Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ernst Kolb

Ernst Kolb was born in Lauterach, Vorarlberg, as the legitimate son of school principal Josef Kolb and his wife Paula, née Müller. After attending elementary school in Lauterach, he went on to the Cistercian High School in Mehrerau, from which he graduated with his Matura on June 24, 1931. He then studied theology for several semesters in Brixen and subsequently pursued studies in philosophy, law, and political science at the University of Innsbruck, where he received his doctorate on December 19, 1936.

After completing his studies, he married Irma König and subsequently became the father of two daughters, a son, and an adopted son. In 1937, Ernst Kolb became a teacher at the State Trade School in Bregenz and, in the same year, secretary of the Vorarlberg Trade Association.

On March 12, 1938, this devout Catholic and patriotic Austrian witnessed the downfall of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. In 1943, Ernst Kolb was dismissed for political reasons and barred from holding office. He then took on various commercial positions, including in Switzerland and at a dairy in Sonthofen in the Allgäu region of Bavaria. Toward the end of the war, he was drafted and assigned to an artillery unit.

As a soldier in the Wehrmacht, Ernst Kolb witnessed the liberation of Austria and the reestablishment of the Republic in April and May 1945, respectively. Upon his return home, he joined the newly founded Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), headed the Bregenz City Hall Chancellery from 1945 to 1946, and served until 1946 as provisional director of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Commerce and the State Economic Office. Starting in the summer of 1946, he served as managing director of the Trade Section of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and subsequently of the Federal Economic Chamber. From December 19, 1945, to November 8, 1949, he was a member of the Austrian National Council, and from November 8, 1949, to October 29, 1959, he served as a member of the Federal Council.

In the government of Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl, Ernst Kolb served as Minister of Trade and Reconstruction from February 18, 1948, to January 23, 1952. In 1951, he secured recognition of the 1928 Trade Agreement by the United States of America, which enabled a large portion of Austria’s supply of essential goods and laid the foundation for the country’s reconstruction. On January 23, 1952, he changed ministries and served as Minister of Education until October 31, 1954. During this time, he partially reversed the decisions of his predecessors, Ernst Fischer and Felix Hurdes: the school subject “Language of Instruction” was renamed “German as the Language of Instruction.” The reconstruction of the Vienna State Opera was also advanced during this period. In 1952, he became a member of the Rudolfina fraternity and was appointed Commander with Star of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem—Austrian Lieutenancy (OESSH) by Cardinal Grand Master Nicola Cardinal Canali. In 1954, he returned to Bregenz and served as Governor of Vorarlberg until 1959, overseeing the departments of legislation, police, internal affairs, ecclesiastical affairs, and culture. In 1955, he became a member of the Carolina fraternity.

In 1959, Ernst Kolb was appointed full professor of constitutional and administrative law at the University of Innsbruck without having completed his habilitation. During the 1961–62 academic year, he served as dean of the Faculty of Law and was elected rector for the 1967–68 academic year. During this time, he also served as general counsel for the Federal Chamber of Commerce. In 1974, he was appointed president of the Austrian Catholic Congress in Vienna, and in 1978, he was named Senior Commander of the Bregenz Commandery of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem—Austrian Lieutenancy (OESSH).

In the same year he was appointed Senior Commander of the Bregenz Commandery of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem—Austrian Lieutenancy (OESSH), he died at the age of 66 from a viral illness and was laid to rest in the cemetery of St. Gallus Parish in Bregenz.