Franz Josef Hoop (14 December 1895 – 19 October 1959) was a political figure from

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

who served as

Prime Minister of Liechtenstein This is a list of heads of government of Liechtenstein. The current () is Daniel Risch, since 25 March 2021. Head of government Provincial administrator (1861–1921) The () was the title of the head of government from 1861 to 1921. Prim ...

from 1928 to 1945.

Early life

Hoop attended high school in

Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to: Places * Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria ** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria * Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the munici ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and for a short time afterwards attended school in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. After finishing his school, Hoop took up post-secondary education at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

, where he devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages. Hoop graduated in 1920, with a doctorate in philosophy. Hoop served as the

Attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...

and

Chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

at the Liechtenstein legation in

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

from 1920 until 1923, when it was closed. From 1924 to 1928 he worked for the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

customs administration The Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance (CA; ) is the agency of the Ministry of Finance of Taiwan (ROC) dealing with customs policies and regulations in Taiwan. Republic of China is not a Member of World Customs Organization but ROC ha ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

Prime Minister of Liechtenstein

Hoop was the third

, from 4 August 1928 to 3 September 1945. The 1928 Liechtenstein parliamentary election resulted with a win for the

Progressive Citizens' Party The Progressive Citizens' Party in Liechtenstein (german: Fortschrittliche Bürgerpartei in Liechtenstein, FBP) is a national-conservative political party in Liechtenstein. The FBP is one of the two major political parties in Liechtenstein, alon ...

, and Hoop was appointed to serve as Prime Minister. During

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 opposin ...

Hoop considered friendly, non-binding, non-provocative diplomacy to be appropriate towards

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, supplemented by courtesy gestures. In 1940, during a lecture in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Hoop showed respect for the German armies. At the same time, he tied the country as closely as possible to

during the war in hopes of retaining

's neutrality. He achieved the de facto inclusion of

in the Swiss national supply. Hoop resigned in September 1945, after serving in the premiership for seventeen years.

Later life

After resigning as Prime Minister, Hoop soon after went on to study law at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

and then at the

in 1946, where he graduated and received a doctorate in 1948. From 1948 he worked as a lawyer in

Vaduz Vaduz ( or , High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' Hrsg. ...

. Hoop later went on to serve as a board member for the National Bank of Liechtenstein, and President of the Liechtenstein Constitutional Court. He went on to be elected to the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

in 1957, where he served until his death in 1959. He was President of the Landtag from 1958 to 1959.

Early life

Prime Minister of Liechtenstein

Later life

Death

Honours

References

See also