Silvius Magnago (5 February 1914 – 25 May 2010) was a South Tyrolean politician.

Biography

Magnago was born in Merano, which was then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, on 5 February 1914. In 1936 he graduated from the grammar school of the Franciscans in Bolzano. He studied law at the University of Bologna and graduated with a JD in June 1940. Because of his rejection of Italian Fascism he chose to move to Germany in 1939, but remained first in South Tyrol, where he worked in Bolzano for a commission to estimate the assets of the Tyroleans following the South Tyrol Option Agreement. He was eventually called in the German Army as a lieutenant, and sent to the Eastern Front, where a severe injury lead to the amputation of his left leg. In the postwar period Magnago started his political activities in the municipal council of Bolzano as a member of the newly founded South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP). From 1948 to 1952 he acted as the city's vice-mayor. In 1948, he was also elected for the first time to the

Council of South Tyrol The Council of South Tyrol is the provincial council (german: Südtiroler Landtag; it, Consiglio della Provincia autonoma di Bolzano; lld, Cunsëi dla Provinzia autonoma de Bulsan) of the autonomous province of South Tyrol (Bolzano) in northe ...

and Regional Council of Trentino-Alto Adige, where he remained until 1988. Magnago became chairman (''Obmann'') of his party in 1957, and held that function until 1991. In 1957, Magnago was the central figure of a strategic turn of his party: up to that year the South Tyrolean People's Party had unsuccessfully tried to gain some margins of self-governance via a soft policy of alliances with the governing Democrazia Cristiana. Under the new leader and new motto ''Los von Trient'' (i.e. ''away from Trento'', with regard to the regional capital) the SVP started to take a harder line, in order to obtain a devolution of powers to the provincial level of administration. From 1960 to 1989 Magnago was the governor (''

Landeshauptmann Landeshauptmann (if male) or Landeshauptfrau (if female) (, "state captain", plural ''Landeshauptleute'') is the chairman of a state government and the supreme official of an Austrian state and the Italian autonomous provinces of South Tyrol an ...

'') of the autonomous province of South Tyrol. His major political success was the commencement of the second Statute of Autonomy in 1972, which distinctly extended South Tyrol's legislative and executive competencies. After suffering from Parkinson's disease for several years, Magnago died in Bolzano on 25 May 2010.

Legacy

Tony Cragg sculpture hommage a Silvio Magnago

Due to his long-time commitment to

self-governance __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

of his native province, he is widely regarded as the ''father of South Tyrolean autonomy''.

Bibliography

* Hans Benedikter: ''Silvius Magnago: ein Leben für Südtirol''. Athesia, Bozen 1983, . * Claudio Calabrese: ''Silvius Magnago: il patriarca (1914–2010)''. Praxis 3, Bozen 2010, . * Hans Karl Peterlini: ''Silvius Magnago. Das Vermächtnis: Bekenntnisse einer politischen Legende''. Edition Raetia, Bozen 2007, . * Gottfried Solderer (ed.): ''Silvius Magnago: eine Biographie Südtirols''. Edition Raetia, Bozen 1996, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Magnago, Silvius 1914 births 2010 deaths Governors of South Tyrol Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Landtag of South Tyrol Members of the Regional Council of Trentino-Alto Adige People from Merano South Tyrolean People's Party politicians Germanophone Italian people