Born 11th March 1894 in
Braunschweig, Germany Otto Grotewohl is most famous for being the
chairman of the
SPD in the
SPZ (
Soviet occupied zone), when the SPD was merged with the
KPD into the
SED, against strong resistance in the SPD. After the
merge he and
Wilhelm Pieck were from
1946 till
1950 the chairmen of the SED. Additionally he was from 1946 till
1964 member of the
Politbüro of the SED and from
1949 till
1964 he was
Prime Minister of the
DDR.
But his political career did not begin after
World War II, but after
World War I. In
1919 he joined the
USPD (a left winged splinter of the
SPD). From
1920 until
1925 he was member of the
parliament of
Braunschweig and most of the time also a
minister.
1925 got elected into the
Reichstag for the
SPD. He was a member of the
Reichstag till the
Machtergreifung by the
NSDAP. He then also lost his job as the president of an insurance company.
1938 he gets arrested for being a member of a
forbidden social democratic group. He is accused at the so called
Volksgerichtshof, but is
exonerated. After several more arrests and the tried murder of
Adolf Hitler on
20th July 1944 which he is suspected of being involved in, he goes into the underground. On 10th July 1945 he becomes the chairman of the refounded
SPD.