Ernst Reuter
| Ernst Reuter | |
|---|---|
Ernst Reuter on a West Berlin postage stamp from 1954.
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| Chairman of the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic | |
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In office October 1918 – March 1919 |
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| Succeeded by | Adam Reichert |
| 1st Governing Mayor of West Berlin | |
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In office 24 June 1947 – 29 September 1953 |
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| Preceded by | Otto Ostrowski |
| Succeeded by | Walther Schreiber |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ernst Rudolf Johannes Reuter 29 July 1889 Apenrade, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire |
| Died | 29 September 1953 (aged 64) Berlin |
| Resting place | Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | SPD |
| Spouse(s) | Hanna Kleinert |
| Children | Edzard Reuter |
| Alma mater | Philipps-Universität Marburg |
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.
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 Wilhelm's regime at the start of the First World War. After getting 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.
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.
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