After taking part in the Protests of 1968 and garnering regional attention during the 1970s as a peace and environmental activist, in 1978 he became the first New Left candidate to be elected in South Tyrol.

Born on 22 February 1946 in Sterzing, South Tyrol, a province of Italy inhabited by a German-speaking population, he became involved early on in local political issues, which at the time centred on the interethnic relations in the region, which after two world wars and decades of tensions and terrorism were very tense.

He later became deeply involved in peace initiatives in Europe and the Middle East, and in fostering the dialogue between the alternative left parties, the Radicals, left-wing Christians and other pro-peace, environmentalist and fringe political groups at European level.

He served as a representative of the European Parliament in Israel, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, and Malta, and was particularly involved in campaigning for peace in the former Yugoslavia, during the ethnic wars of the 1990s.

[1] Shocked by the drama of the war, suffering from asthma and depression,[2][3][4] On 3 July 1995, Langer committed suicide in Pian dei Giullari, near Florence, by hanging himself from an apricot tree; he left three notes to his family and friends, one of which was written in German to his friends, explaining the gesture and also quoting a sentence from the Gospel of Matthew.