Political party established in 1875 by the unification of the General German Workers' Association and the Social Workers' Party
In 1890 it became the SPD. The SPD was the backbone of the Weimar Republic. It provided the first President, Friedrich Ebert and four chancellors: Philipp Scheidemann (1919), Gustav Bauer (1919-1920) and Hermann Mueller (1920 and 1928-1930). Between 1930-1932 the SPD suffered heavy losses of votes in the Reichstag elections. After the Nazis seizure of power in 1933 the SPD was banned on June 22. Earlier in May the newly elected party executive had established a "foreign representation" in the Saarland, which moved its seat to Prague at the end of May, therefore constituting itself as the Executive Committee of the Exiled SPD (SOPADE). After the war the SPS emerged anew on local and regional levels by the summer and fall of 1945.
