Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ernst Kolb

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

After graduating, 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, the devout Catholic and patriotic Austrian witnessed the demise of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. In 1943, Ernst Kolb was dismissed for political reasons and banned from the Gau. He now worked in various commercial jobs, including in Switzerland and at a dairy in Sonthofen in the Allgäu region of Bavaria. Towards the end of the war, he was called up and joined an artillery unit.

As a soldier in the Wehrmacht, Ernst Kolb witnessed the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic in April and May 1945. After returning home, he joined the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), headed the town hall chancellery in Bregenz between 1945 and 1946 and worked as provisional chamber office director of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Commerce and in the regional economic office until 1946. From the summer of 1946, he was Managing Director of the Trade Section of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and subsequently of the Federal Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the Austrian National Council from December 19, 1945 to November 8, 1949 and a member of the Federal Council from November 8, 1949 to October 29, 1959.

In the government of Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl, Ernst Kolb was Minister for Trade and Reconstruction from February 18, 1948 to January 23, 1952. In 1951, he achieves recognition of the 1928 trade agreement by the United States of America, which enables Austria to be supplied with a large proportion of its necessities and lays the foundation for the country's reconstruction. On January 23, 1952, he changed ministries and was Minister of Education until October 31, 1954. During this time, he partially reversed the decision of his predecessors Ernst Fischer and Felix Hurdes: The school subject 'language of instruction' is renamed 'German language of instruction'. During this time, the reconstruction of the Vienna State Opera is also promoted. In 1952, he becomes a member of the student fraternity Rudolfina and is appointed Commander with Star of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - Lieutenancy of Austria (OESSH). In 1954, he returned to Bregenz and was Governor of Vorarlberg until 1959, responsible for legislation, police, internal affairs, church affairs and culture. In 1955, he became a member of the student fraternity Carolina.

In 1959, Ernst Kolb was appointed full professor of constitutional and administrative law at the University of Innsbruck without habilitation. In the 1961/62 academic year, he was Dean of the Faculty of Law and was elected Rector for the 1967/68 academic year. During this time, he also worked as legal counsel for the Federal Chamber of Commerce. In 1974, he was appointed President of the Austrian Catholic Congress in Vienna and in 1978 was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Bregenz Commandery of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - Lieutenancy of Austria (OESSH).

In the same year as his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Commandery of Bregenz of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem - Lieutenancy of Austria (OESSH), he died of a viral illness at the age of 66 and was laid to rest in the cemetery of St. Gallus parish in Bregenz.