Peter Brugger (politician)

Peter Brugger (born April 27, 1920 in St. Peter ; † April 6, 1986 in Bolzano ) was a South Tyrolean politician and former senator of the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP).

Life

Young years

Peter Brugger was the youngest of seven children. He grew up in the Ahrntal and first attended the " catacomb school ", which was illegal during fascism . The local priest recommended Brugger's family to send him to the Brixen Vincentinum . Since she could not afford the school fees, she was dependent on the support of the priest Cesare Rossi. Brugger was able to visit the Vincentinum from 1931. In 1939 the optant Peter Brugger was drafted into the Wehrmacht .

In 1944 he was taken prisoner by the Soviets. During this time he wrote a memorandum that he later used to defend himself: His political opponents used his imprisonment to denounce him as a communist spy. But after he had sent this document to the SVP leadership, he was no longer accused of being a spy.

On May 12, 1951, he married Luise Zingerle from Olang, who was nine years his junior . The couple had five children: the journalist Oktavia Brugger , the lawyer and politician Siegfried Brugger , Maria Elisabeth Brugger, Peterpaul Brugger and Martin Brugger.

Entry into politics

In 1947 Peter Brugger returned from captivity . In the same year he joined the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), the aim of which was to represent the South Tyrolean population as closely as possible vis-à-vis the Italian state. Shortly afterwards he found work at UPSEA (Static Economic Office for Agriculture in Bruneck). Eleven months later he took over the management of the district chancellery there. In 1949 Brugger became a party committee member of the SVP.

In 1951, the regional assessor Alois Pupp appointed Peter Brugger as his personal secretary, who thus became the first German-speaking official in the regional administration of Trentino-South Tyrol . In 1952 Brugger was elected to the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol and thus at the same time to the South Tyrolean state parliament and then moved into the South Tyrolean provincial government as assessor for agriculture in the Erckert II cabinet .

Political career / political influence

In 1954 Peter Brugger had his first great success: the reintroduction of the “Höfe-Gesetz”, which had been abolished under fascism . It states the property with which the heirs who left the farm are to be paid off over a period of 20 years. In 1955, newspaper editor Canon Michael Gamper proposed him as governor. However, Alois Pupp narrowly prevailed. However, Brugger retained his seat in the state government in the new Pupp cabinet . From 1956 he also acted as parliamentary spokesman for his party in the regional council.

On June 17, 1960, Brugger, at the head of the SVP parliamentary group, left the regional council. The reason for this sudden decision was the re-election of Tullio Odorizzi as President of the Regional Committee against the wishes of the SVP. After the change of power within the SVP, Brugger also served under the new governor Silvius Magnago in the Magnago I and Magnago II cabinets .

When there was torture following the arrests in connection with the night of fire , Peter Brugger in the regional council on June 21, 1961 became the first politician to publicly condemn the mistreatment of South Tyrolean prisoners by the police. In December 1963 Brugger became vice-chairman of the SVP, 1968 honorary member of the South Tyrolean farmers' union . As such, he had a seat and a voice for life.

In October 1967 he decided to move his political activities from Bolzano to Rome . In 1968 he successfully ran for the Roman Senate . In the decisive vote on the " South Tyrol Package " within the SVP on November 23, 1969, Brugger led the group against the package. After his narrow defeat, there was a historic handshake with Silvius Magnago .

In autumn 1972 Brugger was sent to the European Parliament and worked out a draft for European trade and co-determination law. 1979 Brugger became President of the "mixed parliamentary group" of the Senate. In 1983 he was confirmed as a senator for the last time.

literature

• Hans Benedikter , Joachim Dalsass , Berthold Pohl: Peter Brugger: a political and personal biography . Ed .: Oktavia Brugger . Edition Raetia, Bozen 1996, ISBN 978-88-7283-086-4 .

Web links

• Entry on Peter Brugger in the database of representatives of the South Tyrolean Parliament (PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Michael Gehler : From New York to Copenhagen; the way to historical compromise . In: Gottfried Solderer (Ed.): The 20th Century in South Tyrol . Volume 3: 1960-1979; P. 39; ISBN 8872831830