Death of Kurt Schumacher

Kurt Schumacher, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, dies on 20 August 1952 in Bonn due to lingering health consequences from his long incarceration in national socialist concentration camps. He began rebuilding the SPD immediately after the end of the war. Schumacher, the most acerbic political adversary of Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (CDU), was considered a „people’s advocate“ and a gifted speaker.

© SPD Funeral obsequies for Kurt Schumacher at the Berliner Waldbühne on 24 August 1952

His most important political goals were to strengthen social democracy and preserve Germany’s unity. But his authoritarian leadership style was often criticised. Willy Brandt later writes the following about this criticism: „I comprehended – somewhat reluctantly – the magnetic effect he exerted on so many. He didn’t ask; he demanded. He didn’t weigh arguments against each other, rather he hurled the results of his thinking at the audience – and this with formidable vocal effort.“ Erich Ollenhauer is chosen as Schuhmacher’s successor to the SPD party chairmanship.