Rudolf Ramek (12 April 1881 – 24 July 1941) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, who served as

Chancellor of Austria The chancellor of Austria, officially the federal chancellor of the Republic of Austria (), is the head of government of the Austria, Republic of Austria. List of chancellors of Austria, Twenty-nine people have served as chancellor. The curre ...

from 1924 to 1926.

Life

Ramek was born in Teschen in Austrian Silesia (present-day Cieszyn,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

). A member of the Christian Social Party, he was a delegate of the Austrian Constitutional Assembly in 1919 and served as State Secretary of Justice in the rank of minister in State Chancellor

Karl Renner Karl Renner (14 December 1870 – 31 December 1950) was an Austrian politician and jurist of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria. He is often referred to as the "Father of the Republics" because he ...

's cabinet until 24 June 1920. A member of the National Council after the 1920 legislative election, he succeeded his party fellow Ignaz Seipel as Austrian chancellor on 20 November 1924. Under Ramek's government, the

Schilling Schilling may refer to: * Schilling (unit), an historical unit of measurement * Schilling (coin), the historical European coin ** Shilling, currency historically used in Europe and currently used in the East African Community ** Austrian schilling ...

became the official Austrian currency in 1925, after a

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...

period of the old Austrian krone in the early 1920s. The supervision of the country's finances by a

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

Commissioner finished the next year, however, the depression continued and unemployment figures were rising. Ramek finally resigned during the crisis around the state-owned '' Österreichische Postsparkasse'' postal savings bank on 20 October 1926, again succeeded by Ignaz Seipel. Upon the 1930 legislative election, Ramek became vice president of the National Council parliament. Together with the other members of the chairmanship, Karl Renner and Sepp Straffner, he resigned on 4 March 1933 after a quarrel over voting irregularities, giving Chancellor

Engelbert Dollfuss Engelbert Dollfuss (alternatively Dollfuß; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian politician and dictator who served as chancellor of Federal State of Austria, Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and ...

the opportunity to prevent any further meetings of the legislature. After the Social Democratic February Uprising of 1934 was crushed, Ramek on 30 April reconvened the assembly, only to adopt the imposed May Constitution of the

Federal State of Austria The Federal State of Austria (; colloquially known as the "") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and politi ...

, whereby the National Council was abolished. Ramek died in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and was buried in the

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

Municipal Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramek, Rudolf 1881 births 1941 deaths 20th-century chancellors of Austria Austrian Roman Catholics Christian Social Party (Austria) politicians Government ministers of Austria Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion Members of the Constituent National Assembly (Austria) Members of the 1st National Council (Austria) Members of the 2nd National Council (Austria) Members of the 3rd National Council (Austria) Members of the 4th National Council (Austria) People from Austrian Silesia People from Cieszyn People from Cieszyn Silesia