Hofrat Dr. Erich Kneußl

Erich Kneußl attended elementary school in Schwaz and transferred to the Benedictine grammar school in Meran at the age of 12. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Innsbruck in 1904 to study law. In 1905, he joined the student fraternity Austria Innsbruck.

After graduating, he joined the state civil service. In 1909, he was sent to Lienz for a three-year internship and was taken on as a civil servant there. Between 1912 and 1914, he changed places of employment and was initially transferred to Cles as an Imperial-Royal Governor's Constable, in 1914 he took up his post in the district administration of Tione di Trento and shortly afterwards he was appointed District Commissioner in Mezzolombardo (Welsch-Metz). Because he was classified as "unfit for military service" in 1907, he did not have to serve in the First World War. In 1917, at the age of 33, he was appointed head of the district administration of Ampezzo [later Cortina d'Ampezzo].

After the First World War, he was appointed district governor of Lienz. He remained here with his family until 1931. In 1927 he was elected to the National Council in Vienna as a representative of the Tyrolean Farmers' Association and from 1933 to 1936 he was the first deputy chairman of the Tyrolean Farmers' Association. After the dissolution of the National Council, he was appointed to the Federal Council in 1934 and was a member of the Federal Economic Council until 1938. He is also a member of the VF. His family moves to Hall/Tyrol and he commutes between his home and Vienna. Working in and for Tyrol was important to him, which is why he turned down offers to work in a ministry.

After the Anschluss, Erich Kneußl was dismissed and forced to retire in 1939 with a reduction in pay. Due to his age and because his sons were deployed at the front, he was not drafted into the German army. Because he was barred from working as a lawyer or tax consultant, he was involved in monument preservation, among other things.

After the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, Erich Kneußl was arrested on August 23, 1944 due to his political views and transferred to the Innsbruck-Reichenau detention centre, but was released on September 28, 1944 due to his gall bladder disease.