Hermann Gmeiner (23 June 1919 – 26 April 1986) was an Austrian philanthropist and the founder of SOS Children's Villages.

Following the devastation of World War II, Hermann Gmeiner, a child welfare worker, saw the suffering of children who were orphaned by the war. He founded SOS Children's Villages and raised money to build the first village in Imst, Austria in 1949, where children could grow up in a stable, family-like setting with a supportive community.

In the post-World War II era when Europe was rebuilding both its physical and social infrastructure, Hermann Gmeiner, Maria Hofer, Josef Jestl, Ludwig Kögel, Herbert Pfanner, and Hedwig Weingartner recognized a problem: thousands of children had lost their families and the infrastructure of the time presented them with the prospect of an ...

Hermann Gmeiner died in Innsbruck in 1986. He is buried at the SOS Children's Village in Imst.

Aug 18, 2013 · Hermann Gmeiner was born to a big family of farmers in Vorarlberg (Austria) on 23 June 1919. His mother died while he was still a young boy, and his eldest sister Elsa took on the task of caring for the smallest of the children.

Hermann Gmeiner, a child welfare advocate from Austria, recognized a problem: thousands of children in post-war Europe had lost their families, and orphanages presented them with the prospect of a grim institutional childhood.

SOS-Kinderdorf International was founded by Austrian philanthropist Herman Gmeiner in Imst Austria in 1949. He was committed to helping children in need-children who had lost their homes, security, and families due to the Second World War.

Apr 27, 1986 · Hermann Gmeiner, an Austrian who had no children of his own but who had provided homes for tens of thousands of homeless children around the world since World War II, died yesterday in the ...