Hilda Storfjällen
Her excellency Hilda Storfjällen | |
|---|---|
 Portrait picture of the 1959 government | |
| Great-Minister of Hellona | |
| Assumed office 3 October 1944 | |
| Monarch | Kristoffer of Hellona |
| Preceded by | Yngen der IJppelboom |
| Leader of the Social Democrats | |
| Assumed office 27 January 1939 | |
| Preceded by | Anna Bakker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hilda Juholt Storfjällen 7 Jnauary 1910 (age 40) Rökavik |
| Political party | Social Democrats |
| Residence | Grote Huis/Stora huset |
Hilda Storfjällen is a Hellonian politician serving as the current Great-Minister of Hellona since 1944 and the leader of the Social Democratic Party since 1939. She previously served as state secretary for Education and Science and as Minister of Cultural Affairs before she was elected to succeed Yngen der IJppelboom as party leader for the Social Democrats.
When she became party leader in 1939, she was the youngest party leader in the history of the Social Democrats on age 29. She managed to revive the Social Democrats after they had achieved their worst result in 40 years by winning 19 seats for the party. She revived the party by adopting a new modern and more left-wing which also gained back the trust of the People's Party which was willing to join the Social Democrats again in a government. This led to her becoming the Great-Minister of Hellona in 1944.
Education
Hilda Storfjällen was born on 7 January 1910 in Rökavik, in the province of Elland. She is the youngest daughter of Patrik Storfjällen and Ebba Torsen-Storfjällen, both known advocates for social democracy, with her father also having acted as a mayor for the Social Democrats. Her dad had a job in manufacturing and her mother a shopowner.
Storfjällen attended the Wodanerson gymnasium high school, specialising in the arts. She went to study linguistics at Rökavik University, where she obtained a MA degree. Storfjällen combined her studies with a position on the board of the Social Youth Alliance.
After her studies she found herself working as government translator, translating public documents to Ellandic. After also studying poltical sciences but dropping out, she was given a job at the HVB, the national trade union organisation.
Political carreer
Owing to her upbringing by active Social Democrat parents, she joined the Social Youth Alliance on age 16. After she had turned 18 she became a member of the Social Democrats proper and was elected to the board in 1935, shortly after becoming a board member at the HVB. Quickly rising through the ranks because of her knowledge but also leverage by having her parents being important party members, she was put 5th on the party list in the national elections in 1936.
Leader of the Social Democrats
After the party had experienced an enormous loss in the national elections of 1936, most of the old and higher-up party members were blamed for the loss. Storfjällen rose through the ranks by adcovating for a new platform for the Social Democrats, leading to her being nominated by the executive board of the Party in 1938. She was later elected Leader in a party-room ballot and was confirmed as party leader at the party's bi-annual congress.
Her new platform led to the party regaining most of its lost seats in the 1940 general election. Further growth in popularity and rise in enthusiasm for Storfjällens new left-wing policies led to the Social Democrats becoming the largest party in the Rijksdag and forming a government with the People's Party, GREEN and Centre.