Ingrid Nargang (17 April 1929 – 10 May 2019) was an Austrian lawyer, judge, and contemporary historian. From 1964 to 1993, she was head of the district court in

Engelhartszell Engelhartszell an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Engöhoartszö'') is a municipality in the district of Schärding in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Engelhartszell lies in the upper Danube valley in the Innviertel. About 57 percent ...

. She was the first woman to head a rural district court in the

Judiciary of Austria The judiciary of Austria (german: österreischische Judikative) is the system of courts, prosecution and correction of the Republic of Austria as well as the branch of government responsible for upholding the rule of law and administering justi ...

Biography

Alice Ingrid Annemarie Nargang was born in

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the u ...

, Romania on 17 April 1929. She came from an old Austrian family of civil servants. Her great-grandfather was the classical

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

and high school director, Stefan Wolf; a grandfather was a lawyer. The family lived in Czernowitz in

Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berge ...

, which until the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

belonged to the Austrian monarchy as its own crown land, then fell to the Kingdom of Romania and is currently partly in Ukraine (including Chernivtsi). She was raised by her mother and grandmother. The father left the family when she was two years old. In the summer of 1940, when Nargang was eleven years old, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

entered into northern Bukovina as a result of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...

and agreed with the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

to resettle the population of German origin. With mother and grandmother, Nargang first moved to

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

, then to

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

. When the Russians approached towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, they fled to

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an ...

. As so-called "expellees"" and "

ethnic German , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

s" living in Oberweis near Gmunden, Nargang attended the secondary school in Gmunden from autumn 1945. After graduating in 1948, she studied

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

in Innsbruck. She also attended a graduate course at the commercial academy. In 1952, she received her doctorate in law. After a year-long judicial clerkship, she studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

until 1955. In 1959, she completed a doctorate in social and economic sciences. During this time, Nargang had already started working as an apprentice lawyer in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

and passed the bar exam. Subsequently, she worked as a lawyer at the

Magistrate. In 1963, she became a judge. From 1964 until her retirement in 1993, Nargang headed the district court of Engelhartszell an der Donau. She was the first woman to head a rural Austrian district court . As a contemporary historian, Nargang researched the history of the Bukovina Germans and the situation of the refugees in

after the Second World War. She was also a founding member of the regional team of the Bukovina Germans in Linz . In her later years, Nargang lived in Engelhartszell, Linz, and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. She died in

Schärding Schärding ( , Bavarian name: Scharing) is a town in northern Austrian state of Upper Austria, the capital of the district of the same name, and a major port on the Inn River. Historically, it was owned by the Wittelsbach family, which reflects ...

on 10 May 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nargang, Ingrid 1929 births 2019 deaths People from Linz Austrian women lawyers 20th-century Austrian lawyers Austrian women judges Austrian judges 20th-century judges 20th-century Austrian historians Austrian women historians 20th-century women lawyers 20th-century women judges People from Schärding District