Kurt Schumacher

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Kurt Schumacher
Schumacher between 1945 and 1948
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 10 May 1946 – 20 August 1952
Deputy	Erich Ollenhauer Wilhelm Knothe
Preceded by	Hans Vogel
Succeeded by	Erich Ollenhauer
Leader of the Opposition
In office 7 September 1949 – 20 August 1952
Chancellor	Konrad Adenauer
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Erich Ollenhauer
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Bundestag
In office 7 September 1949 – 20 August 1952
Deputy	Erich Ollenhauer Carlo Schmid
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Erich Ollenhauer
Member of the Bundestag for Hannover South
In office 7 September 1949 – 20 August 1952
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Ernst Winter
Member of the Reichstag for Württemberg
In office 14 September 1930 – 22 June 1933
Preceded by	Multi-member constituency
Succeeded by	Multi-member constituency
Personal details
Born	Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher[1] (1895-10-13)13 October 1895 Kulm, West Prussia, German Empire (now Chełmno, Poland)
Died	20 August 1952(1952-08-20) (aged 56) Bonn, West Germany
Political party	Social Democratic Party (from 1918)
Alma mater	University of Halle-Wittenberg
Occupation	Jurist, politician

Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician and resistance fighter against the Nazis. He was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the West German Bundestag in 1949; he served in both positions until his death.

Upon Adolf Hitler's seizure of power, he was imprisoned for ten years in various Nazi concentration camps. After World War II, Schumacher was one of the founding fathers of postwar German democracy. Throughout his life, he opposed reactionary and revolutionary forces, including the Nazi Party and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He described the KPD as "red-painted Nazis".^[2]