Karl Gruber (politician, 1909)

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Karl Gruber (born May 3, 1909 in Innsbruck ; † February 1, 1995 there ) was an Austrian politician and diplomat .

Life

Karl Gruber was born as the third son of Maria and Peter Gruber in Innsbruck. His family was politically strongly involved in the social democratic camp; his mother in the social democratic women's movement, his father in the railway workers' union.

Gruber's political career also began in socialist organizations such as the Red Falcons and the Socialist Youth.

After attending the trade school , Gruber studied electrical engineering and later law in Vienna. During his studies he worked for the Austrian Post, among other things. During his studies in Vienna he also switched to the Christian social camp. Since 1935 he was a member of the Catholic student association KÖStV Austria Vienna .

After the “Anschluss” of Austria in March 1938, Gruber escaped arrest by the Gestapo and was able to flee to Berlin, where he worked as a trained electrical engineer in a laboratory for the armaments industry (first at AEG , later at Telefunken ) during the Second World War . Gruber was already active in resistance cells in Germany during the war and headed the “Rosengarten” organization in Berlin, which was in close cooperation with the Austrian group O5 and German organizations such as the Kreisauer Kreis . One of his main concerns was to establish contacts with the Allied countries . Towards the end of the war Gruber returned to Austria, where he took over the leadership of the Tyrolean resistance movement in the spring of 1945 and succeeded in liberating Innsbruck as the only city of Nazi Germany before the Allied invasion of Nazi rule.

After the restoration of the Republic of Austria, Gruber became provisional governor of Tyrol in 1945 and founded the so-called “Austrian State Party” there, which he later incorporated into the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).

After the federal state conferences in 1945, Gruber was appointed as a representative of the western federal states to Vienna, to the provisional state government under Karl Renner , where he acted in the state chancellery as undersecretary for foreign affairs from September 26th. From December 20, 1945 to November 26, 1953 he served in the federal governments Figl I , Figl II , Figl III and Raab I as Foreign Minister in the Federal Chancellery. In the early days of his activity, his main interest was the solution of the South Tyrol problem . Although he did not achieve his goal, namely self-determination for South Tyrol, he was able to achieve the autonomy and other other advantages for South Tyrol, which were established on September 5, 1946 in the so-called Gruber-De-Gasperi Agreement . With regard to Germany, Gruber adopted the demands of the State of Salzburg for the cession of the Berchtesgadener Land . In the following years Gruber played a key role in the negotiations on the State Treaty and always took a pro-American position.

Due to internal party conflicts, Gruber resigned as foreign minister on November 26, 1953 and was first appointed ambassador to Washington DC, then to Bern, Bonn and Madrid. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), founded on July 29, 1957, held its first general assembly in October 1957, chaired by Gruber, and decided to establish its permanent seat in Vienna. From April 19, 1966 to May 13, 1969, he was a member of the Federal Government Klaus II , which was in office until 1970 and the only ÖVP sole government in the Second Republic to this day, as State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery.

In 1986 Gruber was the special ambassador in the Waldheim affair and held an advisory role for leading politicians until his death.

Gruber was long-term president of the Latin American Institute in Vienna.

Karl Gruber was married to Helga nee Ahlgrimm; the marriage remained childless.

Karl Gruber spent most of the last years of his life in Vienna and his house in Andalusia. He died on February 1, 1995 in Innsbruck and is buried in the Mariahilf cemetery there.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry about Karl Gruber (politician, 1909) in Biolex, the web lexicon of the ÖCV
  2. ↑ Sigvard Eklund: Statement of the Director General to the 21st Session of the General Conference of the IAEA , in: IAEA Bulletin , 1977, vol. 19, no.6 (PDF; 748 kB)
  3. ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Karl Gruber
  4. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  5. ↑ Honoring Austrian freedom fighters. In:  The new reminder call. Journal for Freedom, Law and Democracy , issue 11/1977, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / dnm
predecessor Office successor
Max Loewenthal-Chlumecky Austrian Ambassador to Washington, DC
1954–1958 		Wilfried Platzer
Erich felt Austrian envoy in Madrid
1961–1966 		Heinz Standenat
Josef Schöner Austrian ambassador to Germany
1966–1966 		Rudolf Ender
personal data
SURNAME Gruber, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian diplomat and politician, member of the National Council
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH innsbruck
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1995
Place of death innsbruck