[1][2] He was in secondary school in the nearby town of Vršac during World War II when the Balkan Campaign began in 1941 in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the language of education changed from Serbian to German.

Josef managed to escape with his school class by way of Budapest and Vienna to Sankt Pölten,[1] where he graduated from the teacher training college.

During his studies he spent six months in Madrid on a scholarship, but returning from Spain to Vienna, he only had enough money to reach Salzburg, where he found work with the US army.

[2] After graduation Wüst worked as a freelancer at a publishing house, the Österreichischer Wirtschaftsverlag (Austrian business press) and as a courier.

[2] In 1958 his position at the publisher became permanent; he worked there as a journalist and editor-in-chief until 1985, during which time he supervised its journals for the sporting goods, joiner, master carpenter, electronics, butcher and automobile branches.

[7] The newspaper Unser Dorftrommler (December 1991[8] – November 2002[9]) focused on informing former citizens of Georgshausen and their descendants about the past village life, as well as distributing recent news.