Alois Vogt

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.

Career

Vogt was a co-founder of the Liechtenstein Homeland Service in 1933. 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.

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. Members of the Patriotic Union called for Hoop to resign over the issue, but he was later acquitted of any wrong-doing. He was also the editor of the Liechtensteiner Vaterland from 1937 to 1938.

In March 1938 the Patriotic Union participated in the coalition government formed in order to prevent government deadlock and help retain Liechtenstein's neutrality overseen by Franz Joseph II along with Hoop and the Progressive Citizens' Party. Vogt was appointed to bocame Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein under Hoop for the rest of his premiership, replacing Anton Frommelt.

Despite being a member of the coalition, Vogt retained contacts within Nazi Germany throughout the 1930s and throughout, particularly with the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, who regarded him as a trusted contact. Hoop rejected the fascist tendencies of the Liechtenstein Homeland Service. 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. He met with Sicherheitsdienst Eugen Steimle in summer 1943 in Berlin. 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. Key politicians in Liechtenstein were charged for their activities shortly after the war, and an indictment was pressed against Vogt, but he was never charged. He received a travel ban from Switzerland from April 1946 to December 1947.

After the resignation of Hoop in 1945 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. He served as a government councillor in the First Gerard Batliner cabinet from 1962 to 1965.

Personal life

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

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

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