Otto Grotewohl

German politician. Following World War II, he became a leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the Soviet occupation zone, and in 1946, he orchestrated the merger with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) to assume the co-chairmanship of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Following the founding of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1949, he served as its inaugural Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) until his death in 1964. While playing a vital role in the founding of East Germany and the shaping of its socialist system, historical opinions remain divided, as the merger of the SPD and KPD was reportedly pushed through under intense pressure from Soviet occupation authorities.

Timeline

Category
Element

Year	Otto Grotewohl
1894	Birth of Otto Grotewohl (Period: March 11, 1894, Location: Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Federal Republic of Germany)
1912	Joining the Social Democratic Party (SPD, Age: 17 years old, Period: 1912, Location: Braunschweig, Germany)
1914	World War I (Age: 19 years old, Period: 1914–1918, Location: French Western Front)
1918	German Revolution and activities of the workers' and soldiers' councils (Age: 23 years old, Period: 1918–1919, Location: Various parts of Germany, especially Braunschweig and the German-Dutch border area) Participation in the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD, Age: 23 years old, Period: 1918, Location: Germany)
1919	Marriage (Otto Grotewohl, Marie Martha Luise Aust, Age: 24 years old, Period: 1919, Location: Cannot be identified from verifiable sources)
1920	Assumption of a ministerial post in the Brunswick state government (Age: 25 years old, Period: Early 1920s, Location: Braunschweig, Germany)
1925	Assumption of office as a member of the German parliament (Age: 30 years old, Period: 1925–1933, Location: Berlin, Germany)
1933	Political persecution under the Nazi regime (Age: 38 years old, Period: 1933–1945, Location: Germany)
1945	Merger of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Communist Party (KPD, Age: 50 years old, Period: 1945–1946, merger realized April 21–22, 1946, Location: Soviet occupation zone, Berlin) Rebuilding of the SPD after World War II (Age: 50 years old, Period: 1945–1946, Location: Soviet occupation zone, Berlin)
1946	Assumption of co-chairmanship of the Socialist Unity Party (SED, Age: 52 years old, Period: April 1946–July 1950, Location: Berlin, Soviet occupation zone)
1949	Marriage (Otto Grotewohl, Johanna Schumann, Age: 54 years old, Period: 1949, Location: Cannot be identified from verifiable sources) Establishment of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and assumption of the office of first prime minister (Age: 55 years old, Period: October 7, 1949, Location: East Berlin)
1950	Factually retirement from political activities due to deteriorating health (Age: 55 years old, Period: Late 1950s–1964, Location: East Berlin, Waldsiedlung Wandlitz near Berlin) Signing of the Treaty of Zgorzelec (Görlitz Agreement) with Poland (Age: 56 years old, Period: July 1950, Location: Zgorzelec, Poland (German name Görlitz))
1957	Support for the Rapacki Plan (Age: 62 years old, Period: 1957, Location: Central Europe)
1960	Assumption of the office of Deputy Chairman of the Council of State of East Germany (Age: 65 years old, Period: 1960, Location: East Berlin)
1964	Death of Otto Grotewohl (Age: 70 years old, Period: September 21, 1964) Death of Grotewohl (Age: 70 years old, Period: September 21, 1964, Location: Niederschönhausen district of East Berlin)

Map

Category
Element

Europe World

Group	List
The Division of Germany	Konrad Adenauer Walter Ulbricht Otto Grotewohl Wilhelm Pieck Erich Honecker Willy Brandt Helmut Kohl
Prague Spring	Ludvík Svoboda Josef Smrkovský Ludvík Vaculík Alexander Dubček Václav Havel Milan Kundera Oldřich Černík
Fall of the Berlin Wall	Erich Honecker Helmut Kohl Mikhail Gorbachev Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz Günter Schabowski Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm
Literature and Thought	Václav Havel Milan Kundera Czesław Miłosz Wisława Szymborska Günter Grass Heinrich Böll Thomas Bernhard Ingeborg Bachmann Elfriede Jelinek
Arts & Film	Sándor Pál Andrzej Wajda Krzysztof Kieślowski Miloš Forman Jiří Menzel Werner Herzog Rainer Werner Fassbinder Wim Wenders

People Timeline

Otto Grotewohl

Otto Grotewohl

Timeline

Map

Related Links

Other Languages

Comments

About

Other Languages