Erich Ollenhauer (March 27, 1901 – December 14, 1963) was the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1952-1963. March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (87th in Leap years). ... 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD – Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) is the oldest political party of Germany still in existence and also one of the oldest and largest in the world, celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2003. ... 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Early political career and exile

Ollenhauer 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. 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Prague (Praha in Czech) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... St. ... The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ...

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. February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... This article is about the month of May. ... Dr Kurt Schumacher Dr Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 - 20 August 1952), was the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the early years of the German Federal Republic. ... The Bundestag (Federal Diet) is the parliament of Germany. ... The German federal election, 1949, was conducted on August 14, 1949, to elect members to the Bundestag (lower house) of Germany. ...

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. 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The head of government in Germany has traditionally been called Kanzler (Chancellor). ... The German federal election, 1953, was conducted on September 6, 1953, to elect members to the Bundestag (lower house) of Germany. ... The German federal election, 1957, was conducted on September 15, 1957, to elect members to the Bundestag (lower house) of Germany. ... Konrad Adenauer (January 5, 1876 – April 19, 1967) was a conservative German statesman. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

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. The flag of NATO NATO 2002 Summit The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 1949. ... Map of Warsaw Pact member countries. ... Johann Friedrich von Brandt (May 25, 1802 _ July 15, 1879) was a German naturalist. ... Ostpolitik or Eastern Politics was the effort by Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany, to normalize relations with Eastern European nations including East Germany. ... The European Security and Defence Policy or ESDP is considered a major element of the Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar of the European Union (EU). ... German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) refers to the reunification of Germany from its constituent parts of East Germany and West Germany under a single government on October 3, 1990. ...

In 1961 Ollenhauer neglected to run for Chancellor a third time, instead supporting the candidacy of Berlin mayor Willy Brandt. 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...   Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ... Willy Brandt (December 18, 1913 – October 8, 1992) was a German politician and Chancellor of Germany from 1969 to 1974. ...

Ollenhauer died on December 14, 1963. December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

External links

• Biography of Erich Ollenhauer (in German)