Oskar Helmer

Oskar Helmer (1887-1963) was an Austrian printer and social-democrat party politician. He served as the Minister of the Interior from 1945.

He won the Nansen Refugee Award in 1959.

Early life and education Helmer was born on 16 November 1887 in Oberwaltersdorf in Lower Austria.

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. and became the Wiener Neustadt constituency secretary. He became the editor of Gleichheit and Wiener Volkstribüne in 1910.

He became the youngest ever social-democrat politician to be elected to the Lower Austria state parliament on 15 May 1919. He was arrested by Nazis in 1934, and from 1935 to 1945 worked in the insurance industry.

Selected publications

Ö. Kampf um die Freiheit, 1949 The Oskar Helmer Hof, a social housing complex was named after him in 1970.

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