Josef Schmidt (politician, 1889)

Josef Schmidt (born August 25, 1889 in Bludenz ; † April 4, 1978 ibid) was an Austrian politician ( CS ) and businessman. Schmidt was mayor of the city of Bludenz from 1924 to 1930, regional councilor in the Vorarlberg state government and member of the Vorarlberg state parliament from 1932 to 1934 and member of the Austrian national council from 1930 to 1934.

Live and act

Josef Schmidt was born in Bludenz on August 25, 1889 as the son of the Bludenz master plumber and businessman Josef Schmidt and his wife Anna Maria. Schmidt completed elementary and community school in his home town of Bludenz before attending the Suola civica in Trento . He then attended a commercial school in Salzburg and began a commercial iron trade apprenticeship at Steiner & Co. in Salzburg. In 1907 Schmidt joined his father's company, in which he took over management together with his brother a year later after the death of his father. From 1915 to 1918 he did military service as a chief hunter in Galicia and Tyrol . On June 4, 1919, Schmidt was elected for the first time as a member of the Bludenz city council. In the same year on September 9th, he married Maria Jussel in Tschagguns , with whom he subsequently had five children. In 1923 he became managing partner of the iron shop Josef Schmidt's Erben.

On March 1, 1924, Josef Schmidt was elected mayor of the city of Bludenz, which he remained until May 5, 1930. Also in 1930 he was awarded the professional title of Commercial Councilor. From April 18, 1930 to October 1, 1930, he was also the first member of the National Council in Vienna. From December 2, 1930 to May 2, 1934 he was a member of the National Council for a further legislative period. In addition, from November 22, 1932, he was a member of the Bludenz constituency of the Vorarlberg state parliament and regional councilor in the Vorarlberg state government for the Christian Social Party . In the state government, his departments were trade, trade and industry, while he was the first vice-president of the state parliament from July 17 to November 13, 1934.

As the leading state politician in the corporate state, Josef Schmidt's business was partially boycotted in Austria during the period of National Socialism ; he himself was arrested in 1944 and interned in the Reichenau camp near Innsbruck . His brother Guido Schmidt , who briefly served as Austrian Foreign Minister in 1938, was a well-known National Socialist.

Web links

• Biography of Josef Schmidt (PDF; 102 kB) in the parliamentary documents of the Vorarlberg state parliament.
• Josef Schmidt on the website of the Austrian Parliament