Julius Raab

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Julius Raab
Minister of Commerce and Transport
In office
16 February 1938 – 11 March 1938
ChancellorKurt Schuschnigg
Preceded byWilhelm Taucher
Succeeded byHans Fischböck
Personal details
Born(1891-11-29)29 November 1891
Vienna University of Technology
ProfessionCivil engineer
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Julius Raab (29 November 1891 – 8 January 1964) was a conservative Austrian politician, who served as Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1953 to 1961. Raab steered Allied-occupied Austria to independence, when he negotiated and signed the Austrian State Treaty in 1955. In internal politics Raab stood for a pragmatic "social partnership" and the "Grand coalition" of Austrian Conservatives and Social Democrats.

Biography

Raab was born into a middle-class Catholic family in

Italian fronts of World War I. After the defeat of Central Powers Raab returned to the university and engaged in politics. On 14 January 1923, Raab married Harmine Haumer.[1][2]

The death of his father and the beginning of his political career in the

austrofascist period of 1934–1938 Raab progressed through the ranks of the Corporate State, and was appointed Minister of Commerce by Chancellor Schuschnigg just four weeks before the 1938 Anschluss to Nazi Germany.[3]

Raab was ousted after the Anschluss but, unlike many other Austrian political leaders, escaped death or imprisonment through the help of the Lower Austrian Nazi Gauleiter Hugo Jury, whom he knew personally. He was never involved in the Austrian resistance but kept in touch with the old Christian Democrat elite[3] and supported his fellow Leopold Figl after his release from imprisonment.

In April 1945, Raab was made a member of

Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, the institution tasked with managing social partnership of the government, the political parties, the entrepreneurs and the employees' trade unions. He clearly favored a free market and minimal government regulation of the economy.[3] On the other hand, Raab also held talks with former Austrian Nazi officials like Wilhelm Höttl and Taras Borodajkewycz
on their support for ÖVP politics.

Chancellor Raab (right, toothbrush moustache) meets Vyacheslav Molotov (left) in Moscow in April 1955

Raab succeeded Leopold Figl as ÖVP party chairman in 1951 and as Federal Chancellor in 1953. Despite clearly Western attitudes, Raab established excellent relations with post-

social partnership institution that became a cornerstone of Austrian corporatism.[6]

In 1957 Raab suffered a light stroke. By the end of the 1950s, his own career and his party's influence declined. In 1961 he passed ÖVP leadership to Alfons Gorbach, who also succeeded him as Federal Chancellor on 11 April. On 28 April 1963 Raab competed in the presidential elections but lost to incumbent Adolf Schärf. His health rapidly deteriorated, and he died, aged 72, in Vienna on 8 January 1964.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ Wilsford, p. 377.
  2. ^ "Raab, Julius".
  3. ^ a b c d Wilsford, p. 378.
  4. ^ a b Shell, p. 168.
  5. ^ Wollinetz, p. 94.
  6. ^ a b Wilsford, p. 379.

References

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Julius Raab.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Julius Raab.


Political offices
Preceded by:
Leopold Figl
Chancellor of Austria

1953–1961 		Succeeded by:
Alfons Gorbach
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