Dr. Adolf Platzgummer

After elementary school in Telfs, Adolf Platzgummer attended the Franz-Joseph-Gymnasium in Hall/Tyrol. Here he joined the secondary school fraternity Sternkorona Hall in 1911. His membership of the then still forbidden fraternity occasionally brought him into conflict with the school, but he eventually graduated with distinction. In 1913, he began studying law at the University of Innsbruck and joined the Leopoldina Innsbruck student fraternity there.

After the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered and served in the 8th field company of the First Tyrolean Kaiserjäger Regiment, ultimately as a first lieutenant. He saw combat in Galicia, in the Carpathians, on the Isonzo and in South Tyrol. Despite this, he managed to complete his studies in 1918 with a doctorate in law while on study leave. After his legal internship, he became a judge in Welsberg and later head of the district courts of Silian, Hofgastein and Silz.

A member of the Christian Social Party [CSP] since 1919, Adolf Platzgummer joined the VF in 1933. In the fall of 1934, he was appointed to the Tyrolean state parliament as a representative of the "Civil Service" profession, where he served as chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee. At the beginning of 1936, he took over the office of Chairman of the Tyrolean Chamber of Civil Servants. On 4.8.1935, he was one of the co-founders of the "Catholic-German Ferial Association Bernardia", which was reactivated as a secondary school association after the war.

This multifaceted activity was interrupted by the Anschluss in 1938. Adolf Platzgummer was suspended from his duties on the grounds that he was "not worthy to continue as a public servant for political reasons" and was transferred to permanent retirement with half his pension. During the Second World War, he was imprisoned twice for long periods. He escaped a third arrest after the failed assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 by fleeing to the inner Ötztal, where he joined the local resistance group.