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Communist Party
History of Germany
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| | 1917 | Luxemburg, Rosa | |
| Dec Revolution breaks out across Germany, the leftists, led by Rosa Luxemburg and the Spartacist League, form the KPD |
| 1918 | Ulbricht, Walther | |
| Helps found the Communist Party in Germany |
| 1918 | Zetkin, Klara | |
| Founder member of the German Communist Party |
| 1920 | Levi, Paul | |
| Following the assassination of Leo Jogiches, Paul Levi becomes the KPD leader |
| 1923 | Th„lmann, Ernst | |
| A new KPD leadership loyal to Joseph Stalin, the new Soviet Premier, was installed, headed by Ernst Th„lmann, abandons the goal of immediate revolution, and from 1924 onwards contested Reichstag elections |
| 1925 | Thalman, Ernst | |
| Stands as President but is defeated by Hindenburg, wins 1.9 million votes |
| 1933 | Hitler, Adolf | |
| 1st Mar As a consequence of the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Communist Party of Germany KPD is banned |
| 1st Mar The police & SA sieze all Communist Party buildings in Germany along with weapons claimed to be used for a coup |
| 1933 | Th„lmann, Ernst | |
| The Enabling Act, legally gives Hitler dictatorial control of Germany, passed by a Reichstag session held after the Communist deputies had been arrested and jailed |
| The KPD is suppressed by the Nazis, thousands of Communists are imprisoned in concentration camps, including Th„lmann |
| 1945 | Ulbricht, Walter | |
| In East Germany, the KPD (led by Walter Ulbricht) absorbs some elements of the eastern SPD and is renamed the Socialist Unity Party (SED), which becomes the ruling party in East Germany until 1990 |
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