Josef Zwetzbacher

After graduating from secondary school and commercial college, Josef Zwetzbacher initially worked in his parents' mill business in St. Pölten-Stattersdorf. In 1897, he took over the "Zwetzbachermühle" mill, which had been in existence since 1679. He became involved in the community very early on and founded the "Volunteer Fire Brigade" in 1894 and also became politically active: in 1906 he was elected to the committee of the Lower Austrian Farmers' Association; in 1908 he founded a Christian Social Association for farmers from the surrounding area of St. Pölten. From 1909 to 1915 he was a member of the Lower Austrian state parliament. During the First World War, he served as a first lieutenant in the 12th Landsturmbrigade and from 1915 in the 59th Gebirgsbrigade.

After the war, he was elected the first freely elected mayor of Stattersdorf in 1918-1919. From 1918 to 1919, he was also a member of the Provisional Provincial Assembly. In the first elections after the war, he was re-elected to the Lower Austrian provincial parliament and was a member from 1919 to 1925; from 1918 to 1920, he held the office of provincial councillor and was also deputy governor from 1918 to 1925. His successor in the provincial government was Josef Reither. From 1920 to 1925, he was also a member of the Federal Council and at times its chairman. In addition to these political offices, he was also President of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Agriculture from 1922 and President of the Lower Austrian Farmers' Bank from 1923-1924, as well as a founding member of the "1st Lower Austrian Fire Damage Insurance Company".

In 1923, the Pflug student association, which had been founded two years earlier especially for students at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, made him an honorary member, and he was also an honorary member of the Rhaeto-Norika Klosterneuburg.

In 1925, the National Socialists launched a campaign via the "Deutschösterreichische Tages-Zeitung", a newspaper with close ties to them, accusing him of misconduct in his activities at the "1. Niederösterreichische Brandschadenversicherung" and the NÖ Bauernbank. He is also accused of accepting bribes due to his many different positions. He then resigned from all offices and mandates - not least under pressure from the CSP party leadership. He then returned to his company and became President of the Vienna Product Exchange from 1934 to 1938.

After the Anschluss, he was arrested and sentenced for dismissing a worker without notice in July 1934 because of his National Socialist views and threatening him with a pistol and "blackmailing" him with further sanctions when he tried to claim compensation.