Erich Ollenhauer

(b. Magdeburg, 27 Mar. 1901; d. 14 Dec. 1963) German; leader of the SPD 1952 – 63

Ollenhauer was one of the least charismatic but most honourable of the post-1945 German party leaders. Born in Magdeburg, a stronghold of the SPD, he was also born in the party; his father and his grandfathers were members. Although he completed an apprenticeship with a paint firm, at 18 Ollenhauer was already an SPD member and a trainee journalist on the local party newspaper. During the Weimar years he climbed the SPD ladder, serving as chairman of the Socialist Young Workers (SAJ) 1928 – 33. He was elected to the Executive of the SPD just after Hitler's takeover and was sent by the party to carry on the fight from Prague.

The SPD exiles, generously received by their Czechoslovak comrades, remained in Prague until the Anschluss of Austria with Germany in 1938. From France many, including Ollenhauer, escaped just ahead of the Gestapo in 1940. Helped by the British Labour Party, and later Swedish comrades, Ollenhauer and his family remained until 1946 in London, where he carried on the propaganda war against Hitler.

On his return to Germany Ollenhauer helped Kurt Schumacher rebuild the SPD in the western zones; in the Soviet Zone Grotewohl had led the SPD into a forced merger with the Communists. They emphasized traditional SPD values and the restoration of German unity as their aims. In the elections of 1949, 1953, and 1957 Adenauer and his Christian Democrats stressed Western integration, NATO membership, and the social market economy, and won decisively. At Bad Godesberg (1959) the SPD adopted a new programme designed to put them in line with current reality. Ollenhauer, deputy chairman of the SPD from 1946 and, on Schumacher's death in 1952, chairman until his death, supported the change without enthusiasm.

Erich Ollenhauer
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
In office 1952 – 1963
Preceded by	Kurt Schumacher
Succeeded by	Willy Brandt
President of the Socialist International
In office 1963 – 1963
Preceded by	Alsing Andersen
Succeeded by	Bruno Pittermann
Born	March 27, 1901 December 14, 1963
Political party	Social Democratic Party of Germany

Erich Ollenhauer (March 27, 1901 – December 14, 1963) was the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 1952-1963.

Early political career and exile

Ollenhauer was born in Magdeburg and joined the SPD in 1920. When the Nazis took power in 1933 he fled Germany for Prague. After the outbreak of WW2 Ollenhauer travelled across Europe in order to avoid Nazi persecution, first finding himself in Denmark, then France, Spain, Portugal, and eventually London, where he remained until the end of the war. In London he kept close ties to the Labour Party, which financially supported the expatriate SPD (so-called SoPaDe), of which Ollenhauer was a member.

In February 1946 Ollenhauer returned to Germany. In May the same year he was voted deputy leader of the SPD, behind Kurt Schumacher. Ollenhauer entered the Bundestag after the 1949 German federal elections.

Leadership of the SPD

After Schumacher's unexpected death in 1952, the SPD elected Ollenhauer as its leader. He ran as the SPD's candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 1953- and 1957 German elections, both of which were lost to Konrad Adenauer's CDU.

In 1957 Ollenhauer called for a trans-European security alliance (in place of NATO and the Warsaw Pact), in which a reunified Germany would serve as an equal partner. While the plan was denounced as radical at the time, it helped pave the way for Brandt's Ostpolitik as well as indirectly influencing some developments within the European Union (such as a European common security policy), not to mention German unification. Ollenhauer's proposal is also known as the Ollenhauer Plan.

In 1961 Ollenhauer neglected to run for Chancellor a third time, instead supporting the candidacy of Berlin mayor Willy Brandt.

Ollenhauer died in Bonn on December 14, 1963.

External links

• (German) Biography of Erich Ollenhauer

Party political offices
Preceded by Kurt Schumacher	Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1952–1963	Succeeded by Willy Brandt
Preceded by Alsing Andersen	President of the Socialist International 1963	Succeeded by Bruno Pittermann

v • d • e Chairmen of the Social Democratic Party of Germany SPD (1890–1933) Paul Singer / Alwin Gerisch · August Bebel / Paul Singer · August Bebel / Hugo Haase · Hugo Haase / Friedrich Ebert · Friedrich Ebert · Friedrich Ebert / Philipp Scheidemann · Otto Wels / Herman Müller · Arthur Crispien / Otto Wels / Herman Müller · Arthur Crispien / Otto Wels · Arthur Crispien / Otto Wels / Hans Vogel SPD-in-exile (1933–1945) Otto Wels / Hans Vogel · Hans Vogel SPD (since 1946) Kurt Schumacher · Erich Ollenhauer · Willy Brandt · Hans-Jochen Vogel · Björn Engholm · Rudolf Scharping · Oskar Lafontaine · Gerhard Schröder · Franz Müntefering · Matthias Platzeck · Kurt Beck · Franz Müntefering · Sigmar Gabriel

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