Otto Grotewohl

German politician, born in Braunschweig, NC Germany. A printer by trade, from 1912 he was a member of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) and of the Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (USPD) from 1918–22. He held various ministerial posts in Braunschweig (1920–4), was a Reichstag member (1925–33), and was elected chairman of the central committee of the SPD in Berlin (1945). After World War 2 he was instrumental in the reconstruction of the party in the Soviet Zone and orchestrated the union with the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) to form the Sozialistiche Einheitspartei (SED) of which he was joint chairman. As Ministerpräsident of the German Democratic Republic (1949–64) he moved very much in the shadow of Walter Ulbricht.

A leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Soviet Zone of Occupation after World War II, he led his party into a merger with the Communist Party in 1946, forming the new Socialist Unity Party (SED).