Gustav Ospelt (politician, born 1877)

Ospelt was born on 6 August 1877 in Vaduz as the son of locksmith Christoph Ospelt and Sophie (née Konrad) as one of three children. He worked as a locksmith and farmer. In 1897, he took over his father's metalworking business, which he expanded.^[1]

He was a member of the Vaduz municipal council from 1909 to 1916 and was deputy mayor of the municipality from 1915 to 1916.^[1] Following the death of Adolf Real in 1916, Ospelt was elected as mayor, where he served until 1921.^[1][2] During this time, he was a proponent for cultivating the Rhine meadows to lessen the food shortages during World War I. He was also a judge at the regional, state and criminal courts. He was again a member of the Vaduz municipal council from 1921 to 1930.^[1]

Ospelt was a founding member of the Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP) in 1918, but switched to the Christian-Social People's Party (VP) in the first half of the 1920s due to disagreements regarding Liechtenstein's alignment to Switzerland.^[1] He was a member of the Landtag of Liechtenstein from 1928 to 1930, and also the vice president of the Landtag.^[1][3] Along with the other VP members of the Landtag, he resigned in 1930 due to disagreements with the FBP regarding the length of the mandate following the 1928 election.^[1][4] He was on the membership list of the Liechtenstein Homeland Service in 1933.^[1]

Ospelt married Berta Laternser (16 October 1879 – 6 December 1967) on 19 November 1900 and they had four children together.^[1] He died of a heart attack on 16 August 1934 in Vaduz, aged 57.^[5] His son Gustav Ospelt took over his company and expanded it into an international manufacturing that would become Hoval [de].^[6]

• Vogt, Paul (1987). 125 Jahre Landtag (in German). Vaduz: Landtag of the Principality of Liechtenstein.