Ferdinand Graf

Ferdinand Graf attended grammar school in Klagenfurt. In 1923, he joined the secondary school fraternity Karantania Klagenfurt. He later transferred to the Höhere Bundeslehranstalt für Elektrotechnik in Graz, where he graduated.

He then began his studies at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Graz, without completing them. In 1930, he became secretary and in 1933 director of the Carinthian Farmers' Union and an official of the Vaterländische Front.

After the invasion of Austria by the German Wehrmacht, he was arrested and subsequently imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp, transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp in the meantime and imprisoned after being transferred back to Dachau on August 17, 1940. In 1941, he was drafted into the German Wehrmacht and had to serve in a punishment company. From 1943 to 1945, he worked as a payroll accountant for a construction company.

After the war, Ferdinand Graf returned to politics. In 1945, he became director of the newly founded Austrian Farmers' Association, a position he held until his death. He became involved in the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich. After various political functions as a member of the National Council and Federal Councillor, he was appointed State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and in 1956-1961 was appointed the first Federal Minister for National Defense of the newly established ministry.

He died at the age of 62 and was laid to rest at the cemetery in Vienna-Neustift am Walde.