Alfons Benedikter

Infobox Politician
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name =Alfons Benedikter
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birth_place = Pettneu, Austria
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nationality = Italian
party = Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP)
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branch = Italian, then German, army
serviceyears = 1940-1945
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Alfons Benedikter (*14 March 1918 in Pettneu near the Arlberg Pass, Austria) is one of the most renowned politicians of the province of Bolzano-Bozen. For 50 years he has been a member of the provincial parliament and for 40 years he acted as a member of the regional government of the region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and later the provincial government of the province of Bolzano-Bozen. He had a decisive role in elaborating and implementing the autonomy of the province.

Career

In his youth Alfons Benedikter in his home village of Schludenrs experienced the Italian fascist oppression and discrimination policy towards the German national minority. Starting with 1936 he studied law and Russian at the University of Naples where he graduated in 1940. During the tragic period of the so-called “"Option"” in 1939 (the agreement stipulated by Hitler and Mussolini to transfer all Germans living in the province of Bolzano-Bozen into the German “Reich”) his family decided to keep on living in the province, which had been annexed by Italy in 1918. Alfons Benedikter, consequently, during World War II served five years in the army, first in the Italian army, later in the German "Wehrmacht", deployed on many battlefields between Russia and Southern Italy. At the end of the war only due to his knowledge of the Russian language he could save his life. Also later Benedikter went on cultivating his passion about the Russian language and culture and repeatedly he visited Russia with political missions. Since 1960 Alfons Benedikter is living in Frangarto (a frazione of Eppan an der Weinstraße) close to Bolzano, the capital of the province.

Politics

Alfons Benedikter is a founding member of the SVP (Südtiroler Volkspartei), the main political party of the province of Bolzano-Bozen. From 1948 he represented his party in the regional government, from 1960 until 1988 he served as a minister of the provincial government, being in charge of social housing, economic and urban planning and environmental protection. From 1960 to 1988 he also was the deputy "Landeshauptmann" (governor) under Silvius Magnago. In the 1960s Benedikter repeatedly represented the province of Bolzano-Bozen within the UN in New York, when the issue was debated as a major international conflict between Austria and Italy. Benedikter was involved in the elaboration of the so-called “Package for the province of Bolzano-Bozen”, but finally he refused its acceptance as a conflict solution. Nevertheless, from 1972 to 1989, as a member of the joint Italian-Tyrolean commissions for the implementation of the autonomy statute, he contributed decisively to achieve a maximum of self-governance for his province as an autonomous province of Italy. In those years Benedikter took part of about 60 sessions of the Italian government in Rome. At the end of the 1980s Benedikter turned to his old scepticism with regard to the “package-solution” and opposed the official final “declaration of conflict conclusion” to be expressed by Austria before the UN. He left the SVP and together with Eva Klotz founded the new party “Union für Südtirol”, vowed for self-determination. From 1989 to 1998 he represented this opposition party within the provincial parliament. Apart from his role as an architect of the autonomy of the province of Bolzano-Bozen, Benedikter has gained an international reputation as a strenuous defender of the environment and landscape of his home country.

References

*it icon de icon [http://www.provincia.bz.it/pariservertrag/testimoni/benedikter.asp]
*de icon [http://www.60jahre-svp.org/]

Persondata
NAME=Benedikter, Alfons
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SHORT DESCRIPTION=Politician in South Tyrol/Alto Adige
DATE OF BIRTH=1918-03-14
PLACE OF BIRTH=Pettneu
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