Alfons Benedikter
Alfons Benedikter ( born March 14, 1918 in Sankt Anton am Arlberg, Austria, † November 3, 2010 in Bolzano, Italy) was a political representative of the German-speaking part of the population in South Tyrol (Italy). He was for 50 years ( 1948-1998 ) Member of the South Tyrolean Landtag for seven years ( 1952-1959 ) Member of the Regional Government of the Trentino-Alto Adige region and for 33 years ( 1948-1952 and 1959-1988 ) Member of the South Tyrolean provincial government (Autonomous Province of Bolzano ). He has contributed substantially to the definition and enforcement of South Tyrol's autonomy.
Career
In his childhood and youth Alfons Benedikter experienced in Schlanders the fascist suppression of the German minority in South Tyrol. After graduating in 1936 in Bolzano, he began the study of law in Naples, which he completed in June 1940. At this university he became fluent in Russian Oriental Institute. During the tragic ordeal of South Tyrol "Option" 1939 ( Hitler - Mussolini Agreement resettlement of South Tyrol ), his family decided to stay for. Then had to Alfons Benedikter 1940 Indent the Italian military, later defected to the German Reich, where he was immediately recruited by the Wehrmacht. Until April 1945 Benedikter made military service on several fronts. His knowledge of Russian saved his life on the Eastern Front. Later he used his passion for the Russian language, culture and politics and visited several times a political mission, the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation. Since 1960, Alfons Benedikter lived in Frangart in Bolzano together with his sons Heinz and Armin. Wife Traudl Noldin ( daughter of Joseph Katakombenlehrers Noldin ) died in 1994. Benedikter died on November 3, 2010 at the Regional Hospital of Bolzano. On 5th October 2012, his son Rudi Benedikter presented the summary of 500 folders document the legacy of the South Tyrolean Archive to make it for the contemporary historical research accessible.
Policy
Alfons Benedikter belonged to the founding generation of the South Tyrolean People's Party ( SVP) and was from 1956 to 1966 its vice-president. He was a founding member of the trade union CISL and the Catholic Association of the working people. From 1948 to 1960 he represented the SVP in the regional government and from 1960 to 1988 he was Provincial (Member of the state government ) for subsidized housing, spatial planning and economic programming ( until 1970 also for landscape protection). During this time he was also Deputy Governor under Silvius Magnago.
In the 60s, Alfons Benedikter South Tyrol represented together with Friedl Volgger several times during the debates on the South Tyrol question in the UN. In the conflict with the Italian State for the grant of a genuine autonomy he opposed the so-called " package solution " of 1969, which led to the enactment of the new autonomy statute for South Tyrol in 1972.
As a member of the most important commissions to implement this autonomy Benedikter was from 1972 to 1989 substantially to the definition of the Implementing Rules to the Staff Regulations - involved and participated in about 60 Ministerial Council meetings in Rome in part to represent the concerns of South Tyrol - as the establishment of ethnic proportional representation system. During this time he was also chairman of SVP Group in the Regional Trentino-Alto Adige and was considered " the right hand Magnagos ".
In the late 1980s Benedikter opposed the conclusion of the negotiations on autonomy and the so-called peace declaration of Austria to the UN in June 1992. He left the SVP and founded together with Eva Klotz and Gerold Merano the party " Union for South Tyrol ", which for the self-determination of South Tyrol begins. From 1988 to 1998 he represented this opposition force in parliament.
Alfons Benedikter has - received international recognition for its firm commitment to the preservation of the natural and cultural landscape of South Tyrol and strict spatial planning in many cases - in addition to his role as one of the architects of South Tyrol's autonomy.