Friedrich Hillegeist (21 February 1895 – 3 December 1973) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n politician.

Life

After attending the Academy of Commerce from 1913 to 1929, Hillegeist worked as a Clerk at

Siemens-Schuckert Siemens-Schuckert (or Siemens-Schuckertwerke) was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & Ha ...

in Vienna. From 1929 he was secretary of the Federation of industry employees in Austria. In 1934 he was a recruiter for small life insurance with the insurance company Phoenix. During the period of

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

, he was detained for 14 months, from 1 September 1939 until the end of April 1940, in the

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

concentration camp. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hillegeist committed again to the union movement: he became Chairman of employees Insurance Institution in 1948, President of the International Federation of Commercial in 1955, and Vice-President of the Austrian Trade Union Federation and President of the Federation of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions in 1959. From 1962, he was Honorary Chairman of the

Austrian Trade Union Federation The Austrian Trade Union Federation or Austrian Federation of Trade Unions ( de: ''Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund'', abbreviated OeGB or ÖGB) is a labour union of employees. It is constituted as an association and is subdivided into seven ...

. From 1945 to 1962 he was Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and from 1961 to 1962, Second President of the National Council. In the second District of Vienna, the street in which the main of the pension insurance institution is located is named after him.

Awards

* 1956:

Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...

* 1957: Grand Silver Medal with Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria

References

Members of the National Council (Austria) Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians Austrian trade union leaders 1895 births 1973 deaths Buchenwald concentration camp survivors {{Austria-politician-stub