Otto Amann (politician)
Otto Amann (born April 5, 1926 in Hohenems ; † February 18, 2011 ) was an Austrian politician . Amann was mayor of Hohenems in Vorarlberg from 1965 to 1990. In this function, he was particularly committed to founding and developing the Jewish Museum , which documents life in the most important Jewish community in Western Austria and which has become a meeting place for the descendants of Jews from the border triangle Germany, Switzerland and Austria, scattered around the world has developed.
Childhood and school days (1926–1944)
Otto Amann spent his childhood in Hohenems. The upbringing was strict and elitist. High German was spoken in the family and the children had only limited contact with the Alemannic environment to which Otto Amann felt drawn. At an early age, he set himself the goal of starting a farm instead of taking over his parents' embroidery factory. He attended elementary school in Hohenems, the first high school years were spent at the Jesuit College " Stella Matutina " in Feldkirch and the last years before his " war Matura " at the secondary school in Dornbirn (from 1938 "School for Boys," today "Bundesgymnasium Dornbirn, Realschulstraße") . From his time in Feldkirchen, the martyr cult around Engelbert Dollfuß had a patriotic influence on him. The family's relationships with the few members of the Jewish community who remained in Hohenems after the wave of emigration in the wake of emancipation ( State Basic Law 1867) were ambivalent. The liberal “Schlösserles” (= Ammanns with double m = maternal line) maintained friendly relations with the Jewish elite - there are photos of coffee rounds in the garden of their parents' house and corresponding written documents. The "Junkers" (= Amanns with an M = paternal line), on the other hand, as inveterate Christian socials, were more strongly influenced by traditional Christian anti-Judaism . However, as such, they were excluded from political positions during the Nazi regime from 1938 to 1945.
War years 1944/45
Otto Amann's time between leaving school and March 18, 1945 is very well documented by numerous field post letters that are available in the original. On March 1, 1944, a school leaving certificate was issued to him prematurely (" War Matura ") and he was called up to the RAD (Reich Labor Service) in Pirtendorf and Mühlbach im Pinzgau. He has bad memories of that time. According to his own account, a relative who was his superior there was constantly being “hose” and driven to excessive performance. Therefore, in mid-1944, he signed up for training as a reserve officer. As a reserve officer applicant he came to the Auhof barracks in Linz at the beginning of June (letter of June 10, 1944) and in autumn at the end of the year to Znojmo in Moravia (letter of September 21, 1944). In February 1945 he continued this training in Brno. The last field post letter was dated March 18, 1945. Otto Amann was still in Brno and wrote that he would continue his officer training here until further notice and that he would become a “flag junior” in the foreseeable future. No objective documents are available for the last six weeks before the end of the war. A last conversation about this time (publication planned), which he had with a son at the beginning of 2010, a year before his death, shows that he was on the front in the "Ulrich von Hutten" division . This was not set up until the end of March, beginning of April 1945. It was deployed prematurely in mid-April as part of the battle of the 11th Army against the Americans near Bitterfeld and then with the 12th Army in the battle for the relief of Berlin. Otto Amann said he was a group leader first and then a company leader. His division was captured by the Americans on the Elbe. The prison camp was located on the Stendal airfield , which was handed over to the Soviets in July 1945. At this point in time Otto Amann could no longer have been there because he was never in Soviet captivity. Rather, he had been transferred from the American to British captivity and spent the summer cleaning up in Hanover . The "Certficat de Demobilisation" still preserved was issued by the "Heer de Terre" in Bregenz and is dated July 28, 1946 (original in family ownership). It must have been issued afterwards, because Otto Amann was already enrolled as a student at the University of Innsbruck in October 1945 .
Studies (1945–1949)
After spending a semester in Innsbruck, Otto Amann moved to Vienna in the summer semester of 1946 to study at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, where he graduated in 1949 with a degree in agriculture. This time (living conditions, study conditions, political orientation) is also a. very well documented by a large number of received letters to the family. Despite health problems (jaundice with hospital stay - see letter of November 29, 1946; frequent dental problems) he took an active part in the political discourse. He reacted to the negative experience of the amalgamation of church and power in the interwar period by actively participating in the founding of the Catholic University Youth in Austria in the environment of Karl Strobl and in this context took over the leadership position at BOKU (head of the local university community from February 1948). Karl Strobl confirmed Otto Amann's leading position in the context of university youth in his memoirs “Experience and Attempts”. In addition, Otto Amann was also on night duty in the Caritas station mission at Nordwestbahnhof (letter of October 25, 1947). He also took part in training courses, e. B. at one of the Austrian Farmers' Union in the ÖVP training camp at Schloss Wartholz in Reichenau an der Rax (letter from November 19, 1948). He also organized and gave lectures for the Austrian University Youth (letter of April 19, 1948 and March 15, 1949). He also received permission to cross the zone boundary in order to attend conferences. At that time, the Austrian University Youth saw itself as an alternative to the party-politically oriented Cartell Association and stayed away from partisan participation in power (as late as 1955 there was a fundamental decision of the Catholic Action that leading employees of their organizations were not allowed to stand as members of the Landtag or Nationalrat have to forego leadership positions in political parties at all). Otto Amann's distance from the political establishment remained fundamentally in his later time with the ÖVP . He drew his political legitimation as mayor more from the direct support of the electorate and less from the party. His candidacy against the Vorarlberg governor Herbert Keßler at the state party conference of the ÖVP in November 1973 is explained not least by negative experiences with established party circles during his university days.
The time before entering politics (1949–1955)
After completing his studies, Otto Amann worked as a specialist teacher at the “Rural People's Education Home of the BMfUnterricht ” in Graschnitz near St. Marein in the Mürz Valley until 1951 , but at the same time prepared the establishment of a farm, which he actually realized in May 1951. During this time he met his future wife Edeltraud Steiner while on a train ride in the Mürz Valley. The wedding took place on July 19, 1952 in the Rankweil basilica. The farm was initially a makeshift in the center of Hohenems. It was not until 1954 that the construction of the Aussiedlerhof in Hohenems Ried could be started. In the meantime two sons had already been born (Otto jun. 1953, Bernhard 1954), later Edeltraud (1955), Gerold (1956), Andreas (1960), Christoph (1961) and Markus (1965) were born. From 1953 Otto Amann taught part-time at the Mehrerau Agricultural School in Bregenz. He made up for the teaching qualification “for the agricultural teaching and promotion service, general agriculture group at lower - higher agricultural schools, main subject plant production theory” in the course of repeated stays in Vienna. The teacher examination certificate received is dated July 4, 1958.
From entering politics to electing mayor (1955–1965)
From 1955 Otto Amann was a member of the municipal council of Hohenems, in 1958 he was elected councilor for agriculture and forestry and in 1960 he was elected deputy mayor. In the summer of 1964, the then mayor Hanny Amann fell ill. Otto Amann represented him until his death on January 7, 1965 and then remained the incumbent mayor until the local elections that took place a little later. In the 1950s, he began working as a farmer's representative. In 1953 he was elected chairman of the Hohenems cattle breeding association and in 1956 chairman of the Hohenems farmers' union. In 1958 he expanded his activities. He became chairman of the Vorarlberg Brown Cattle Breeding Association and managing director of the Association of European Brown Cattle Breeding Associations. In this function he made numerous trips to neighboring countries, especially to Italy and France.
The time as elected mayor (1965–1990)
In the municipal elections in 1965 Otto Amann was confirmed as mayor and remained in this office until 1990. Important building projects that were implemented under his direction include the schools and sports facilities in the Herrenried district, the Rheinauen recreation center , the 150-bed hospital, the chronic Sick station, the retirement home and the wastewater treatment plant for the Hohenems Region Water Association. The early implementation of the zoning plan (1966) was also decisive for the long-term development of Hohenems . In the cultural sector, Otto Amann's most important legacy is the founding of the Hohenems Jewish Museum . He also supported the city's involvement in the Bregenz Festival program (opera performances and concerts in the palace) and the establishment of the “ Schubertiade ” (1976). As a trained agrarian and active farmer, he attached particular importance to the maintenance and further development of agricultural and forestry structures. Among other things, he made sure that the agricultural school of the state of Vorarlberg was rebuilt in Hohenems. Due to the supra-regional importance that Hohenems had achieved during his tenure, the market town was raised to town in 1983 in the presence of Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger.
The last years (1990-2011)
After his resignation as mayor, Otto Amann was mainly committed to his two “favorite children”, the Hohenems Jewish Museum and the Vorarlberg alpine economy . In 1986 he was a co-founder and until his illness at the beginning of the new millennium he was also president of the “Association of the Jewish Museum Hohenems”. The museum was opened in 1991 and in the following years developed into an exhibition and meeting place known far beyond the national borders.
Otto Amann experienced the meeting of the descendants of Hohenems Jews scattered around the world in August 1998 as the highlight of his commitment to remembering the former Jewish community.
The establishment of the Vorarlberger Alpwirtschaftsverein in 1981 served to network the alpine economic activities in the country. Otto Amann took over the function of chairman and remained there for 20 years.
Religious and social orientation
Otto Amann's anchoring in a devout Catholicism prevented him from falling prey to National Socialism even in his youth . Since he was only involved in the war from the end of March / beginning of April 1945, when the Eastern Front had already reached Germany, he was spared involvement in war criminal activities of the Wehrmacht . During the war, his distance from Nazi ideology was expressed in the fact that he left the troops to attend church services (letters of December 25, 1944 and March 18, 1945). After the war he oriented himself both privately and in public work to the ideals of a renewed Tatchristism and always saw himself as a practicing Catholic. In 1974 he got to know the Focolare Movement and attended the annual meetings of the movement with his wife and younger children, which he always generously supported until the end. His social orientation is also largely derived from his religious attitude. Working for marginalized groups was a priority for him. During his time as mayor, he was always available to speak to everyone personally, promoted the construction of social housing and kept in contact with the Turkish and Yugoslav " guest workers ". He also campaigned for the creation of public spaces for young people who were not organized as clubs. In terms of agricultural policy, he was particularly committed to small-scale family businesses and mountain farmers.
literature
- Commemorative publication Hohenems town elevation 1333–1983. Vorarlberger Verlagsanstalt, Dornbirn 1983.
- Hanno Loewy (Ed.): Heimat Diaspora. The Jewish Museum Hohenems. Bucher, Hohenems 2008.
Web links
- Obituary on the website of the municipality of Hohenems
Individual evidence
- ↑ Publication in progress.
- ^ Karl Strobl: Experience and attempts. Notes from the estate. Herold, Vienna 1985.
- ↑ cf. Gernot Stimmer: Elites in Austria 1848–1970. Böhlau, Vienna 1997, p. 972.
- ↑ Article in the news magazine Profil . 17/1973, p. 40 ff.
- ↑ Johannes Inama (Ed.): Hohenems Re-visited / Encounters in Hohenems. Meeting of Descendants of Jewish Families from Hohenems / Meeting of the descendants of Jewish families from Hohenems. Hämmerle, Hohenems 1999.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Amann, Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 5, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hohenems |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 18, 2011 |