Michael Gansler is an original from Unterammergau.
The former mayor celebrates his 70th birthday.
Where was he born?
"Well, in Unterammergau, where else?" It sounds mighty pride from the words of Michael Gansler when he emphasizes that.
No wonder, the former mayor and successful building contractor has home in his heart.
The man with the shiny silver hair can rightly be called a local patriot.
Today the father of four children and grandpa of twelve grandchildren is celebrating his 70th birthday in excellent health.
Stepping up is still a foreign word for the workhorse.
Almost half a year ago he said goodbye to the town hall, "but I wasn't really excited about it".
Because the senior boss is still in demand in the family business, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2021.
"Once you are in there, you won't come out." Gansler doesn't mean that negatively in any way.
He is simply attached to his operation with every fiber of his body.
Whereby Gansler slowly but surely thinks about letting go of this affair of the heart.
A step that he recently achieved in local politics.
"At some point the boys just have to take action," says the political pensioner.
True to the motto: new heads and new ideas are good for the village.
This is exactly where Gansler first saw the light of day on September 21, 1950.
Thanks to the local midwife, he was born in Unterammergau.
Little Michi is number five of a total of seven siblings that Maria and Johann Gansler raise.
The fifth-born grows into the family business at an early age.
But the rascal had enough time for his acolyte career.
Once at the end of the 1950s, when he saw Laber and Aufacker, the then new pastor Johannes Braun asked him: “Bua, what kind of mountains are they?” Gansler's answer: “These are our Dolomites, Pastor.” The clergyman returned the favor for this brazen lie later, when he offered the adult Gansler the post of church administration.
“That's a maximum of three meetings a year,” he is said to have whispered to his bearer of hope.
Even if in the end it was a much larger expenditure of time, Gansler also held out a proud 36 years, six terms in office, in clerical matters.
The now 70-year-old never ran away from responsibility.
In 1961, at the age of eleven, he had to run after his mother's coffin.
In 1967 the father also succumbs to his severe suffering.
“It was cruel, a really tough time,” the son looks back.
After these strokes of fate, the family moves very closely together.
The brothers Johann and Michael, both of whom are not yet of legal age, take over the parental construction business together with their cousin from Grainau, who is already legally competent.
“We didn't even have a driver's license,” says Gansler.
Sister Finni cooks for the siblings at home.
Everyone supports everyone as best they can.
At the latest from this point in time, the youth stops for the 17-year-olds at the time.
“From then on there was only business.” So it's no wonder that the conscientious Michael Gansler had the master mason in his pocket as early as 1972.
After all, there is enough time for the hardworking guy for the opposite sex.
Gansler remembers exactly when, where and under what circumstances he met his Bärbel.
It was in 1970, during Mardi Gras, at a Maschkeraball in the Wetzstoa-Stub'n.
Was it love at first sight?
“For me, yes.” The reverse is hard to imagine.
Because the dashing Michi runs around with the wooden larva all evening.
Barbara De Noca, as his wife's maiden name was called, has dressed up as a cowgirl.
“At some point I stole a pistol from her.” Either way, dashing Bärbel was curious.
Shortly after midnight, she lifts the mask of the great stranger.
The rest is history.
Four children - Leonhard (48), Andreas (44), Florian (43) and Michaela (38) arise from this connection.
It was a nice and instructive time, and the blows below the belt already hurt.
Michael Gansler
They too have to share their dad with work and later with local politics.
"That has always interested me", emphasizes Gansler, who moved into the municipal council in 1978 for the progressive village community Unterammergau (FDU).
The building contractor has had a seat and a vote for 24 years, and from 1990 to 1996 he also served as the second mayor.
Gansler's big hour strikes in March 2002. In the mayor's freestyle, he clearly beats the later district administrator Anton Speer with 62 to 38 percent.
During the election campaign, it was "a little quieter" between the two, Gansler looks back.
“But I never saw the whole thing personally.” Later, in 2008, the former opponent even advanced to become his deputy in the town hall.
Gansler expresses this with a broad grin as follows: "Toni was allowed to serve under me once."
Even after 18 years as a part-time mayor, the jubilee never lost his sense of humor.
"It was a wonderful and instructive time, and the blows below the belt already hurt." Gansler speaks of "personal hostility" that is nowhere to be found in such an exposed volunteer work.
Today he looks back on completed projects such as the local model, commercial area, old people's home or Zott hotel with great satisfaction.
Someone has to imitate him first. His Unterammergauer promoted him to former mayor with full merit. And Gansler is not completely politically out of business anyway: he definitely wants to fulfill his mandate in the district council by 2026. Perhaps then there will still be time for the workhorse for his Bärbel and one last big project: He wants to write down his experiences of over four decades in local politics. There are sure to be all kinds of exciting and interesting things to know.
