the Tiroler Landtag in the 19th and 20th centuries , Volume 4 of: Publications of the Tiroler Landesarchiv , 1984, ISBN 3703001313 , p. 559; (Detail scan)
• Tobias Wildauer: Thinking book of the celebration of the five-century unification of Tyrol with Austria . Innsbruck 1864, p. 151; (Digital scan)
• Joseph von Hormayr : History of Andreas Hofer, Sandwirths from Passeyr, Oberanführer of the Tyroler in the war of 1809 , Brockhaus Verlag, Leipzig 1817, pp. 58, 212, 213 u. 231; (accessible digital scans of the pages)
• P. Jukundus Schmied (OFMCap.): Malles - History from the past and present . Fb. Hofbuchdruckerei A. Weger, Bressanone (Brixen) 1942.
• Josef Hirn: Tyrol's uprising in 1809 . Heinrich Schwick, quays. and kings Court bookseller, Innsbruck 1909.