Willfried Gredler (1916 – 1994)

Co-founder of the FPÖ

First Chairman of the FPÖ Parliamentary Party in the National Council, from 1956 to 1963

Austrian Ambassador in Strasbourg (European Council), Bonn and Beijing

Freedom Party candidate at the 1980 federal presidential election

Willfried Gredler was one of the co-founders of the FPÖ and served until 1963 as the first chairman of the FPÖ parliamentary party in the National Council. In that year, he entered Austria’s diplomatic service. He stood as the Freedom Party’s candidate at the 1980 federal presidential election and achieved about 17 percent of the vote.

Short biography

Willfried Gredler was born in Vienna in 1916, completed his studies of law with a doctorate and in 1945 was active in O5, the Austrian anti-Nazi resistance group. In 1951 he resigned from the ÖVP, in which he had been a functionary. He was elected to the National Council in 1953 on the electoral list of the League of Independents (Verband der Unabhängigen, or VdU).

He was one of the persons involved in the founding of the FPÖ from 1955 to 1956. He served until 1963 as deputy FPÖ federal party chairman and as chairman of the FPÖ parliamentary party in the National Council. In that year, he resigned from all his party positions and entered the Austrian diplomatic service, initially representing Austria in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and subsequently serving as Austrian Ambassador in Bonn and in Beijing.

He was the Freedom Party candidate at the 1980 federal presidential election, at which he achieved some 751,400 votes (approximately 17 per cent).

In 1991 Gredler was awarded the Grand Decoration in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria.

Weblinks

Willfried Gredler on the web pages of the Austrian Parliament: https://www.parlament.gv.at/WWER/PAD_00475/index.shtml
Willfried Gredler on the web pages of the Austria-Forum: austria-forum.org/af/AustriaWiki/Willfried_Gredler
Willfried Gredler on Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willfried_Gredler

Publications by Willfried Gredler

Bock Fritz, Firnberg Hertha, Gredler Willfried: Österreich zuliebe. Der Staat, den alle wollten. Zolnay, Vienna 1985