Msgr. Dr. Franz Kolb (1886-1959)

Memorial Msgr. Dr. Franz Kolb. Die freie Enzyklopädie Wikipedia. Online, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Memorial_for_Franz_Kolb.jpg, (Stand: 16.3.2026).

When faith and love for one's homeland become a danger: The life of Msgr. Dr. Franz Kolb is an impressive testament to Catholic resistance in Tyrol. As a priest, politician, and an unyielding Tyrolean, he experienced persecution, imprisonment, and constant threat from the National Socialist regime. His rescue of the miraculous image of Maria Waldrast and his loyalty to the Catholic youth, in particular, made him a target of the Gestapo.

A Life for Tyrol and the Faith

Born on January 12, 1886, in Navis, Franz Kolb's path led him early to a spiritual vocation . After graduating from the Bishop's Gymnasium Vinzentinum in Brixen, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1909 . His academic career took him to the University of Innsbruck, where he studied history, geography, and social sciences – interrupted by the First World War, in which he served as a field chaplain and divisional pastor .
In 1921, he earned his doctorate in philosophy and initially worked as a professor in Brixen. However, his strong "Tyrolean" sentiment made him a thorn in the side of the fascist authorities: in 1923, he was expelled from South Tyrol . Back in Innsbruck, he took over the management of the Sieber Orphanage and worked as a religion teacher and as the association chaplain for the Catholic workers' associations of Tyrol .
From 1927 to 1934, Franz Kolb represented the Christian Social Party as a member of the National Council in Vienna . Particular attention was drawn to his speech of February 23, 1928, in which he denounced the injustice inflicted on the South Tyroleans by fascist Italy . In the Austrofascist corporative state, he was a member of the Federal Cultural Council before being appointed director of the teacher training college in Innsbruck in 1936 .

Hostility and Arrest by the National Socialists

Everything changed with the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich in 1938. Because of his unequivocal rejection of National Socialism, Kolb was dismissed from the school service . Years of threat and persecution followed.
The chronicle of the Obernberg parish, which Pastor Kolb himself wrote after the end of the war, records the harassment: "Dismissed as a professor after 27 years of service and imprisoned twice by the National Socialists." His first detention was from November 10 to December 10, 1939 . Like many others, he was arrested "on the occasion of the assassination attempt on Hitler" (the failed Bürgerbräu assassination attempt by Georg Elser) – without ever being interrogated .
His second arrest occurred on April 19, 1941, and was directly related to an event that deeply moved the hearts of Tyrolean youth.

The Rescue of the Miraculous Image of Maria Waldrast

For centuries, the pilgrimage site of Maria Waldrast, high above the Wipptal valley, had been a spiritual center of Tyrol. The miraculous image, which according to legend was found in a hollow larch tree trunk in 1392, attracted countless pilgrims . In 1624, the Servites had been tasked with building a magnificent pilgrimage church with a monastery .
But in 1941, in the midst of the war, the National Socialists intervened. The monastery was dissolved, and the pilgrimage church was sealed by the Gestapo . For the deeply religious Tyrolean population, especially the youth, this was a slap in the face.
On the night of April 17-18, 1941, something outrageous happened: the miraculous image disappeared – brought to safety by Pastor Kolb. He wanted to protect it from being seized and possibly destroyed by the National Socialists, hiding it in his parish . The Gestapo reacted immediately. On April 19, 1941, Kolb was arrested and held for 14 days .

Solidarity of the Youth

The closure of Maria Waldrast and the arrest of the clergy triggered a wave of solidarity. The Catholic youth refused to be intimidated. About 200 young people from the side valleys of the Wipptal and Stubaital marched to the locked Grace Church – a courageous act of protest against the regime .
The consequence was further intervention by the Gestapo. In addition to Pastor Kolb, the following were arrested: Dean Sieberer from Matrei am Brenner, Pastor Knittel from Trins, Georg Schuchter from Trins, and the three theology students Hermann Lugger, Reinhold Stecher (the later Bishop of Innsbruck), and Anton Hilber . The solidarity of the youth was answered with arrests – a sign of how seriously the National Socialists took any resistance, even from young people.

The Time of Uncertainty

Even after his release from custody in May 1941, peace did not return. Kolb, who served as pastor in Obernberg south of Innsbruck until 1945 , lived in constant fear. In his chronicle, he vividly describes this state: "For the 3 years he was still in Matrei and Innsbruck, he could not feel safe from arrest and a completely uncertain fate for a single day. During this time, he had to be prepared at any moment to be arrested again, a tormenting situation that puts even the strongest nerves to a severe test" .
Between 1939 and 1941, although he still taught as a professor of church history at the seminaries in Volders and St. Michael in Matrei, the threat remained omnipresent .

A Life After the War

After the liberation in 1945, Franz Kolb worked tirelessly in the reconstruction. Until 1950, he worked as a religion teacher in Innsbruck and as the state chaplain for the Federation of Tyrolean Rifle Companies . His passion remained Tyrolean history; he published books on the history of the Wipptal, Tyrolean customs, and the freedom struggles .
He was honored multiple times for his services: he was an honorary member of the Ring of the Golden Medal of Bravery (the only priest), an honorary citizen of Matrei am Brenner, an honorary member of the University of Innsbruck, and the first recipient of the Ring of Honour of the State of Tyrol .
While preparing for the 150th anniversary celebration of the Tyrolean Freedom Fight under Andreas Hofer, Msgr. Dr. Franz Kolb suffered a heart attack, to which he succumbed on September 4, 1959, in Innsbruck . A bronze bust on the cemetery wall of the Matrei parish church still commemorates this courageous man today.

The life of Msgr. Dr. Franz Kolb shows how deep faith and love for one's homeland can give rise to the courage to resist an inhumane regime. He paid a high price: loss of his profession, imprisonment, and years of uncertainty. His commitment to the miraculous image of Maria Waldrast and the Catholic youth remains a shining example of lived civil courage in the darkest of times.