Alois Vogt

Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein from 1938 to 1945
Alois Vogt
Vogt in 1945
Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
In office
30 March 1938 – 3 September 1945
MonarchsFranz I
Franz Joseph II
Prime MinisterJosef Hoop
Preceded byAnton Frommelt
Succeeded byFerdinand Nigg
Personal details
Born19 July 1906
Balzers, Liechtenstein
Died23 March 1988(1988-03-23) (aged 81)
Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Political partyPatriotic Union
Other political
affiliations		Liechtenstein Homeland Service
Spouse
Beate Hussak
​
(m. 1948)​
Children6
Signature

Alois Vogt (19 July 1906 – 23 March 1988) was an advocate and political figure from Liechtenstein who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein from 1938 to 1945.

Early life

Vogt was born on 19 July 1906 in Balzers as the son of farmer Josef Kaspar and Magdalena Theresia Gstöhl as one of six children. He attended Realschule in Vaduz and from 1928 went on to study law in Innsbruck, Freiburg im Breisgau and Vienna, where he received a diploma in 1933. He then opened his own law firm in Vaduz.[1]

Career

Vogt was a co-founder of the Liechtenstein Homeland Service in 1933.[1] This party and the Christian-Social People's Party merged to form the Patriotic Union in 1936 and Vogt was placed as the party secretary.[1][2] He was also the editor of the Liechtensteiner Vaterland from 1937 to 1938.[3]

In 1937, he was the defending lawyer of Carl Freiherr von Vogelsang after he publicly denounced Jews living in Liechtenstein and sent numerous letters detailing them to officials in Nazi Germany. As a result, Prime Minister of Liechtenstein, Josef Hoop, ordered the offices of the Vaterland to be searched for any letters to be confiscated.[4][5] Members of the Patriotic Union called for Hoop to resign over the issue, but he was later acquitted of any wrong-doing.[6]

Vogt (left) with Otto Schaedler, Josef Hoop and Ludwig Marxer, around 1938.

In March 1938 the Patriotic Union entered a coalition government with the governing Progressive Citizens' Party.[7][8][9] As a result, Vogt was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein under Josef Hoop, replacing Anton Frommelt. He served in the position until Hoop's resignation in 1945.[10]

Vogt (right) with Franz Joseph II and Josef Hoop in Balzers on 8 March 1938

Despite being a member of the coalition, Vogt retained contacts within Nazi Germany before and during World War II, most of which was informal. He held particular contact with the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, who regarded him as a trusted contact.[1] He was an outspoken supporter of National Socialism throughout his premiership as deputy prime minister and used his position to push relevant demands through Hoop, assisted by the party's president, Otto Schaedler, who agitated for a more cooperative stance towards Nazi Germany.[1][11] Notably, in 1943 he met with Sicherheitsdienst Eugen Steimle in Berlin.[12]

However, despite his friendly and cooperative attitude towards Germany, he played a role in thwarting the German National Movement in Liechtenstein (VDBL) when they attempted a coup in 1939 by intervening to prevent a German invasion, though the party still came under suspicion afterwards.[1][13][14]

Shortly after the war, an indictment was pressed against Vogt due to his intelligence, but he was never charged as the as the Patriotic Union threatened to end the coalition government should he be.[15] However, he received a travel ban from Switzerland from April 1946 to December 1947.[1] He went on to serve in the board of education until 1950. He served in the Landtag of Liechtenstein from 1949 to 1966 and then as the Vice President of the State Court of Justice of Liechtenstein from 1969 to 1974.[1] He served as a government councillor in the First Gerard Batliner cabinet from 1962 to 1965.[16]

Personal life

Vogt married Beate Hussak (26 May 1924 – 2012) on 9 October 1948 and they had six children together.[1]

Vogt's grave in 2024

Vogt died on 23 March 1988 in Vaduz, at the age of 81 years old.[1] Him and his wife are buried at the cemetery of Vaduz.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Schremser, Jürgen (31 December 2011). "Vogt, Alois". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Parties in Liechtenstein 1921-1943". Prince and People: Liechtenstein Civics (in German). 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  3. ^ Marxer, Wilfried (2015). "Liechtensteiner Vaterland". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  4. ^ Peter Geiger (1997). Liechtenstein in den Dreissigerjahren 1928–1939 (in German) (1st ed.). Zürich: Liechtenstein Institut. p. 371. ISBN 3-906393-28-3.
  5. ^ Schremser, Jürgen (31 December 2011). "Vogelsang, Carl Freiherr von". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  6. ^ Peter Geiger (1997). Liechtenstein in den Dreissigerjahren 1928–1939 (in German) (1st ed.). Zürich: Liechtenstein Institut. pp. 372–373. ISBN 3-906393-28-3.
  7. ^ Büchel, Donat (31 December 2011). "Märzkrise". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  8. ^ Marxer, Wilfred (31 December 2011). "Koalition". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Parties in Liechtenstein 1921-1943". Prince and People: Liechtenstein Civics (in German). 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Mitglieder der Regierung des Fürstentums Liechtenstein 1862-2021" (PDF). www.regierung.li. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  11. ^ Schremser, Jurgen (14 May 2023). "Schaedler (Schaedler), Otto". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  12. ^ Schremser, Jürgen (1999). Der einzige Mann, der die Sache auf sich nehmen könnte. Zur Rolle von Dr. Alois Vogt in den liechtensteinisch-deutschen Beziehungen 1938 bis 1945 (in German). Vaduz: Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein. p. 102.
  13. ^ Marxer, Wilfried (31 December 2011). "Patriotic Union (VU)". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  14. ^ Büchel, Donat (31 December 2011). "Anschlussputsch". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  15. ^ Geiger, Peter (31 December 2011). "Zweiter Weltkrieg". Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (in German). Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  16. ^ Paul Vogt (1987). 125 Jahre Landtag. Vaduz: Landtag of the Principality of Liechtenstein.