Oskar Helmer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bust of Oskar Helmers in the Oberwaltersdorf school

Oskar Helmer (born November 16, 1887 in Gattendorf / Gata, Hungary , from 1921 Burgenland ; † February 13, 1963 in Vienna ) was a typesetter, trade unionist, social democratic politician and from December 1945 to July 1959 Austria's interior minister in the post-war period . He was one of the leading political figures of the SPÖ after 1945.

Politicians in Lower Austria

In 1907 Helmer was an electoral assistant for Karl Renner in the first Reichsrat election , in which all male citizens of Old Austria were eligible to vote from the age of 24. In 1910, Helmer began writing Wiener Volkstribüne and equality for the social democratic media and was party secretary in Wiener Neustadt , Lower Austria . In 1920/21, Helmer was a member of the administrative commission for the new federal state of Burgenland (until then German West Hungary), which was annexed to Austria in 1921.

1921-1934 it belonged to the low Austrian Government (see state government Buresch I and Buresch II ) of 1927 as a governor -Stellvertreter; he was also a member of the state parliament . When Social Democracy in Austria was banned on February 12, 1934 by Engelbert Dollfuss ' dictatorship , Helmer - who had always been willing to compromise - was briefly imprisoned. From 1935 on he worked for an insurance company during the corporate state dictatorship until 1938 and the Nazi rule in Austria until 1945. Together with Leopold Figl, Helmer renewed the Lower Austrian provincial administration after the end of the war in the summer of 1945 and was SPÖ party chairman in this state until 1957.

Longtime Minister of the Interior

In May 1945 Helmer became Undersecretary of State (corresponds to the current position of State Secretary) in the first post-war government under State Chancellor Karl Renner ; State Secretary (corresponds to the current role of Federal Minister) for the Interior was the communist Franz Honner until November 1945 . After the first parliamentary elections , Helmer was a member of the National Council and (at the same time) Austrian Federal Minister of the Interior in a grand coalition of ÖVP and SPÖ from December 20, 1945 to July 16, 1959 in the Figl - Schärf , Raab - Schärf and Raab - Pittermann governments ( see Federal Government Figl I to Raab II ). He was considered a supporter of the ÖVP / SPÖ coalition and was also deputy party chairman of the SPÖ during this period.

Helmer also played a crucial role in founding the VdU (predecessor organization of the FPÖ ). At that time, as Minister of the Interior, Helmer was also the head of the electoral and association authorities and was therefore responsible for the approval of new parties and hoped that the VdU would weaken the ÖVP . However, the tactic did not work, the SPÖ lost even more than the ÖVP in the 1949 election by running for the VdU.

As the minister responsible for the executive, he repeatedly had to assert himself politically against the occupying powers, especially against the Red Army . He earned a high reputation for the consistency with which he kept Communists who had entered the executive and the Interior Ministry in 1945 and whom he (see, for example, the Communist coup in Prague in February 1948 ) as an enormous security risk, from actual power and the police and gendarmerie withdrew as much as possible from the influence of the Soviet occupying power. To this end, he used Josef Holaubek very successfully as Police President of Vienna. During the October strike in 1950 , which many viewed as a communist coup attempt, he showed a firm stance.

In 1957 he was one of the Karl Renner Prize winners. After leaving both political offices, he became president of the state-owned Länderbank .

Oskar Helmer died in 1963 and was buried in an honorary grave in his long residence in Oberwaltersdorf . Streets in Stockerau, Gattendorf, Teesdorf and St. Pölten as well as residential complexes in Vienna and Pressbaum, Lower Austria, were named after him. There is also an Oskar Helmer school in Oberwaltersdorf.

Critical reviews

The anti-Semitic inclinations of Oskar Helmer did not remain hidden in the SPÖ:

“Many formerly prominent socialists were also not invited to return, although subcutaneous anti-Semitic basic tendencies in this policy also became visible in 1946 (...). Friedl Schorsch (...), a former trade unionist and active Schutzbund leader in the civil war in February 1934, stated after his self-organized return from the USA on July 3, 1946: 'According to Hillegeist and many others in his environment, Schärf and Helmer are the driving anti-Semites in the party, which supposedly continues to use all Nazi expressions in the internal circle. ' Kreisky (...) also witnessed anti-Semitic jokes (...) Helmers (...) in the 1950s. "

Helmer was instrumental in delaying the compensation payments for the victims of National Socialism in Austria :

“What was stolen from the Jews cannot be brought onto the 'Greater German Reich' platform. A large part already falls back on some of our dear fellow citizens. […] I see only Jewish expansion everywhere […] Everything was taken away from the Nazis in 1945 too […] I would be in favor of dragging the matter out. [...] The Jews will understand that for themselves, since they are aware that many take a stand against them. "

During his time as Minister of the Interior, Helmer repeatedly campaigned for the early pardon of convicted National Socialists . Among the pardoned were several murderers who were finally convicted by the people's courts . A letter to Justice Minister Josef Gerö pardoning Nazi perpetrators:

"Dear friend!
In view of the upcoming Christmas season, I would like to send a list of former National Socialists imprisoned for political crimes in the Stein prison.
Due to their personal and family circumstances, the named persons seem suitable for inclusion in a Christmas amnesty. [...]
With best regards,
Oskar Helmer "

In the run-up to the National Council election in 1949 , both major parties campaigned for the votes of the former National Socialists who were now eligible to vote again. The ÖVP made this contact as part of the so-called Oberweiser Conference . On the part of the SPÖ, Helmer was particularly active in this context. In August 1949, Helmers met prominent former National Socialists (including Erich Kern ) in Gmunden , where Helmer campaigned for support for the SPÖ. Helmer explained about his motive: "If I look after the Nazis, the Maleta in Oberweis looks after them ".

Own works

  • The way to freedom. Vienna 1949
  • 50 years of history. Vienna 1957
  • Estate in the Archives for the History of the Labor Movement

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1949: There was a fight over the Nazis. In: diepresse.com. January 23, 2009, accessed September 19, 2019 .
  2. ^ Democracy - Democracy Center Vienna. Retrieved September 19, 2019 .
  3. ↑ "Out of honest conviction". In: diepresse.com. January 23, 2009, accessed September 19, 2019 .
  4. ^ Felix Czeike : Historical Lexicon Vienna. Volume 3: Ha-La. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-218-00545-0 , p. 140.
  5. ↑ Vienna City Hall Correspondence , December 13, 1957, sheet 2454.
  6. ^ The winners of the Karl Renner Foundation . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna December 14, 1957, p. 2 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
  7. ↑ Vienna City Hall Correspondence , January 11, 1958, page 38.
  8. ↑ The presentation of the Karl Renner Prizes . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 12, 1958, p. 3 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
  9. ↑ Oliver Rathkolb : The paradoxical republic. Austria 1945 to 2005. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-552-04967-3 , p. 163.
  10. ↑ Helmers spoke in the 132nd meeting of the Council of Ministers, November 9, 1948, quoted from: Robert Knight (Ed.): I am in favor of dragging the matter out. Verbatim minutes of the Austrian Federal Government from 1945–1952 on the compensation of the Jews. Athenäum Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 197.
  11. ^ Wilhelm Svoboda : The party, the republic and the man with the many faces. Oskar Helmer and Austria II. A correction. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna a. a. 1993, ISBN 3-205-98086-7 , p. 104.
  12. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  13. ↑ Lower Austria honors leading men . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 24, 1960, p. 4 , middle ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
personal data
SURNAME Helmer, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian typesetter and politician (SPÖ), member of the state parliament, member of the national council, interior minister, member of the federal council
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Gattendorf (Burgenland)
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1963
Place of death Vienna