Julius Raab

Julius Raab (November 29, 1891 - January 8, 1964, Vienna) was a Conservative Austrian politician. He was Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1953 to 1961.

Born in St. Pölten (now the capital city of Lower Austria), he trained as a technical engineer but he is chiefly remembered today for being a good economist.

He was member of the Austrian Parliament from 1927 to 1934 for the Christlichsoziale Partei, nevertheless he took the Korneuburger Eid as a member of the Heimwehr in 1930 which was a manifesto against "western democratic parliamentarism". He also revealed his anti-semitism as a parliament member in 1931 when Raab famously branded the Socialist leader Otto Bauer an "insolent Jewish pig."

He organized the first Austrian Trades Union Congress in 1938 and became Minister of Commerce in the same year. He was ousted after Anschluss but unlike many other political leaders escaped death or imprisonment through the help of the Lower Austrian Nazi Gauleiter, who he knew personally.

After World War II, he was one of the co-founders of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the party chairman from 1951 to 1960. Raab was the third Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1953 to 1961. During that time he was able to get the agreement of the Soviet Union to sign the "Staatsvertrag". In 1955 Austria and the four allied powers Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States and France signed the contract. This was the guarantee for Austria's independence and the union between the individual "Bundesländer". Moreover, all the states of this confederation were obliged to remain strictly neutral.

Persondata
NAME= Raab, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Conservative Austrian politician
DATE OF BIRTH=November 29, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH=St. Pölten
DATE OF DEATH=January 8, 1964
PLACE OF DEATH=Vienna