He was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the West German Bundestag in 1949; he served in both positions until his death.

[2] Schumacher was born in 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.

The young man 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, at Bielawy west of Łowicz in Poland, he was so badly wounded that his right arm had to be amputated.

[3] Inspired by Eduard Bernstein, Schumacher became a dedicated socialist and in 1918 joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

[3] 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.

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.

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.

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.

[citation needed] Schumacher wanted a new constitution with a strong national presidency, a post that he was confident he would win.

He also supported Adenauer's Law 131' from 1951, which granted pensions and voting rights to former NSDAP bureaucrats, policemen, and other officials.

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.

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.

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.

He wrote: "Only a Germany, supported by civic consciousness and social justice, can be successful in fending off totalitarian tendencies.