DDr. Ferdinand Aloys Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg

Ferdinand Aloys Count von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg was born as the second son of Ottokar Clemens Wolfgang Max Maria Count von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg and Josephine Sophie, née Countess von und zu Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg. The family is of Westphalian origin and was raised to the rank of imperial counts by Emperor Leopold II in 1792. Westphalen's father had owned the Kulm estate (district of Aussig on the Elbe in Bohemia, now Chlumec or Ústí nad Labem) since 1830 and was a hereditary member of the Austrian House of Lords.

Ferdinand Aloys Count von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg grew up on this estate. After graduating from high school in 1917, he was drafted into the k. u. k. Army. In 1918, he began studying at the Faculty of Law at the German Karl Ferdinand University in Prague (Dr. iur. 1922), where he joined the Saxo-Bavaria student fraternity. He then began studying economics at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Vienna in 1922, which he continued in Munich (Dr. rer. pol. 1925).

Ferdinand Aloys Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg then began an academic career, habilitating in economics at the University of Vienna under Othmar Spann (1878-1950) and then working there as a private lecturer. Before 1938, he belonged to the closest Spann circle and contributed to his journal "Ständisches Leben" and its publication series "Deutsche Beiträge zur Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftslehre". From 1935, Ferdinand Aloys Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg was also a lecturer in economics at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. In 1937, he was appointed associate professor of economics at the University of Vienna and on January 1, 1938, associate professor of economics, economic policy and finance at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. At the same time, he worked as a lecturer in economics and economic history at the Technical University in Vienna.

At the end of May 1938, Ferdinand Aloys Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg was dismissed for political reasons and his venia legendi (teaching license) at the University of Vienna was revoked. From 1940, he was able to work in the private sector (as a dispatcher and consultant for labor law), but was called up to the German army in 1944. He saw the end of the war in 1945 in Ivrea (northern Piedmont).

In 1946, Ferdinand Aloys Graf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg was rehabilitated both as a private lecturer (Venia legendi) at the University of Vienna and as an associate professor at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. In 1956 he was appointed full professor of economics and agricultural policy there and in 1960 he was appointed head of the Institute for Social and Legal Sciences. At the University of Vienna, where he continued to lecture as a private lecturer, he was awarded the title of full university professor. He remained associated with the Spann circle after 1945 and from 1963 was co-editor of the complete edition of Othmar Spann's works. He retired in 1969.