Hofrat Dr. Karl Smekal

Karl Smekal was born in Klosterneuburg and attended elementary school and grammar school there. In the 6th grade, he was accepted into the Arminia Klosterneuburg secondary school fraternity. After graduating from high school in 1934, he enrolled in law at the University of Vienna and joined the Klosterneuburg student fraternity Welfia in 1934.

The trainee teacher Karl Smekal was dismissed from the civil service at the end of March 1938 for "political unreliability". He became a member of the resistance group around Roman Scholz and was arrested on July 23, 1940. At his trial before the People's Court on February 25, 1944, he was sentenced to four years in prison for "preparation for high treason" and remained in custody until the end of the war.