Dr. Albert Schmidinger

Albert Schmidinger was decorated as a first lieutenant in the First World War. After the war, he worked as a crop inspector in the office of the Vorarlberg provincial council. In 1934, he became a member of the Heimwehr and then the VF. In 1938, he worked as a senior official at the Vorarlberg Chamber of Farmers, 1938-1939 at the Vorarlberg District Farmers' Association, 1939-1943 at the Alpenland Farmers' Association in Salzburg 1943-1944 at the Tyrol-Vorarlberg Farmers' Association in Innsbruck.

He was part of the "eavesdropping circle" around Karl Biack and Franz Seywald, who intercepted foreign broadcasts from the BBC and Beromünster (Switzerland), among others, between 1941 and 1944, which was strictly forbidden. On March 21, 1944, twelve people from this circle, including Albert Schmidinger as a representative of "Habsburg separatism" and his wife Rosa, were arrested by the Gestapo on the basis of denunciations and taken into custody in Salzburg prison. They were charged with "preparation for high treason".

On July 21 and 22, 1944, the 1st Senate of the People's Court, chaired by President Roland Freisler, convened in the jury courtroom of the Salzburg Regional Court. Albert Schmidinger is sentenced to seven years in prison for eavesdropping on and specifically disseminating messages from banned "enemy stations" in accordance with §§ 1, 2 of the Broadcasting Ordinance of September 1, 1939 - in the same proceedings, Dr. Karl Biack and Dr. Franz Seywald are sentenced to death. On the march from Straubing prison to Dachau concentration camp, Albert Schmidinger is liberated by the Americans on April 30, 1945.

1945-1947 he takes up a position at the provincial food office and becomes director of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Agriculture from 1947-1951.