Kurt Schumacher

Schumacher, Kurt 

Born Oct. 13, 1895, in Kulm (now Chelmno); died Aug. 20, 1952, in Bonn. Figure in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Schumacher joined the SPD in 1918. From 1920 to 1924 he edited the Social Democratic newspaper Schwäbische Tagwacht in Stuttgart. He was a member of the Reichstag from 1930 to 1933. During the fascist dictatorship, Schumacher was a prisoner in a concentration camp from 1933 to 1943 and again in 1944 and 1945.

After the defeat of fascism, Schumacher helped reestablish the Social Democratic Party in West Germany; he opposed the merger of the Social Democrats and Communists into one party. At the founding congress, held in Hanover in May 1946, he was elected chairman of the new SPD. He became a deputy to the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. Schumacher was a vigorous champion of reformism, class cooperation, and anticommunism.