Hjalmer Alekssun
Hjalmer Alekssun | |
|---|---|
 Alekssun in 1937 | |
| Thingspeaker of Azmara | |
| In office 25 January 1933 – 3 September 1947 | |
| President | Aarne Aansgaarsun Jorś Hankssun |
| Preceded by | Þurisas Siimunssun (1932) |
| Succeeded by | Mâþijas Aansgaarsun |
| Leader of the Workers' Party | |
| In office 10 May 1929 – 3 September 1947 | |
| Preceded by | Helmut Alanssun |
| Succeeded by | Mâþijas Aansgaarsun |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 February 1887 Eleinasburg, Aalmsted, Azmara |
| Died | 19 March 1965 (aged 78) Stefansburg, Aalmsted, Azmara |
| Political party | |
| Spouse | Alena Hermansdohter (m. 1930) |
| Children | Eleina Hjalmersdohter Stefan Hjalmerssun |
| Alma mater | University of Aalmsted |
Hjalmer Alekssun (19 February 1887 - 19 March 1965) was an Azmaran democratic socialist who served as Thingspeaker of Azmara from 1933 to 1947 and as Leader of the Workers' Party from 1929 to 1947. As of 2022, he is the longest-serving Thingspeaker in Azmaran history and was the first under the 1933 Basic Law, which alongside his wideranging social reforms has led to him being considered the "father of modern Azmara".
Early life, education and early career
Hjalmer Alekssun was born as the second of three children of Aleksander Freissun and his wife, Liis Jorśdohter on the 19th February, 1883 in the Eleinasburg neighbourhood of Aalmsted. His family came from a middle-class backrgound - his father was a school inspector who had served as a Progress Party member of Aalmsted's City Council while his mother came from a Witterite family who had converted to Westmarckianism before her birth so her father could practice law before the disestablishment of the church in 1856.
Hjalmer would attend Eleinasburg Gymnasium, a then-private secondary school with a prestigious reputation amongst Aalmsted's middle class. At this school he would be exposed to socialist ideas and would join the increasingly influential Azmaran Section of the Workers' International at the age of 17 after hearing an elderly Yuri Nemtsov speak in Aalmsted. His adoption of socialist beliefs is thought to have caused tension between him and his parents, with their relationship deteriorating further throughout his early adulthood.
He would enrol at Aalmsted Law School in 1905 where he would continue to be active in socialist circles, campaigning for the Section in the 1906 and 1909 elections and participating in numerous protests. Despite being arrested at a 1907 protest-turned-riot, Hjalmer would manage to graduate in 1910 and qualify as a solicitor in 1911.
Political career
Thingspeaker of Azmara
Post-political life
Personal life
Relationships and family
Some accounts and biographies of Hjalmer have alleged that as a university student he had had sexual relationships with other men, yet no official confirmation of this exists and Hjalmer himself never personally addressed the subject.
In 1927 Hjalmer would marry Alena Hermansdohter, a former women's suffrage activist who had worked as an early statistician. The two had previously met as students but had drifted apart after graduation before beginning a relationship in 1925. The couple would have two children, Eleina (b. 1928), who would become a prominent economist and political theorist, and Stefan (b. 1930), who would serve as Foreign Minister between 1969 and 1973 and Interior Minister between 1975 and 1981. Accounts from his daughter, who would publish sections from his diaries in the early 2000s, described him as being a "devoted family man".
In 2020, Hjalmer's great-grandson, Herman Aansgaarsun, would be appointed as Minister for Pensions and Social Welfare in the government of Sofija Anasdohter.
Personal beliefs
There is debate as to the personal religious views of Hjalmer. Raised by a Westmarckian mother and an anti-clerical father, he would stop attending church with his mother as a teenager. While comments from his daughter would imply that he rarely, if ever, attended church, political speeches from him would frequently reference the concept of God, albeit in a general sense as opposed to the specific Sotirian definition. It is therefore widely considered that Hjalmer was either a deist or a pantheist, yet many have proposed that he was either a lapsed Sotirian or an atheist invoking god for political purposes.