Gernot Rumpold (born September 11, 1957) is an

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 ...

n politician, best known for his association with

Jörg Haider Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Au ...

. Rumpold was born in

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 61,887. Together wit ...

, Carinthia, and received his vocational education at an engineering-focused

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Pinkafeld Pinkafeld (, , , Romani language, Romani: ''Pinkafa'') is a city in Burgenland in Austria and the second largest settlement (after Oberwart) in the district Oberwart (district), Oberwart. Geography Parts of the commune are Hochart, Gfangen, A ...

, apprenticing as an electrician. From the 1970s, he became known as Jörg Haider's ''Mann fürs Grobe'' (roughly, hatchet man), and became the only constant fixture in Haider's retinue during the next quarter century, even though his working-class background came across as suspect to some in Haider's upper-class-dominated

FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five par ...

. After working as an

HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. ...

technician from 1980 to 1982, he served in a number of capacities in the FPÖ during the 1980s: organizational advisor to the FPÖ from 1982 to 1984, managing director of the FPÖ in Carinthia from 1984 to 1986, and personal advisor to the FPÖ chairman (Haider) in 1986. Although generally content to operate behind the scenes, he was a member of the

Federal Council of Austria The Federal Council (, ) is the upper house of the Austrian Parliament, representing the nine States of Austria at the federal level. As part of a bicameral legislature alongside the National Council, it can be compared with an upper house or ...

for a short time, serving from October 30, 1989, to June 6, 1990. He subsequently served as business manager of the FPÖ from 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumpold, Gernot 1957 births Living people People from Villach Members of the Federal Council (Austria) Freedom Party of Austria politicians