DDr. Albert Schöpf

Albert Schöpf was born to a Tyrolean father and a mother from Vorarlberg and graduated from high school in Bregenz in 1926. He then studied at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Innsbruck (Dr. iur. in 1931), where he joined the Austria Innsbruck fraternity in 1926. Albert Schöpf was also active in the student advocacy group Deutsche Studentenschaft (DSt). From 1928 to 1930, he served as president of the student chamber at the University of Innsbruck.

After completing his studies, Albert Schöpf served his judicial clerkship and then moved to Linz, where he first became a legal advisor to the Catholic People’s Association, the provincial branch of the Christian Social Party. At the same time, he served as editor of the *Volksvereinsbote*. In 1934, he joined the Linz municipal government.

After the Anschluss in March 1938, he was dismissed from his position and initially worked as a laborer. In 1939, he became an employee of the Housing Corporation (WAG) of the Hermann Göring Works (now VOEST). Shortly before the end of the war, he was drafted into the German Wehrmacht and was wounded (shot in the arm).

After the end of the war in 1945, Schöpf was one of the co-founders of the Upper Austrian ÖVP, the Economic Association, and the “Gymnastics and Sports Union” (Turn- und Sport-Union), which succeeded the Christian-German Gymnastics Federation, an organization he had joined while still a student. He served as chairman of the Upper Austrian Union until 1948. In 1947, he was elected ÖVP provincial party chairman, succeeding Josef Stampfl, and held this office until 1951. He also served as a member of the National Council and, later, the Federal Council.

After the war ended, Schöpf returned to the city administration and took over as head of the Food and Economic Affairs Office, which was of great importance at the time. In 1947, he transferred to the District Administration (Division II), where he served as director beginning in 1956. He retired in 1971 as a Senior Senate Councilor.