Social Democratic Party of Germany
Which political party did Ernst Reuter belong to from 1912 to 1922?
Ernst Reuter Ernst Rudolf Johannes Reuter ( 29 July 1889 – 29 September 1953 ) was the German mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953 , during the time of the Cold War . Biography . Early years . Reuter was born in Apenrade ( Aabenraa ) , Province of Schleswig-Holstein ( now in Denmark ) . He spent his childhood days in Leer where a public square is named after him . Reuter attended the universities of Münster and Marburg where he completed his studies in 1912 and passed the examinations as a teacher . Moreover , he was member in a fraternity called SBV Frankonia Marburg . The same year he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ) . Reuter opposed Kaiser Wilhelms regime at the start of the First World War . After being drafted , Reuter was wounded and captured by Russians during the Bolshevik Revolution . In captivity , Reuter joined the Bolsheviks and organized his fellow prisoners into a soviet . In 1917 , Lenin sent him to Saratov in the to-be-established Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic . Weimar Republic . Upon his return to Germany , Reuter joined the Communist Party of Germany ( KPD ) and was named the First Secretary of its Berlin section . He embraced a position on the left wing of the party endorsing an open rebellion in March 1921 in central Germany and placed himself hereby in opposition to the leader of the party , Paul Levi . Although Reuter was seen as a favorite of Lenin , he was expelled from the party in 1922 . He moved briefly to the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany ( USPD ) , and then returned to the Social Democrats for good . In 1926 , Reuter entered services in the government of Berlin and was responsible for transportation . Accomplishments were the foundation of the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe ( BVG ) , the introduction of a unified ticket for public transportation , and extensions of the Berlin subway system . From 1931 until 1933 , Reuter was the mayor of Magdeburg where he fought lack of housing and jobs due to the economic crisis . He also was elected as a member of the Reichstag . In 1933 , with the Nazis now in power , he was forced to resign his positions and was brought to the concentration camp ( KZ ) Lichtenburg near Torgau . After his release , he went into exile in Turkey in 1935 where he stayed until the end to the Nazi era . In Ankara he lectured at the University , introduced urban planning as a university discipline , and served as consultant to the Government . Post-war Berlin . After the end of World War II , Reuter returned to Berlin , and was elected in 1946 to the Magistrate ( governing body ) where he oversaw initially the Transportation Department . In 1947 he was elected Lord Mayor ( Oberbürgermeister ) of Berlin but in the deepening crisis of the Cold War , the Soviet government withheld their necessary consent . Reuter is most notable for his stance during the Cold War in Berlin . During the Soviet-imposed Berlin Blockade ( 1948/49 ) , the western part of city was sustained by the Berlin airlift that was established by the American Military Governor , Lucius D . Clay . In response to the threat , the citizens in the western sectors had to come together . Ernst Reuter became their spokesman and leader , a symbolic figure of the Free Berlin . Memorable is Reuters speech in front of the burned-out Reichstag building on 9 September 1948 , facing a crowd of 300,000 where he appealed to the world not to abandon Berlin . In the election that was conducted in the western part of Berlin two months later , his popularity gave the SPD the highest win with 64.5% ever achieved by any party in a free election in Germany . As mayor he formed a grand coalition government with the next two largest parties to demonstrate West Berlins unity . Reuters appeal to the West did not go unheard . The airlift saved the city from starvation , and Reuter became only the second German postwar politician ( after Konrad Adenauer ) to be placed on the cover of Time magazine . He was titled Herr Berlin . When the new Berlin State Constitution became effective for the western sectors of Berlin , Reuter was re-elected and on 18 January 1951 , became what was now called the Governing Mayor ( Regierender Bürgermeister ) of Berlin . He served in this function until his death . When the Soviets created the German Democratic Republic , the Soviet sector of Berlin was declared its capital and a mayor was selected for that sector . But the Western Allies refused to recognize the division of Berlin , and the Mayor elected in their sectors was still considered the Governing Mayor of all Berlin . This was the case until the unification of Germany . The Western Allies insisted on the unity of Berlin , which was their basis for authority in all sectors . Thus , Governing Mayors were always Mayors of Berlin . Under his aegis , the Free University of Berlin was founded , as the University of Berlin was in the Soviet sector and under communist rule . In 1953 Reuter established the Bürgermeister-Reuter-Stiftung ( Mayor Reuter Foundation ) to assist refugees coming to West-Berlin . A few months after the uprising of 17 June 1953 in East Berlin , Reuter died from a sudden heart attack in West Berlin . He was 64 years old . His funeral was attended by more than 1 million people and he was honored with an Ehrengrab ( honorary grave ) in the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf . Family . Reuter was married in 1920 , and he and his wife Lotte ( Charlotte ) had two children , Hella ( 1920–1983 ) , and ( Gerd Edzard ) Harry ( 1921–1992 ) who became a British citizen and a professor of mathematics . Harrys son Timothy was a distinguished mediaeval historian . In 1927 Reuter divorced Charlotte and remarried . He and his second wife Hanna had one son , Edzard , who became the CEO of Daimler-Benz . Honours . - Ernst-Reuter-Plakette ( Ernst Reuter Medal ) : the highest award by the City of Berlin was established by the Senate of Berlin for persons whose work benefited the city in 1954 . - Ernst-Reuter-Gesellschaft ( Ernst Reuter Association ) : a group of alumni and friends of the Free University of Berlin that was founded in 1954 . The Association names the winners of the annual Ernst-Reuter-Preis for excellent dissertations from the university and provideds Ernst-Reuter-Stipends for studies abroad . - Former places where Reuter lived received memorial plaques : Hardenbergstraße 35 ( Berlin-Charlottenburg ) , and Bülowstraße 33 ( Berlin-Zehlendorf ) . - Among the many places in Berlin that commemorate Reuter are : - a major public square and subway station Ernst-Reuter-Platz ( Berlin U-Bahn ) , - a government building - a school - a youth hostel Other towns in Germany have streets or schools named after Ernst Reuter . Quote . - Ihr Völker der Welt .. . Schaut auf diese Stadt und erkennt , dass ihr diese Stadt und dieses Volk nicht preisgeben dürft , nicht preisgeben könnt ! ( People of this world.. . look upon this city and see that you should not , cannot abandon this city and this people ) —Reuters speech from 9 September 1948 ( German ) Publications . - Ernst Reuter : Rationalisierung der Berliner Verkehrsbedienung . Verkehrstechnik ( 29 June 1928 ) 9 ; 26:437–439 . - Ernst Reuter : Die Gründung der Berliner Verkehrs-A.-G . Verkehrstechnik ( 14 December 1928 ) 9 ; 50 : 917–919 Literature . - Willy Brandt , Richard Löwenthal : Ernst Reuter . Ein Leben für die Freiheit ( Eine politische Biographie ) . München : Kindler Verlag , 1957 - Klaus Harpprecht : Ernst Reuter . Ein Leben für die Freiheit ( Eine Biographie in Bildern und Dokumenten ) . München : Kindler Verlag , 1957 - Ernst Reuter . Schriften – Reden . Hg . v . Hans E . Hirschfeld und Hans J . Reichardt . Vorwort von Willy Brandt . Bd . 1–4 . Frankfurt am Main ; Berlin ; Wien 1972–1975 . - David E . Barclay : Schaut auf diese Stadt : Der unbekannte Ernst Reuter . Berlin : Siedler Verlag , 2000 . - Andreas Daum , Kennedy in Berlin . New York : Cambridge University Press , 2008 , . References . This article is based on the in the German Wikipedia from 10 May 2006 . External links . - Ernst Reuter Page of the SPD ( German ) - Biography ( German ) - Honors for Ernst Reuters ( German ) - Foundation:Bürgermeister-Reuter-Stiftung - Ernst Reuter Association - Ernst Reuter Foundation for Advanced Study