Dr. Ludwig Strobl

Ludwig Strobl attended grammar school in Hollabrunn as a pupil at the archbishop's boys' seminary. In spring 1918, he was drafted into military service as a one-year volunteer. In October 1918, he also passed the war matriculation examination.

In 1919, he began studying agriculture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, where he became active in the Franco-Bavaria student fraternity in 1919; in 1921, he was one of the founders of the Pflug student fraternity [a daughter fraternity of Franco-Bavaria]. He completed his studies in 1923 with a degree in engineering, followed by a doctorate in agriculture in 1929. In 1924, he joined the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, which also sent him to study in Switzerland.

From 1936, he was managing president of the Großeinkaufsgenossenschaft österreichischer Consumvereine (GÖC). From 1934 to 1938, he was also a member of the Vienna City Council and held the office of Minister of Agriculture and Forestry from 1935 to 1936.

After the Anschluss, Ludwig Strobl spent two days in police custody, but remained employed by GÖC until he was dismissed in February 1939 and drafted into the German Wehrmacht in October 1939. After just three months, however, he was made indispensable and deployed in the economy to regulate food supplies. He initially joined the management of the Münchener Handelsgesellschaft für Lebensmittel und Haushaltsbedarf GmbH, and on September 1, 1940 he moved to the management of the Deutsche Großeinkaufsgesellschaft in Hamburg. Although he was not a member of the NSDAP, he was appointed managing director of "Gemeinschaftswerk"-Industriebetriebe GmbH, which belonged to the German Labor Front [DAF], and was dismissed on February 28, 1945.

Ludwig Strobl was also active in the resistance and was in contact with Heinrich Gleissner, among others. Because Ludwig Strobl is said to have had contacts with the resistance group around Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (1884-1945), Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) issues a warrant for his arrest in February 1945. Ludwig Strobl evaded arrest by fleeing to Austria, where he was able to remain in hiding until the end of the war on the estate he had acquired in Türnitz, Lower Austria in 1936.