abs.jur. Franz Frhr. Riccabona von Reichenfels

Franz Riccabona, the eldest son of Rudolf von Riccabona zu Reichenfels [† 1970] and Maria Burlo von Ehrwall, and brother of Anton Riccabona, was forced to interrupt his studies at the Bolzano Gymnasium at just under seventeen years of age and was drafted into the 1st Regiment of the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger to defend his threatened homeland.

Upon returning from the war, he was able to make up his high school diploma in Bolzano in June 1919 and begin his law studies in Innsbruck. He joined the Austria Innsbruck fraternity in 1920. Due to the difficult economic situation, the law graduate initially found employment in the guardianship department of the Caritas Association and was not able to secure a position in the judiciary until 1928. He became a district judge in Dornbirn and Imst. In 1934, he was appointed public prosecutor in Salzburg and then transferred to Innsbruck in 1936.

Immediately after the Anschluss, he was removed from his post, arrested on the spot, and detained—initially at the Gestapo prison and later at the Innsbruck Regional Court prison—until May 5, 1938. After his release, he was dismissed from the judicial service without notice and had to earn a living for his family as an accountant at a construction company in Innsbruck, because he had also been barred from practicing any other academic profession. In 1945, he was arrested again.

After the war, he was rehabilitated and subsequently became president of the Regional Court.