Wolfgang Pfaundler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wolfgang Pfaundler (born January 1, 1924 in Innsbruck ; † April 20, 2015 in Piburg in the municipality of Oetz ) was a folklorist , writer , photographer and activist from Tyrol .

Life

Among other things, Wolfgang Pfaundler was the editor of the book Der Tiroler Freiheitskampf 1809 under Andreas Hofer , published by Süddeutscher Verlag , as well as numerous illustrated books and several films about Tyrolean customs. For decades he was also the editor of the Tyrolean cultural magazine Das Fenster . During World War II he fought as a partisan in Tyrol against the Hitler regime, where he was the initiator and leader of the resistance group in the Ötztal together with Hubert Sauerwein . This was created in 1941 and around 1942 consisted of around 50 people. In the mountains the partisans were able to hide successfully from the National Socialists until the end of the war and in May 1945 they took over power in the Ötztal, which they then handed over to the invading Americans without a fight.

In 1958 Pfaundler published South Tyrol - Promise and Reality , a compendium of diplomatic negotiations and political events in and around South Tyrol since 1919. However, when the reference work failed to mobilize the public for the cause of the oppressed South Tyroleans, Pfaundler resorted to more radical methods to help his desire for “freedom for South Tyrol”. In 1957, he founded the North Tyrolean section of the Liberation Committee for South Tyrol , mostly also called the “Liberty Legion South Tyrol” (FLS), out of the Bergisel Association that was formed in 1954 . In December 1960 he stepped down after ammunition, explosives and weapons were found in an apartment he had rented; Heinrich Klier was his successor . According to his own statement, he never detonated bombs himself. Rather, he appeared as a “logistical” helper and advisor. Pfaundler was accused in a 1962 Milan explosives trial of organizing the fire night in June 1961, in which 37 electricity pylons were blown up. As a result, the Austrian authorities also brought charges against him for possession of explosives, but he was acquitted in the ensuing jury trial. In Italy, however, he was sentenced to twenty years and eleven months imprisonment in absentia, after which he could not cross the Italian border for decades, otherwise he would have been arrested. It was not until January 1998 that the Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro informed the Austrian Federal President Thomas Klestil that he had pardoned four former South Tyrol activists, namely Heinrich Klier, Peter Matern, Wolfgang Pfaundler and Gerhard Pfeffer.

Wolfgang Pfaundler was married to the pianist and author Gertrud Spat (born November 5, 1930 in Eindhoven; † January 19, 2010 in Innsbruck), who worked as a translator with Mary de Rachewiltz , the daughter of Ezra Pound , and as a novelist with her mother employed by Georg Trakl .

Publications

  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , South Tyrol: Promises and Reality (1958)
  • Hans Krämer - Wolfgang Pfaundler , Tyrol 1809 (1959)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Sankt Romedius - a saint from Tyrol (1961)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Sankt Notburga: a saint from Tyrol - a picture story in three parts (1962)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , This is Alpbach (1964)
  • Erich Egg - Wolfgang Pfaundler , Emperor Maximilian I and Tyrol (1969)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , The Most Beautiful Pictures of Innsbruck 1500–1822 (1972)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Innsbruck: Portrait of a City (1975)
  • Erich Egg - Wolfgang Pfaundler - Meinrad Pizzinini , Von allerley Werkleuten and Trades: A Picture History of the Tyrolean Economy (1976)
  • Erich Egg - Wolfgang Pfaundler , Das große Tiroler Schützenbuch (1976)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , The Diary of Baroness Therese von Sternbach (1977)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler - Caspar Pfaundler - Sebastian Pfaundler , Man is a shadow's dream: Cemeteries and graves of the Old and New World (1979)
  • Erich Egg - Wolfgang Pfaundler , The Great Tyrolean Brass Music Book (1979)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Tiroler Jungbürgerbuch (1980, 1982)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Carnival in Tyrol: Telfer Schleicherlauf (1981)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Oberland Relicts: Pictures from the Present (1981)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Innsbruck's economy as reflected in the advertisements 1822–1981 (1982)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , The Tyrolean Struggle for Freedom 1809 under Andreas Hofer (1984)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler - Werner Köfler, The Tyrolean Struggle for Freedom 1809 under Andreas Hofer in contemporary images (1984)
  • Erich Egg - Wolfgang Pfaundler , Gothic in Tirol: The winged altars (1985)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler - Hans Santer - Caspar Pfaundler , home register of the Tyrolean community of Sautens (1986)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , testimonies about the life and death of the Tyrolean Otto Neururer (1987)
  • Walter Thaler - Wolfgang Pfaundler - Herlinde Menardi - Hubert Kobler , Telfs: Portrait of a Tyrolean market town in texts and pictures (1988)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler - Johann Zellner, Alpbach: the most beautiful village in Austria - culture and history of a Tyrolean mountain community (1994)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Tyroleans and other people - nine dozen portraits (1994)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , Nassereither Schellerlaufen: Carnival in Tyrol (1998)
  • Wolfgang Pfaundler , The Other South Tyrol - Returning After 37 Years (2002)
  • Editor of the Tyrolean cultural magazine "Das Fenster"

Awards

References

  • Martin Kolozs, Paul Flora : Wolfgang Pfaundler: photographer, folklorist, freedom fighter and editor of "Das Fenster" (2002)
  • ORF contribution by Astrid Kofler : The last Tyrolean - Wolfgang Pfaundler on his 80th birthday (ORF2 July 15, 2004, 9:00 p.m.)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Radomír Luža: The Resistance in Austria, 1938-1945 , University of Minnesota Press, 1984, ISBN 9780816612260
  2. ↑ Rolf Steininger : The fire night and what then. Bolzano 2011, p. 45
  3. ↑ Herlinde Molling: This is how we planned the night of fire. Bolzano 2011, p. 242
  4. ^ Leopold Steurer : Propaganda in the "liberation struggle" . In: Hannes Obermair et al. (Ed.): Regional civil society in motion - Cittadini innanzi tutto. Festschrift for / Scritti in onore di Hans Heiss. Folio Verlag: Wien-Bozen 2012. ISBN 978-3-85256-618-4 , pp. 386–400, here: pp. 386–387.
  5. ↑ a b Der Spiegel April 19, 1961
personal data
SURNAME Pfaundler, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian folklorist, author and photographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Innsbruck , Austria
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 2015
Place of death Piburg, Oetz