Erich Ollenhauer
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 27 September 1952 – 14 December 1963
Preceded by	Kurt Schumacher
Succeeded by	Willy Brandt
President of the Socialist International
In office 9 September 1963 – 14 December 1963
Preceded by	Alsing Andersen
Succeeded by	Bruno Pittermann
Personal details
Born	27 March 1901 Magdeburg,German Empire
Died	14 December 1963(1963-12-14) (aged 62) Bonn,West Germany
Political party	Social Democratic Party of Germany

Erich Ollenhauer (27 March 1901 – 14 December 1963) was the leader of theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1952 until 1963. He was a key leader of the opposition toKonrad Adenauer in the Bundestag. In exile under the Nazis, he returned to Germany in February 1946, becoming vice chairman of the SPD. He was a close ally of the chairmanKurt Schumacher, and worked on party organization. Where Schumacher was a passionate intellectual, Ollenhauer was a thorough and efficient bureaucrat. He became party leader after Schumacher's death in 1952. Besides attending to organizational details, his main role was moderating the tension between the left-wing and right-wing factions. He remained party leader until his death, but yielded to the charismatic Berlin mayorWilly Brandt in 1961 as the party's candidate for chancellor.^[1]

Ollenhauer was born inMagdeburg and joined the SPD in 1920. When theNazis took power in 1933 he fled Germany forPrague. After the outbreak ofWW2 Ollenhauer travelled across Europe in order to avoid Nazi persecution, first going to Denmark, then France, Spain, Portugal, and eventually London, where he remained until the end of the war. In London, he kept close ties to theLabour Party, which financially supported the expatriate SPD (calledSoPaDe), of which Ollenhauer was a member. He also worked with theUnion of German Socialist Organisations in Great Britain.^[2]

In February 1946, Ollenhauer returned to Germany. In May the same year, he was voted deputy leader of the SPD, behindKurt Schumacher. Ollenhauer entered theBundestag after the1949 German federal elections.

After Schumacher's unexpected death in 1952, the SPD elected Ollenhauer as its leader. He ran as the SPD's candidate forChancellor of Germany in the1953 and1957 German elections, both of which were lost toKonrad Adenauer'sCDU.

In 1957, Ollenhauer called for a trans-European security alliance (in place ofNATO and theWarsaw Pact), in which a reunified Germany would serve as an equal partner. The plan was then denounced as radical, but it helped pave the way forWilly Brandt'sOstpolitik and indirectly influencing some developments within theEuropean Union, such as aEuropean common security policy, and the eventualreunification of Germany. Ollenhauer's proposal is also known as the Ollenhauer Plan.

In 1961, Ollenhauer declined to run for Chancellor a third time and instead supported the candidacy ofBerlin mayor Willy Brandt.

Ollenhauer died inBonn on 14 December 1963 frompulmonary embolism.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toErich Ollenhauer.

• Biography of Erich Ollenhauer(in German)

• Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
• Politicians from Magdeburg
• Politicians from the Province of Saxony
• Presidents of the Socialist International
• Chairmen of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
• 1901 births
• 1963 deaths
• Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia
• Members of the Bundestag 1961–1965
• Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961
• Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957
• Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953
• Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International
• Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany

• Articles with German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
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• Commons category link from Wikidata