Gerhart Holzinger

Gerhart Holzinger (born 12 June 1947 in Gmunden, Upper Austria) is an Austrian jurist, educator, and career civil servant. He was appointed to the Austrian Constitutional Court in 1995, serving as its president from 2008 until his retirement in 2017. Early life Gerhart Holzinger was born on 12 June 1947 in Gmunden. Holzinger comes from a working-class family and grew up in modest circumstances. His father worked for a local utility company; his mother was a homemaker. Young Holzinger was originally not expected to obtain higher education. He dreamt of becoming a forester. After completing elementary school, he was enrolled in the local hauptschule, the type of middle school attended by children destined not for high school but for trade school or manual labor. It came as a surprise to the family when Holzinger's mathematics teacher suggested that the boy be sent to gymnasium to receive a more extensive secondary education. Holzinger graduated from gymnasium in 1966, the first person in his wider family to obtain matura and thus to earn the right to attend university.