Michael Magerl

Michael Magerl was born in Wusleben near Pfraumberg/Bohemia in 1879. After attending grammar school in Mies near Pilsen, Michael Magerl studied theology in Prague. He was ordained a priest here in 1903 and initially worked as a chaplain. He was then entrusted with the task of putting the weekly magazine "Egerland" on a financially secure footing. He was so fascinated by this task that he became a "pioneer of the Catholic press in the Sudetenland". Working tirelessly on the cooperative merger of Catholic press companies, in 1925 he succeeded in founding the large daily newspaper "Deutsche Presse" and the publishing house "Vita", including a printing plant in Prague.

In the last days of September 1938, immediately before the occupation of the Sudetenland by Adolf Hitler, Michael Magerl had appeals against the Nazi regime published in the Sudeten German newspapers. So it is no wonder that on October 1, 1938, the day of the invasion, the Gestapo sealed the Press Association's various businesses and took Michael Magerl into protective custody. He was released from the Gestapo prison in Karlsbad for health reasons.