Huge shock in town meeting: Ex-municipal councilor collapses and dies

Created: 07/01/2022, 18:15

By: Rafael Sala

The accident happened in the guest's house in Riegsee.

© Herpen Archive

The Riegsee ex-municipal councilor Rainer Schobert collapsed on Thursday towards the end of the citizens' meeting.

Rescue attempts in the guest's house were unsuccessful. 

Riegsee

– The citizens' meeting in Riegsee on Thursday was overshadowed by a tragic event.

Towards the end of the event, the former long-serving municipal councilor Rainer Schobert suddenly slipped off his chair.

All resuscitation measures were unsuccessful.

The 75-year-old from Hagen died in the guest's house.

The shock was great.

Not only the visitors of the event, but also Mayor Jörg Steinleitner and the current municipal councilors seemed helpless at first and could not believe what had happened at first.

At around 10:15 p.m., Schobert, former municipal councilor of the Hagen electoral community, spoke up and addressed topics relating to Hagen – including the planned changes to the cemetery there.

He had also thanked District Administrator Anton Speer, who was sitting right in front of him, for his congratulations on his 75th birthday a few days earlier.

Then he fell lifeless to the ground.

Attempts at resuscitation unsuccessful

The firefighters who were present began immediately with cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the rescue control center was informed immediately and gave instructions over the phone.

A short time later, two doctors living in the village and the defibrillator attached to the grocery store were fetched before about 15 minutes after the incident, the ambulance, later the ambulance, the police and criminal police and the crisis intervention service arrived to care for a relative.

All attempts at resuscitation had no effect.

Schobert died in the hall.

The body was taken away around 3 a.m. the next day.

For Mayor Steinleitner, who in his own words was already very nervous at the start of his first town meeting, this is a huge shock.

"I'm shaken," he told the daily newspaper.

"My deepest condolences to the relatives." Also District Administrator Anton Speer (free voters), who a few minutes before the tragic event ended his 45-minute presentation on district politics, including his work at the G7 summit had imagined the outcome of the event differently.

Depressed, he left the room.

Driving force for years

Schobert is no stranger to the community, in fact he has been a driving force for years.

According to former mayor Franz Höcker, he sat for two periods, from 1990 to 2002, on the Riegsee municipal council for the Hagen electoral community.

In the following period he moved up again.

All the time he was also active in the construction committee and was able to contribute a lot of knowledge there due to his professional experience.

Even after his active time as a municipal councilor, Schobert could not leave local politics.

"He kept coming to my house for talks, I really appreciated that," said Höcker when asked by the Tagblatt.

“He always had his own opinion, independently, and he always stood by it.

He was thoughtful, dedicated and conscientious.

He was my most important councillor.” The cause of death had not yet been determined on Friday.