The Social Democrat who led a divided state into being
In April 1946, he was elected co-chairman of the newly founded Socialist Unity Party alongside Wilhelm Pieck.
Otto Grotewohl was a Weimar-era Social Democratic politician who voted against Hitler’s Enabling Act and later led the postwar SPD in the Soviet occupation zone. Initially cautious, he helped drive the merger with the Communist Party under Soviet occupation authorities, becoming the SED’s co-chairman in 1946. The merger created the political foundation of East Germany, but it also followed the suppression of free choice within the SPD. As the GDR’s first head of government from 1949, Grotewohl helped build the new state while operating within the limits imposed by Soviet power.
Career Timeline
- 1912Joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany
- 1920–1926Member of the Brunswick state parliament
- 1922–1924Brunswick Minister of Justice and Public Education
- 1925–1933Member of the Reichstag
- 1945–1946Chairman of the SPD Central Committee in the Soviet occupation zone
- 1946–1950Co-chairman of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
- 1949–1964Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR
- 1960–1964Withdrew from active politics because of severe illness
- 1964Died in East Berlin