Seitinger laid to rest

Many mourners: Hans Seitinger’s last journey

Hans Seitinger's coffin was led out of the Frauenberg church on Saturday.

(Bild: Pail Sepp/Sepp Pail)

800 mourners paid their last respects to Hans Seitinger in Frauenberg on Saturday: the politician, who died at the age of 64, was a Styrian provincial councillor for 20 years. "We won't get another one like him", said former provincial governor Hermann Schützenhöfer in tears.

The picture in front of his oak coffin, on which lay a black fireman's helmet and a white bouquet of roses, showed Hans Seitinger as most Styrians knew him from many personal encounters: laughing heartily on the balustrade of the Graz Landhaus.

He had been in and out of there for 20 years, had shaken countless hands, conducted tough negotiations and joked with his staff. From there, he drove tens of thousands of kilometers out into the regions every year, met "his" farmers and foresters, and was always a welcome and humorous guest at festivals and events.

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Even if the appointments went late into the night, he never lost his charm and cordiality. He was a politician with whom you could be on first-name terms, who preferred to say "Du" rather than "Sie", who remembered the names of those he had met.

"People liked him"
"He liked people and people liked him," said Hermann Schützenhöfer, who fought back tears at the funeral of the long-serving provincial councillor on Saturday. "No problem was too big for him, no request too small. We won't get another one like him." The former governor spoke from the soul of many companions, colleagues and friends and those for whom Seitinger had a sympathetic ear.

Among the mourners: former provincial governors Franz Voves and Hermann Schützenhöfer

(Bild: Pail Sepp/Sepp Pail)

Many of them paid their last respects to him on Saturday afternoon. 800 mourners came to the Frauenberg pilgrimage church in St. Marein, including former provincial governor Waltraud Klasnic, former provincial governor Franz Voves, almost the entire provincial government and Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig. "Being there for others was his life's program. He could listen like no other," emphasized state leader Christopher Drexler.

Seitinger was a long-standing advisor to both ÖVP party leaders; he was a hard, tireless worker on whom they could rely. Even from his sickbed, he wrote Drexler text messages and gave him the odd tip. "You left your mark on Styria, you were one of the country's most loyal servants."

Seitinger fought as a provincial councillor, he fought for his health after his retirement. Last Sunday, the politician, who was popular across party lines, died of a serious illness. He was 63 years old.