Schärf, Adolf

(1890–1965)

   President of the Second Austrian Republic from 1957 until his death, Schärf had worked with the Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP) from his adolescence. After service in World War I, he represented the party in the National Assembly and taught in the SDAP workers’ academy. He continued to school himself in agrarian matters, becoming one of the few Social Democrats with serious expertise in that area.

   During the crisis in Austria of the late 1920s and 1930s, Schärf spoke for the more moderate membership of his party. When the SDAP was outlawed in 1934, he opened a law practice to support himself and his family rather than going into exile or underground, as did many of his colleagues. In July 1944, Schärf was arrested by the Gestapo along with several other Austrians suspected of links to the conspirators who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler. In the newly liberated Austria, he was elected chairman of the reconstituted Socialist Party of Austria. As president, Schärf characteristically tried to avoid the ideological conflicts that had been the bane of the First Austrian Republic.