Kurt Schumacher: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|German politician (1895–1952)}}

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{{about|the German politician|other people with the same name|Kurt Schumacher (disambiguation)}}

[[image:ac.schumacher.jpg]]<br>

{{more citations needed|date=July 2020}}

<small>''Dr Kurt Schumacher<br>''<br>

{{EngvarB|date=February 2019}}

</small></div>

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Kurt Schumacher

| image = Kurt Schumacher US Army Edit.jpg

| caption = Schumacher between 1945 and 1948

| office = [[Leader of the Social Democratic Party]]

| deputy = [[Erich Ollenhauer]] <br> Wilhelm Knothe

| term_start = 10 May 1946

| term_end = 20 August 1952

| predecessor = [[Hans Vogel]]

| successor = [[Erich Ollenhauer]]

| office1 = [[Leader of the opposition (Germany)|Leader of the Opposition]]

| chancellor1 = [[Konrad Adenauer]]

| term_start1 = 7 September 1949

| term_end1 = 20 August 1952

| predecessor1 = ''Office established''

| successor1 = [[Erich Ollenhauer]]

| office2 = Leader of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] in the [[Bundestag]]

| deputy2 = [[Erich Ollenhauer]] <br> [[Carlo Schmid (German politician)|Carlo Schmid]]

| term_start2 = 7 September 1949

| term_end2 = 20 August 1952

| predecessor2 = ''Office established''

| successor2 = [[Erich Ollenhauer]]

| office3 = Member of the [[Bundestag]] <br> for [[Stadt Hannover II|Hannover South]]

| term_start3 = 7 September 1949

| term_end3 = 20 August 1952

| predecessor3 = ''Constituency established''

| successor3 = [[:de:Ernst Winter (Gewerkschafter)|Ernst Winter]]

| office4 = Member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] <br> for [[Württemberg (electoral district)|Württemberg]]

| term_start4 = [[1930 German federal election|13 October 1930]]

| term_end4 = 22 June 1933

| predecessor4 = ''Multi-member constituency''

| successor4 = ''Constituency abolished''

| office5 = Member of the [[Württemberg Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic|Landtag of Württemberg]] <br> for [[Stuttgart]]

| term_start5 = 4 May 1924

| term_end5 = 26 January 1931

| predecessor5 = ''Multi-member constituency''

| successor5 = [[:de:Erhard Schneckenburger|Erhard Schneckenburger]]

| constituency =

| majority =

| birth_name = Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz74771.html|title=Schumacher, Kurt|publisher=Deutsche Biographie|language=de|access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref>

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1895|10|13}}

| birth_place = [[Chełmno|Kulm]], [[West Prussia]], [[German Empire]] ({{small|now}} [[Chełmno]], [[Poland]])

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1952|8|20|1895|10|13}}

| death_place = [[Bonn]], [[West Germany]]

| party = [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (from 1918)

| relations =

| residence =

| alma_mater = [[University of Halle-Wittenberg]]

| occupation = [[Jurist]], [[politician]]

| signature =

}}

'''Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher''', better known as '''Kurt Schumacher''' (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician and [[German resistance to Nazism|resistance fighter]] against the [[Nazis]]. He was chairman of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] from 1946 and the first [[Leader of the Opposition (Germany)|Leader of the Opposition]] in the [[Bundestag]] in [[West Germany]] in 1949; he served in both positions until his death.

Upon [[Adolf Hitler]]'s seizure of power, Schumacher was imprisoned for ten years in various [[Nazi concentration camps]]. After [[World War II]], he was one of the founding fathers of postwar German democracy. Throughout his life, he opposed far-right and far-left political movements, including the [[Nazi Party]] and the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD). Referencing the concept of [[red fascism]], Schumacher described the KPD as "red-painted Nazis".<ref>{{cite book| last = Schmeitzner| author-link = Mike Schmeitzner| first = Mike| title = Totalitarismuskritik von links deutsche Diskurse im 20. Jahrhundert| year = 2007| publisher = Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht| isbn = 978-3-525-36910-4| page = 255}}</ref>

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 [[Germany|German Federal Republic]].

=== Early life and career= ==

[[File:Chełmno, ul. św. Ducha 1 (Kurt Schumacher birth house).jpg|thumb|left|Schumacher's birthplace in [[Chełmno]]]]

Schumacher was born in [[Chełmno|Kulm]], in [[West Prussia]] (now Chełmno in [[Poland]]), the son of a small businessman who was a member of the liberal [[German Free-minded Party]] and deputy in the municipal assembly. As a young man, he was a brilliant student; when the [[First World War]] broke out in 1914, he immediately abandoned his studies and joined the [[Imperial German Army]]. In December, at [[Bielawy, Łowicz County|Bielawy]] west of [[Łowicz]] in Poland, he was so badly wounded that his right arm had to be amputated.<ref name="Spell">{{cite magazine|title=Für ein neues Deutschland |trans-title=For a new Germany |language=German |first=Hartmut |last=Spell |magazine=[[Damals]] |volume=44 |issue=8 |year=2012 |pages=10–13}}</ref> After contracting [[dysentery]], he was finally discharged from the army and was decorated with the [[Iron Cross]] Second class. Schumacher returned to his law and [[political science]] in [[University of Halle-Wittenberg|Halle]], [[University of Leipzig|Leipzig]], and [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]], from which he graduated in 1919.<ref name=Spell/>

Inspired by [[Eduard Bernstein]], Schumacher became a dedicated [[socialist]] and in 1918 joined the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD). He led ex-servicemen in forming [[German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919|workers' and soldiers councils]] in Berlin during the revolutionary days following the fall of the [[German Empire]] but opposed attempts by revolutionary left-wing groups to seize power. In 1920, the SPD sent him to [[Stuttgart]] to edit the party's newspaper there, the ''Schwäbische Tagwacht''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Deutschland |first=Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik |title=Gerade auf LeMO gesehen: LeMO Biografie: Kurt Schumacher |url=https://www.hdg.de/lemo/biografie/kurt-schumacher.html |access-date=2023-11-02 |website=www.hdg.de |language=de}}</ref>

Kurt Schumacher was born in Kulm in [[West Prussia]] (now [[Chelmno]] in [[Poland]]), the son of a small businessman. He was a brilliant student, but when the [[First World War]] broke out in [[1914]] he immediately abandoned his studies and joined the German Army. In December, near [[Lodz]], he was so badly wounded that his right arm had to be amputated and he was severely disabled for life. He returned to his studies in [[Berlin]], graduating in law and politics, and became a dedicated [[socialism|socialist]].

[[File:Kurt Schumacher 1930 Edit.jpg|thumb|left|Schumacher's official [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] portrait, 1930]]

In [[1918]] Schumacher joined the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD), and led militant ex-servicemen in forming Workers and Soldiers Councils in Berlin during the revolutionary days following the fall of the German monarchy. But he was always a democratic socialist and opposed the various attempts by Communist groups to seize power. In [[1920]] the SPD sent him to [[Stuttgart]] to edit the party newspaper there, the ''Schwäbische Tagwacht''.

Schumacher was elected to the state legislature, the [[Free People's State of Württemberg]] Landtag in 1924. He transferred to the local republican organisation "Schwabenland" in the newly founded organisation to defend Germany's parliamentary democracy, the [[Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold]]. Schumacher became chairman of the Stuttgart Branch of Reichsbanner.<ref name=":0" />

SchumacherIn was elected to the [[Württemberg]] Landtag (state legislature) in [[1924]]1928, and in [[1928]] heSchumacher became the SPD leader in the state of Württemberg. WhenTo oppose the emerging [[Nazi Party]] rose to prominence, Schumacher helped organise socialist militias to fightoppose them in the streets as well as opposing them on the [[hustings]]. In [[1930]], he was elected to the national legislature, the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]],.<ref andname="Spell" in/> In August [[1932]], he was elected to the SPD party leadership group, although(''Parteivorstand''). atAt 38, he was youngest SPD member of the legislatureReichstag.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===Under theNazi regime Nazis===

Schumacher was staunchly [[anti-Nazi]]. In a Reichstag speech on 23 February 1932, he excoriated Nazism as "a continuous appeal to the inner swine in human beings" and stated the movement had been uniquely successful in "ceaselessly mobilizing human stupidity".<ref>Judt, p. 268</ref> Schumacher was arrested in July 1933, two weeks before the SPD was banned, and was severely beaten in prison. Schumacher was given the opportunity to sign a declaration in which he renounced any political activity if released; unlike [[Fritz Bauer]] and seven other political prisoners, he refused to sign it.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Steinke |first1=Ronen |title=Fritz Bauer. The Jewish Prosecutor Who Brought Eichmann and Auschwitz to Trial |date=2020 |publisher=Indiana University Press |___location=Bloomington |page=66 |isbn=9780253046895}}</ref>

[[File:Kurt Schumacher Dachau Mugshot.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Schumacher's [[Dachau]] mugshot, 1936]]

The inability of the SPD and the [[Communist Party of Germany|German Communist Party]] to form a united front meant that they could not prevent the Nazis coming to power in January [[1933]]. Schumacher was arrested in July and was severely beaten in prison, making his disabilites even worse. He spent the next ten years in [[concentration camp]]s at [[Heuberg]], [[Kuhberg]], [[Flossenbürg]] and [[Dachau]]. The camp at Dachau was intended for people whom the Nazis wanted to keep alive, and the fact that he was a cripple gained Schumacher some leniency, but he risked his life through repeated defiance and hunger strikes.

Schumacher spent the next ten years in Nazi concentration camps at [[Lager Heuberg|Heuberg]], [[Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp|Kuhberg]], [[Flossenbürg concentration camp|Flossenbürg]], and [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]].<ref name="Spell" /> The camps were initially intended for exploitation of those deemed by the Nazis to be undesirable people, such as Jews, socialists, [[communists]], and criminals. Beginning in 1940, the prison camps were overcrowded with transports from the eastern front, leading to disease outbreaks and starvation. Under [[Action 14f13]], beginning in 1941, the Nazis summarily murdered prisoners they deemed unfit for work but Schumacher and some other disabled veterans were spared after they proved with their war medals that they had been disabled in service of Germany during World War I. The conditions in the camps continued to worsen and by 1943, nearly half of the prisoners died, in particular almost half of the 106,000 inmates of [[Neuengamme concentration camp|Neuengamme concentration camp]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005539 |title=Neuengamme |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|USHMM]] |access-date=11 October 2021 |quote=In all, more than 50,000 prisoners, almost half of those imprisoned in the camp during its existence, died in Neuengamme before liberation.}}</ref>

In [[1943]], when Schumacher was near death, his brother-in-law succeeded in persuading a Nazi official to have him released into his custody. HeSchumacher was re-arrested again in late [[1944]], and he was still in [[Neuengamme]] concentration camp when the British arrived in April [[1945]]. He emerged from the war a embittered man, in constant pain from his injuries, contemptuous not only of the Nazis but of everyone who had not opposed them as rigorously as he had.<ref name=Spell/>

=== Postwar politics===

Schumacher wanted to lead the SPD and bring Germany to socialism. By May 1945, he was already reorganising the SPD in [[Hanover]] without the permission of the occupation authorities. He soon found himself in a battle with [[Otto Grotewohl]], the leader of the SPD in the [[Soviet Zone of Occupation]], who argued the SPD should merge with the KPD to form a united [[socialist party]]. Grotewohl had initially opposed the idea but was persuaded that the rise of the Nazis would have never happened had the left presented a unified front. Schumacher was as ardently anti-Communist as he was anti-Nazi, and rejected the proposal. (In fact, as early as 1930, he had referred to Communists as "rotlackierte Doppelausgabe der Nationalsozialisten", i.e., red-painted doubles of the Nazis.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung | title=Wiedervereinigung und deutsche Nation - der Kern der Politik Kurt Schumachers |url=https://library.fes.de/fulltext/historiker/00574009.htm |access-date=2025-08-10|website=www.fes.de |language=de}}</ref> As it turned out, when the eastern SPD merged with the KPD to form the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (SED), that party became for all intents and purposes the KPD under a new name. The few recalcitrants from the SPD half of the merger were branded "agents of Schumacher" and shunted aside.

In August 1946, Schumacher called an SPD convention in Hanover, which elected him as the Western leader of the party.<ref>{{Cite web |last=NDR |title=Wie die SPD nach dem Krieg wieder aufgebaut wurde |url=https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/chronologie/Wie-die-SPD-nach-dem-Krieg-wieder-aufgebaut-wurde,spd1610.html |access-date=2023-11-02 |website=www.ndr.de |language=de}}</ref> In January 1946, the British and the Americans allowed the SPD to reform itself as a national party with Schumacher as leader. As the only SPD leader who had spent the whole Nazi period in Germany without collaborating, he had enormous prestige. He was certain that he had earned the right to lead the new Germany; however, Schumacher met his match in [[Konrad Adenauer]], the former mayor of [[Cologne]], whom the Americans, not wanting to see socialism of any kind in Germany, were grooming for leadership. Adenauer united most of the prewar German conservatives into a new party, the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany]] (CDU). Schumacher campaigned throughout 1948 and 1949 for a united socialist Germany and particularly for the [[nationalisation]] of heavy industry, whose owners he blamed for funding the Nazis' rise to power. When the [[Allied-occupied Germany|occupying powers]] opposed his ideas, he denounced them. Adenauer opposed socialism on principle and also argued that the quickest way to get the [[Allies of World War II]] to restore self-government to Germany was to co-operate with them.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Schumacher also had a burning conviction that he was destined to lead the SPD, and to lead Germany to socialism. By May he was already reorganising the SPD in [[Hanover]], without the permission of the occupation authorities. He soon found himself in a battle with [[Otto Grotewohl]], the self-appointed leader of the SPD in the Soviet Zone of Occupation, who was arguing that the SPD should merge with the Communists to form a united socialist party. Schumacher detested the Communists and rejected Grotewohl's plan. In August he called an SPD convention in Hanover, which elected him as "western leader" of the party.

Schumacher wanted a new constitution with a strong national presidency, a post that he was confident he would win. The first draft of the 1949 ''[[Grundgesetz]]'' provided for a federal system with a weak national government, as was favoured both by the Allies and the CDU. Schumacher refused to give way and eventually the Allies, keen to get the new German state functioning in the face of the Soviet challenge, acceded to some of Schumacher's demands. The new federal government would be dominant over the states, although the president would have limited powers.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} Despite his speeches against Nazism, Schumacher had a mixed record on the denazification program:<blockquote>"Like his CDU rival, Schumacher spoke out against the sweeping nature of the Allied denazification program and the shortcomings of the Allied war crimes trials. He realized the need to incorporate 'small Nazis' – especially former members of the [[Hitler Youth]] - into the state, going as far as to demand inclusion of members of the [[Waffen-SS]]. He also supported Adenauer's Law 131' from 1951, which granted pensions and voting rights to former NSDAP bureaucrats, policemen, and other officials. He even protested the execution of the last major Nazi war criminals in Landsberg in 1951."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosenfeld |first=Gavriel D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlR-DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22At+first+glance,+it+is+easy+to+imagine+him+pursuing+a+more+vigorous+approach%22&pg=PA153 |title=The Fourth Reich: The Specter of Nazism from World War II to the Present |date=2019-03-14 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49749-7 |pages=153 |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

In January [[1946]] the British and Americans allowed the SPD to reform itself as a national party, with Schumacher as leader. As the only SPD leader who had spent the whole Nazi period in Germany, without collaborating, he had enormous prestige, despite his authoritarian style and bitter invective against everyone who opposed him. He was ceratin that his right to lead Germany would be recognised both by the Allies and by the German electorate.

== 1949 federal election ==

But Schumacher met his match in [[Konrad Adenauer]], the former mayor of [[Cologne]], whom the Americans, not wanting to see socialism of any kind in Germany, were grooming for leadership. Adenauer united most of the prewar German conservatives into a new party, the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU). Schumacher campaigned through [[1948]] and [[1949]] for a united socialist Germany, and particularly for the [[nationalisation]] of heavy industry, whose owners he blamed for funding the Nazis' rise to power. When the occupying powers opposed his ideas, he denounced them in extravagant terms. Adenauer opposed socialism on principle, and also argued that the quickest way to get the Allies to restore self-government to Germany was to co-operate with them.

[[File:Kurt Schumacher.jpg|thumb|100 [[pfennig]]s 1995 postage stamp for his centenary since his birth]]

The Federal Republic's first national elections were held in August 1949. Schumacher was convinced he would win, and most observers agreed with him; however, Adenauer's new CDU had several advantages over the SPD in the [[1949 West German federal election]]. Much of the SPD's prewar power base was now part of the Soviet Zone, and the most conservative parts of prewar Germany, such as [[Bavaria]] and the [[Rhineland]], were in the new Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, the American and the French occupying powers favoured Adenauer and did all they could to assist his campaign though the British remained neutral.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

The onset of the [[Cold War]], particularly the behaviour of the Soviets and the German communists in the Soviet Zone, produced an anti-socialist reaction in Germany as elsewhere. The SPD could very plausibly have won an election in 1945 but the tide had turned against it by 1949. That came even as the SPD became increasingly critical of the new [[East German]] government. Schumacher was especially critical and once called the communists "red-painted fascists". Schumacher attempted a heavy distinction in the public consciousness between his vision of [[democratic socialism]] and the realities in East Germany but still found his party partially damaged by association.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Plener|first=Ulla|title=Kurt Schumacher 1949–1952 - Die innere Gestaltung der BRD im Schatten seines Antikommunismus|journal=[[Jahrbuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung]]|number=3|year=2002}}</ref> Another factor was the recovery of the German economy, mainly because of the currency reform of the CDU's [[Ludwig Erhard]]. Matters were further complicated by Schumacher's declining health. In September 1948, he had his left arm amputated.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2012/40148416_kw33_schumacher_kalenderblatt-209134|title=Vor 60 Jahren: Todestag von Kurt Schumacher|publisher=Deutscher Bundestag|date=20 August 2012|language=de|access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref>

Schumacher also wanted a new constitution with a strong national presidency, confident that he would soon occupy that post. But the first draft of the [[1949]] Basic Law provided for a federal system with a weak national government, as favoured both by the Allies and the CDU. Schumacher absolutely refused to give way on this, and eventually the Allies, keen to get the new German state functioning in the face of the Soviet challenge, conceded much of what Schumacher wanted. The new federal government would be dominant over the states, although there would be no strong presidency.

Although Schumacher's SPD won the most seats of any single party in the election (the CDU and its sister party, the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria]] or CSU, together won more seats), the CDU was able to form a [[centre-right]] coalition government with the CSU, the liberal [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]], and the national-conservative [[German Party (1947)|German Party]]. Adenauer was elected chancellor, a shock for Schumacher. He refused to co-operate in parliamentary matters and denounced the CDU as agents of the capitalists and foreign powers. Schumacher opposed the emerging new organisations of European co-operation: the [[Council of Europe]], the [[European Coal and Steel Community]], and the [[European Defence Community]]. He saw them as devices to strengthen [[capitalism]] and to extend Allied control over Germany. That stand aroused the opposition of the other Western European socialist parties and eventually the SPD overruled him and sent delegates to the Council of Europe.

===Schumacher versus Adenauer===

== Death and legacy ==

The Federal Republic's first national elections were held in October [[1949]]. Schumacher was convinced he would win, and most observers agreed with him. But Adenauder's new [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Party]] had several advantages over the SPD. Some of the SPD's strongest areas in pre-war Germany were now in the Soviet Zone, while the most conservative parts of the country - [[Bavaria]] and the [[Rhineland]] - were in the new Federal Republic of Germany. In addition both the American and French occupying powers favoured Adenauer and did all they could to assist his campaign; the British remained neutral.

[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F051380-0005, Bonn, Ausstellungseröffnung SPD-Parteizentrale.jpg|thumb|right|Former West German Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]] opens the Kurt Schumacher memorial exhibition in the [[:de:Erich-Ollenhauer-Haus|Erich-Ollenhauer-Haus]], 1977.]]

During the remainder of Adenauer's first term in office, Schumacher continued to oppose his government; the rapid rise in prosperity as part of the [[German economic miracle]], the intensification of the [[Cold War]], and Adenauer's success in gaining Germany's acceptance in the international community all worked to undermine Schumacher's position. The SPD began to have serious doubts about going into another election with Schumacher as leader, particularly after he had a stroke in December 1951.<ref>{{cite news|title=Der Mann mit dem leeren, flatternden Ärmel|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13529032.html|publisher=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=25 April 1988|last=Augstein|first=Rudolf|author-link=Rudolf Augstein|language=de|access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref> They were spared having to deal with this dilemma when Schumacher died suddenly in August 1952.<ref>{{cite news|title=Kurt Schumacher, 56, Dies in Bonn; Headed Opposition to Adenauer; Leader of German Socialists Was Foe of Nazis -- Put Unity Above Ties to West|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/08/21/archives/kurt-schumacher-56-dies-in-bonn-headed-opposition-to-adenauer.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=21 August 1952|access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref> Schumacher had formulated the preamble of SPD program for the party convention in [[Dortmund]] in September 1952. He wrote: "Only a Germany, supported by civic consciousness and social justice, can be successful in fending off totalitarian tendencies."<ref>Blume, Dorlis/Zündorf, Irmgard: Biografie Kurt Schumacher, in: LeMO-Biografien, Lebendiges Museum Online, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland,

URL: http://www.hdg.de/lemo/biografie/kurt-schumacher.html </ref>

Further, the onset of the [[Cold War]], and particularly the ruthless behaviour of the Soviets and the German Communists in the Soviet Zone, produced an anti-socialist reaction in Germany as elsewhere. The SPD would probably have won an election in [[1945]]; by [[1949]] the tide had turned. The German economy was also reviving, thanks mainly to the currency reform of the CDU's [[Ludwig Erhardt]]. Matters were complicated by Schumacher's grave ill-health: in September [[1948]] he had one of his legs amputated. Germans admired Schumacher's courage, but they doubted that he could carry out the duties of federal Chancellor.

== References ==

The result was that the CDU won a plurality of seats, and was able to form a majority government with the support of some minor parties. This was a complete shock to Schumacher, and he never really recovered from it. In opposition he was totally intransigent, refusing to co-operate in parliamentary matters and denouncing the CDU as agents of the capitalists and of foreign powers. Although he also denounced the Communists, and in fact organised an underground SPD resistance network in eastern Germany, his anti-capitalist and anti-Western rhetoric sounded sufficiently similar to Communist [[propaganda]] to undermine his support.

{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

Schumacher further damaged his standing by bitterly opposing the emerging new organisations of European co-operation, the [[Council of Europe]], the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] and the [[European Defence Community]], which he saw as devices for strengthening capitalism (which in a way they were), and for extending Allied control over Germany (which they were not). This stand aroused the opposition of the other west European socialist parties, and eventually the SPD overruled him and sent delegates to the Council of Europe.

* {{cite book|last=Judt|first=Tony|title=Postwar A History of Europe Since 1945|year=2006|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-303775-0}}

* {{cite journal|last=Plener|first=Ulla|title=Kurt Schumacher 1949–1952 - Die innere Gestaltung der BRD im Schatten seines Antikommunismus|journal=[[Jahrbuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung]]|number=3|year=2002}}

== Further reading ==

During the rest of Adenauer's first term of office, Schumacher continued to oppose his government with his usual vehemence, but the rapid rise in German prosperity, the intensification of the Cold War and Adenauer's increasing success in getting Germany accepted in the international community all worked to undermine Schumacher's position. The SPD began to have serious doubts about going into another election with Schumacher as leader, particularly when he had a stroke in December [[1951]]. They were spared having to deal with this dilemma when Schumacher died suddenly in August [[1952]].

* Lewis J. Edinger. 1965. ''Kurt Schumacher: A Study in Personality and Political Behavior''. Stanford University Press.

* [[Peter Merseburger]]: ''Kurt Schumacher: Patriot, Volkstribun, Sozialdemokrat''. Munich: Pantheon, 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-570-55139-4}}.

* Maxwell, John Allen. "Social Democracy in a Divided Germany: Kurt Schumacher and the German Question, 1945-1952." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, West Virginia University, Department of History, Morgantown, West Virginia, 1969.

== External links ==

Adenauer, like most Germans, had admired Schumacher's integrity, willpower and courage, even while opposing his policies, and was shocked at his death, although it cannot have been a real surprise. "Despite our differences," he said, "we were united in a common goal, to do everything possible for the benefit and well-being of our people." Schumacher would probably have dismissed this as sentimental nonsense. The only thing that would further the well-being of the people, in his view, was socialism. His rigid adherance to this principle probably cost him the chance of national leadership.

* {{PM20|FID=pe/023715}}

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===External Link===

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[http://berlin.spd.de/servlet/PB/menu/1017115/ SPD Schumacher tribute website] (in German)

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