Dr. Ewald Geigl

Ewald Geigl attended grammar school in Ried i. I. and joined the Rugia Ried secondary school fraternity in 1928. After graduating from high school in 1932, he first studied law in Vienna, where he joined the Kürnberg student fraternity in 1932. He then moved to Graz, where he obtained his doctorate in law in 1937 and subsequently became a trainee lawyer. As a CVer and due to his "political unreliability", he was denied his career aspirations of becoming a public prosecutor.

In 1940, he was drafted into the German Wehrmacht/Wehrbezirkskommando Linz. In 1941, he was discharged from the Wehrmacht - probably due to severe visual impairment - and then worked as an assessor at the district courts in Freistadt and Weyer.

Although Ewald Geigl was distanced from and critical of the Nazi regime, he was appointed public prosecutor in Ried i. I. in January 1945, because all the "reliable lawyers" were already deployed at the front.

On May 3, 1945, a memorable incident occurred in Ried that could have cost him his life. He impressed upon his staff in the detention center: "Don't let anyone in or out without my decision!" " In the morning, three Hitler Youths came with a note with names on it and demanded the release of 'these' people, who had to be executed on the orders of District Leader Landwehr. " - Ewald Geigl later recalled. The three were heavily armed with carbines and pistols. "It didn't even occur to me that they could still kill me, shoot me."

One of those who was to be shot was (most likely) Carl Georg Graf Stürgkh, sentenced to death in 1942, then "pardoned" to ten years in prison. Through this courageous act of not handing over the imprisoned Nazi opponents, he literally prevented their execution at the last minute, before Ried was taken by the US Army without a fight.