Dr. Reinhold Möbius

Reinhold Möbius attended the Bischöfliches Gymnasium Marianum in Klagenfurt and volunteered for military service in the 5th grade in May 1915 and joined the Carinthian volunteer riflemen, where he was trained as an infantryman. He returned to school in the meantime and was finally called up to Infantry Regiment 53 in Agram in May 1916. As a platoon commander, he was seriously wounded on the Galician front and infected with tuberculosis.

After the war, he was active in the Carinthian defensive struggle, was persecuted by the Yugoslav occupying authorities and was even beaten down on one occasion. From 1920, he studied law in Graz and was awarded a doctorate in law. After completing his studies, he worked as a lawyer in Villach. He also became politically active and was a member of the National Assembly for the CSP from 1932, district leader of the Patriotic Front from 1936 and mayor of Villach in 1937.

After the Anschluss, he was taken into protective custody on March 13, 1938, remained in custody for a month and then, as he was banned from working after his release, became an insurance agent. In May 1938, he was arrested again for allegedly inciting members of the Schutzkorps to use violence against National Socialists during the "system era". He was imprisoned for ten months, held in protective custody until July 20, 1940 and then expelled from Carinthia. He had to give up his job and supported his family as an insurance agent in Salzburg. In November 1941, he comes into contact with the "Antifascist Freedom Movement of Austria" via Eduard Pumpernig. He was arrested again on September 22, 1943 by the Klagenfurt police station on the basis of these activities for preparation of high treason and sentenced to three months imprisonment by the Vienna Higher Regional Court on April 12, 1944 for an offense under § 139 para. 1 RStGB. The reasons for the sentence include the following:

"The defendants Dr. Reinhold Möbius, Franz Aichner ... received credible knowledge of the existence of subversive activity in Carinthia in the years 1941 to 1943 and yet failed to report this to the authorities."

In the sentencing, his war decorations and "above all his excellent probation and his many years of sacrificial struggle for the freedom of his Carinthian homeland" were considered mitigating factors. It is not known whether he was released after the verdict or kept in protective custody.