Alfons Gorbach (2 September 1898 – 31 July 1972) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n politician of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP). He served as

Chancellor of Austria The chancellor of the Republic of Austria () is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position corresponds to that of Prime Minister in several other parliamentary democracies. Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Aus ...

from 1961 to 1964.

Life

Born in

Imst Imst (; Southern Bavarian: ''Imscht'') is a town in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of above sea level. With a current population (2013) of 9,552, I ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, Gorbach served in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

at the Italian Front in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, was severely wounded in the 1917

Battle of Caporetto The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Kobarid or the Battle of Karfreit) was a battle on the Italian front of World War I. The battle was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central ...

and lost a leg. After the war he took up a political career in the

First Austrian Republic The First Austrian Republic (german: Erste Österreichische Republik), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I w ...

. He joined the Christian Social Party and from 1929 to 1932 was a municipal councillor in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered ...

. In 1937 he was appointed a minister (''Landesrat'') in the Styrian

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

government, However, upon the Austrian ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

'' to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in March 1938, Gorbach was dismissed and held as a political prisoner at

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

from 1938–42, and again at Flossenburg from 1944 until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After the war, Gorbach joined the newly established Austrian People's Party, and upon the 1945 legislative election became third president of the National Council parliament, an office he held until 1953 and again from 1956 to 1961. When a deceiving outcome in the 1959 election launched an internal party debate over aging ÖVP Chancellor

Julius Raab Julius Raab (29 November 1891 – 8 January 1964) was a conservative Austrian politician, who served as Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1953 to 1961. Raab steered Allied-occupied Austria to independence, when he negotiated and signed the Austri ...

, Gorbach, backed by the Styrian regional association, succeeded him as party chairman and on 11 April 1961 also as Austrian chancellor. Chancellor Gorbach led his party into the 1962 election with an anti-

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

campaign, only to continue the

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are ...

with the SPÖ under Vice-Chancellor

Bruno Pittermann Bruno Pittermann (3 September 1905 – 19 September 1983) was an Austrian social democrat politician. He served as both the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Austria from 1957 to 1967, and the Vice Chancellor of Austria The vice-chanc ...

afterwards. The People's Party achieved a slightly better result and became the strongest party five seats ahead of the Socialists, however, it failed to reach an absolute majority. After three years as chancellor, conciliatory Gorbach had to vacate his position in favour of the less pragmatic ÖVP "reformers" around his successor

Josef Klaus Josef Klaus (15 August 1910 – 25 July 2001) was an Austrian politician of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP). He served as State Governor (''Landeshauptmann'') of Salzburg from 1949 to 1961, as Minister of Finance from 1961 to 1963 and a ...

. He returned to the National Council where he kept his mandate until 1970. In 1965 he unsuccessfully ran against

Franz Jonas Franz Josef Jonas (4 October 1899 – 24 April 1974) was an Austrian politician who served as the President of Austria between 1965 and 1974. He was a typesetter by profession and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria. After Wor ...

in the Austrian

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

. Gorbach remained honorary chairman of the Austrian People's Party. He died in

, aged 73.

References

External links

Wiener Zeitung biography (German)
*
Austrian Parliament official biography (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorbach, Alfons 1898 births 1972 deaths 20th-century Chancellors of Austria Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Members of the National Council (Austria) Chancellors of Austria Austrian People's Party politicians Candidates for President of Austria