Peter Geiger

{{Infobox person

| name = Peter Geiger

| image = Peter Geiger (cropped).jpg

| caption = Geiger in 2020

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1942|10|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Klosters, Grisons, Switzerland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|4|6|1942|10|22|df=y}}

| death_place =

| occupation = Historian

| organization =

| spouse = {{marriage|Ursula Eberle|1971|}}

| children = 2

}}

Peter Geiger ({{IPA|de|ˈpeːtɐ ˈɡaɪɡɐ}}; 22 October 1942 – 6 April 2025) was a Liechtensteiner historian and research officer at the Liechtenstein Institute for history. His primary focus was on the history of Liechtenstein during the 1930s and World War II.

Life and career

Geiger was born in Klosters, Switzerland on 22 October 1942.{{Cite web |date=30 December 2021 |title=Geiger, Peter |url=https://historisches-lexikon.li/Geiger,_Peter?marker=Peter+Geiger |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein |language=de}} He attended teachers training college in Rorschach from 1958 to 1962. He then went on to study history, German studies and Romance studies at the University of Zurich and Vienna. He also spent an academic year in Seattle. He received a doctorate in Zurich in 1970.

From 1970 to 1987, he was a primary school teacher in Buchs, St. Gallen, and then from 1987 to 2007 he was a lecturer at the St. Gallen University of Teacher Education. From 1995 to 2025 he was a private lecturer at the University of Fribourg.

From 1987 to 2010, he was a research officer at the Liechtenstein Institute for the contemporary history of the country. He particularly focused on Liechtenstein in the 1930s and World War II.{{Cite news |date=19 June 2023 |title=Der Waffenhändler, der die Villa Stein Egerta erbauen liess |url=https://www.vaterland.li/liechtenstein/gesellschaft/der-waffenhaendler-der-die-villa-stein-egerta-erbauen-liess-art-535707 |access-date=16 October 2023 |work=Liechtensteiner Vaterland |language=de}} He also focused on other areas such as the Revolution of 1848 in Liechtenstein and the Austro-Prussian War in Liechtenstein.{{Cite news |last=Quaderer |first=Elias |date=13 March 2024 |title="Ist es klug, den Fürsten ganz zu einer Null zu machen?" |url=https://www.vaterland.li/liechtenstein/gesellschaft/ist-es-klug-den-fuersten-ganz-zu-einer-null-zu-machen-art-560135 |access-date=8 April 2025 |work=Liechtensteiner Vaterland |language=de}}{{Cite news |date=12 May 2016 |title=Liechtenstein im Krieg und Wandel |url=https://www.vaterland.li/liechtenstein/kultur/liechtenstein-im-krieg-und-wandel-art-202494 |access-date=8 April 2025 |work=Liechtensteiner Vaterland |language=de}} He was also a contributor to the Historical Lexicon of the Principality of Liechtenstein.{{Cite web |title=Mitarbeiterinnen / Mitarbeiter |url=https://historisches-lexikon.li/Mitarbeiterinnen_/_Mitarbeiter |access-date=8 April 2025 |website=Historisches Lexikon des Fürstentums Liechtenstein |language=de}}

From 2010 to 2020, he was co-chairman of the Liechtenstein-Czech Commission of Historians.{{Cite news |date=28 September 2010 |title=Ko-Vorsitzender in der Historikerkommission |url=https://www.vaterland.li/importe/archiv/vermischtes/ko-vorsitzender-in-der-historikerkommission-art-71845 |access-date=12 October 2023 |work=Liechtensteiner Vaterland |language=de}} He wrote on Czech Republic–Liechtenstein relations, particularly the impact of land reform and work by the House of Liechtenstein on their properties, as well as the expropriation of Liechtenstein citizens living in Czechoslovakia after 1945.{{Cite journal |last=Knoz |first=Tomáš |date=2020 |title=Liechtenstein in European history : ad honorem Peter Geiger |url=http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/143797 |journal={{ill|Studia historica Brunensia|cs}} |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=5–16 |doi=10.5817/SHB2020-2-1 |issn=1803-7429 |hdl=11222.digilib/143797|doi-access=free }}

In 2017, along with Rupert Quaderer, he was honoured with a commemorative publication published jointly by the Liechtenstein Institute and the Historical Association of the Principality of Liechtenstein.{{Cite book |last=Liechtenstein-Institut |url=https://www.eliechtensteinensia.li/viewer/image/000474929/16/ |title=Geschichte erforschen – Geschichte vermitteln: Festschrift zum 75. Geburtstag von Peter Geiger und Rupert Quaderer |last2=Historischer Verein für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein |publisher=Verlag der Liechtensteinischen Akademischen Gesellschaft |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-7211-1097-5 |location=Bendern |language=de}}

Personal life and death

Geiger lived in Schaan. He married Ursula Eberle on 13 April 1971 and they had two children. On 6 April 2025, he died at the age of 82.{{Cite news |date=7 April 2025 |title=Historiker Peter Geiger verstorben |url=https://www.vaterland.li/liechtenstein/gesellschaft/historiker-peter-geiger-verstorben-art-595425 |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=Liechtensteiner Vaterland |language=de}}