Oskar Helmer

Helmer was born on 16 November 1887 in Oberwaltersdorf in Lower Austria.[1]

After he finished his school education, he studied printing in Wiener Neustadt, while also trying to sign apprentices up to the Austrian social-democratic youth movement.[1] His political activities put him in contact with the Social Democratic Party of Austria which he joined in 1903[2] and became the Wiener Neustadt constituency secretary.[1]

After his education, Helmer worked as a newspaper printer.[3] He became the editor of Gleichheit and Wiener Volkstribüne in 1910.[4]

He became the youngest ever social-democrat politician to be elected to the Lower Austria state parliament on 15 May 1919.[1] After Vienna separated from Lower Austria he worked as the head of the social-democratic provincial government constituencies and the parliamentary faction.[1] In 1927 he was promoted to the provincial capital representative.[1]

Helmer was a member of and the deputy party chair of the Socialist Party.[5] He was arrested by Nazis in 1934, and from 1935 to 1945 worked in the insurance industry.[4]

In 1945, he became the Ministry of the Interior of Austria, he played a major role in the denazification process, including reforming the police force.[6][1]

In 1959, he became president of Austria's Länderbank.[4] He won the Nansen Refugee Award the same year.[7]

• Ö. Kampf um die Freiheit, 1949[4]
• 50 Jahre erlebte Geschichte, 1957[4]
• Ausgew. Reden and Schriften, 1963[4]
• Aufbruch gegen das Unrecht, 1964[4]

Oskar-Helmer Hof

Helmer died in 1963.[8] The Oskar Helmer Hof, a social housing complex was named after him in 1970.[2][9]

A commemorative postage stamp honouring him was released on November 13, 1987.[4]