Ausblick Kalkstein Innervillgraten Variante A

Pius Walder (4 April 1952 in the Villgraten valley – 8 September 1982 in Kalkstein, a part of

Innervillgraten Innervillgraten is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the Austrian state of Tyrol. The region is one of the most remote regions in Austria. A year-long connection to the valley was established as late as 1956. The death of Pius Walder ...

in the Villgraten valley,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) was an Austrian

lumberjack Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...

and

poacher Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunti ...

. His life and violent death led to ongoing conflicts in his home town and have been depicted in movies and books.

Background

Pius Walder was the youngest of twelve children, born in the family of Josef Walder from

and his wife Anna Senfter from

Außervillgraten Außervillgraten is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the Austrian state of Tyrol, Ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or ...

. Walder's home community is a Streusiedlung with various farms spread out on the Kirchweiler Kalkstein in the

Tauern The word ''Tauern'' () is German and originally meant 'high mountain pass' in the Austrian Central Alps, referring to the many bridleways and passes of the parallel side valleys of the River Salzach that cut into the mountain ranges. From the M ...

mountains at an altitude of . The Villgraten valley is a tributary of the

Pustertal The Puster Valley ( ; , ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The South Tyrolean municipalities of the ...

. The western and eastern borders of the community border the

Südtirol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The provinc ...

in Italy. The valley is one of the most remote regions in Austria; year-round access was only established in 1956. Walder never married. He was a lumberjack by trade and he and his brothers were also poachers. On 8 September 1982 he was observed at dusk with blackened face and carrying a rifle, and was shot by Johann Schett, a forester and state hunter. Schett was later sentenced to three years in prison for ''Körperverletzung mit tödlichem Ausgang'' (a lower grade of manslaughter) and was released after 18 months. The comparatively lenient sentence was viewed with contempt by Walder's family.

Death and aftermath

The forester Johann Bergmann said that he had heard shots on 8 September and alerted his colleagues Schett and Schaller. They spotted Walder more than away. They called to him and when he tried to run away, Schett shot him in the back of his head. However, Walder's gun had not been used that day. Walder's brother assumed that the hunters had killed him on purpose. Walder's gravestone and the

death notice An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

refer to his death as murder. The gravestone bears the claim: ''Ich wurde am 8. September 1982 in Kalkstein von zwei Jägern aus der Nachbarschaft kaltblütig und gezielt beschossen und vom 8. Schuss tödlich in den Hinterkopf getroffen'' (On 8 September 1982 I was shot in Kalkstein by two hunters from the neighborhood, in cold blood and deliberately, and the 8th shot hit the back of my head with deadly force). In 2012 one of the Walder brothers disturbed the burial of Schett 30 years later with loud accusations of murder. About 1,000 guests were present at Walder's burial.Simon Rosner
''Der unselige Schuss.''
In: ''

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' () is an Austrian newspaper. First published as the ''Wiennerisches Diarium'' in 1703, it is one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Until April 2023, it was the official gazette of the government of the Republic of Austria ...

.'' 7. September 2007. When the local priest wanted to remove the death notice with the murder accusations from the church, he was beaten by a Walder brother, a turning point in the local community as the brothers began to lose a lot of sympathy then. The brothers had a further quarrel with Bergmann at a further burial, Bergmann had to be treated in a hospital, and the brothers were convicted and had to pay large

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny'' * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (p ...

Further coverage

In the local community, the Walder brothers grew more and more isolated because of their violent behavior. Pius' grave and various sites of his life and death attracted tourists, and various media reported on the ongoing quarrels. The brothers' ongoing anger about the alleged murder and their continued claims about the lack of justice were the topic of books and films. The brothers received fines for distributing flyers with an image of the dead Pius at the

High Tauern The High Tauern (plural, pl.; , ) are a mountain range on the Main chain of the Alps, main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of Salz ...

tunnel entrance.Petra Tempfer
''Die späte Rache des Wilderers.''
''wienerzeitung.at'', 24 July 2012. A meeting of some of the involved persons on an ORF talkshow led to a violent quarrel live on camera, and some women of the families involved had violent quarrels at local markets.Michael Gehler (Hrsg.): ''Tirol: "Land im Gebirge": zwischen Tradition und Moderne'', Böhlau Verlag, Wien 1999, . Similar as with popular Bavarian poacher Georg Jennerwein (1848 – 1877) the grave has been decorated with poached game now and then. In 2011, a formal "Poachers Ball" in Vienna commemorated Walder and Jennerwein. Author Winfried Werner Linde used the story in his book ''Die Walder-Saga''.Winfried Werner Linde: ''Die Walder-Saga: Der Tod von Pius Walder'', 4th ed., Verlag Berenkamp, Innsbruck 2006, Felix Mitterer used the death of Walder for an Austrian ''

Tatort ("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-se ...

police procedural The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...

film.Tourismusverband Mieminger Plateau
''Tatort Trilogie – „Passion“ - Böses Blut - Elvis lebt''
(PDF; 22 kB) – '' Pressetext.''. Tatort is the longest-running German-language television series of that sort, set in various parts of Germany,

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The series is being broadcast in these countries as well in Scandinavia. The film used some of the aspects of the Walder case and used the phrase '' Elvis lebt! (Elvis is alive)'' in its title, referring to Pius' hairstyle and

sideburns Sideburns, sideboards, or side whiskers are facial hair grown on the sides of the face, extending from the hairline to run parallel to or beyond the ears. The term ''sideburns'' is a 19th-century corruption of the original ''burnsides'', named ...

.ORF-Dreharbeiten zu Felix-Mitterer-Krimi „Elvis lebt“
Roswitha Szyszkowitz neue Partnerin von Harald Krassnitzer ORF Channel: Politik OTS0074 Juli 30 2001, 11:31 The TV production staged the deadly shots on 16 August and used the coincidence with the anniversary of the King's death to prove that Pius was murdered, since he never would have gone poaching on that day of memorial. Sociologist Roland Girtler wrote a study of Walder's death in a "cookbook for poached game".Roland Girtler, Eva Bodingbauer: ''Wilderer-Kochbuch. Mit Durchschuss'', Böhlau Verlag, Wien 2004, Girtler saw the case as evidence of a change in attitude towards poaching – while poachers had strong local support until the early 20th century, Walder's case showed a significant change in attitudes. Urban citizens still had some sympathy for the

hillbilly ''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural area, rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, ...

rebel, while the local community were much less in favor.Roland Girtler: ''Wilderer – Soziale Rebellen in den Bergen.'' Böhlau, Wien 1998, .

References

External links

Walder on Roland Girtler's website

Website of Hermann Walder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walder, Pius 1952 births 1982 deaths Austrian folklore Deaths by firearm in Austria People from Lienz District Poachers