Sepp Kerschbaumer

Sepp Kerschbaumer (9.Nov 1913 - 7.Dec 1964) was an activist for the freedom of South Tyrol as a leading member of the BAS (Befreiungsausschuss Südtirol / Freedom committee South Tyrol).

In 1919, after WWI, Italy gained South Tyrol from Austria. Then Italy tried for many years to get rid of the Austrian culture in South Tyrol and to Italianize the region. Sepp Kerschbaumer was one of the leaders in the fight against these attempts to suppress the German-speaking population. On the 12. June 1961, the so called Feuernacht (night of the fire), the BAS organised a blowing up of 34 electricity pillars that gave power to the industry zone of Bozen, that was build by the italians with and for italian workers only.

Being the leading member of BAS, Sepp Kerschbaumer was convicted to 15 years and 11 months on July 16th 1964 for organising the bombing. On Dec. 7th 1964 he died in the prison of Verona of a heart attack. More then 20.000 people attended the funeral on the 9th of december (South Tyrol only has around 400.000 inhabitants).

see also: Feuernacht, Option in South Tyrol, Katakombenschulen

External links

A biographie of Sepp Kerschbaumer, written by Josef Fontana and Hans Mayr