Dr. Josef Spiegel

Josef Spiegel was born in Dornbirn as the legitimate son of the parish priest Georg Spiegel and his wife Agnes, née Kalb. Influenced by his family background, the devout Catholic became involved in his home parish as an altar boy and in the church choir at a very early age. After elementary school, the chaplain of his home parish recognized his musical and academic talent very early on and persuaded his parents to send him to Dornbirn Realschule [today: Dornbirn Realgymnasium] so that he could later study church music.

He played the organ, sang first as a choirboy, later as a bass in the choir for many decades, played the timpani at orchestral masses from the age of 14 and later also played the trumpet, the instrument he mastered best. In addition to all this, he also plays the piano, violin and horn. For a long time, he also cycled to Schwarzenberg in the Bregenzerwald every Sunday to play the organ there. In 1936, he joined the middle school fraternity Siegbert Dornbirn.

On 12 March 1938, the devout Catholic and patriot witnessed the demise of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. Immediately after the occupation of Austria, the new rulers introduced compulsory membership of the Hitler Youth (HJ). Out of opposition to National Socialism, Josef Spiegel refuses to take part in the compulsory meetings. As a result, he is expelled from Dornbirn secondary school. Unfortunately for him, the new principal of the grammar school in Bruck an der Mur is a National Socialist from Dornbirn who knows the Spiegel family as staunch Catholics and Christian Socialists, which is why he refuses to accept 'someone like him' as a pupil.

He gains a lot of support during this time through his close contact with the then still very young chaplain Carl Lampert.