Michael Gamper

Canon Michael Gamper (1885–1956) was an Austrian priest seen as a hero of the Tyrol between the world wars. He is an important figure in the disputed zone between what is now Austria and Italy. He was editor of the papers Südtiroler Volksbote and Dolomiten.

Life

Gamper was born on 7 April 1885 in Tisens in the southern Alps, the eldest son of Michael Anton Gamper, a blacksmith and his wife Elisabeth Sulzer. He was one of six children.

He was educated at the Benedictine High School in Merano then went to the University of Innsbruck to study Theology. He was a member of the student club Asthasia, which combining drinking with discussion. On completion he went to a seminary in Trento. He thereafter was ordained in 1908 and worked as a priest in several small communities: Girlan, Altrei, Laives and Barbian.

Although the Volksbote was banned due to its use of German. His political stance as editor is hard to categorise: He was strongly anti-social democrat and strongly anti-communist, but (due to his religion rather than his politics) he was also anti-Semitic. Therefore, he was strongly "middle of the road". Critically he just desired autonomy and recognition of the remote German-speaking regions without kowtowing to the German nation.

In 1921 he became president of the local branch of publisher , which was renamed Athesia. In 1924 he wrote in protest at the murder of local school teacher Franz Innerhoffer by fascists at a local festival (which had gone unpunished).

In 1925 he got permission from the Vatican to start printing a German-language newspaper again and launched Dolomiten (The Dolomites). It was first published on Christmas Day 1926.

His niece Martha Flies and her husband Toni Ebner took his place as editor of Dolomiten and his publishing house Athesia. This couple continued to campaign for autonomy.

Legacy Numerous streets are named after Gamper in the South Tyrol, including Bolzano, Klobenstein, Laives, Ritten and Lienz.

Multiple schools in the South Tyrol bear his name.

In 1972 South Tyrol became autonomous.

In 2014 a film of Gamper's mission was released, Heimat Sudtirol: The Mission of Michael Gamper, with Ricardo Angelini in the title role.

Publications Athanasius (1927) The South Tyrol Jubilee (1946) The German Ethnic Group of the South Tyrol, Yesterday and Today (1954)