Kurt Schumacher

Kurt Schumacher, born in Culm in West Prussia, lost an arm as a volunteer in the First World War and joined the SPD in 1918. He worked as an editor in Stuttgart and entered the Reichstag in 1930. In 1932 he attacked Nazi agitation in a widely noted speech, and after the SPD was banned in 1933 he spent about ten years in concentration camps including Dachau and Flossenbürg. From Hanover in 1945 he rebuilt the party in the western zones and was elected chairman in 1946. He led the opposition in the first Bundestag and died in 1952, after losing a leg to illness in 1948.

Supporters honor Schumacher as a symbol of democratic resistance to Nazism, whose refusal to merge with the communists kept a free social democratic party alive in West Germany. His insistence on a stronger federal government also shaped the Basic Law. Critics, including later SPD leaders, argued that his sharp rhetoric and his opposition to Western and European integration left the party isolated while Adenauer's policies delivered sovereignty and prosperity. Willy Brandt wrote that he was a party leader of particular stature but did not have an adequate appreciation for Europe and the world. The SPD moved away from his positions with the Godesberg Program of 1959.