Sopade (also written SoPaDe) was the name of the exile organization of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
(
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
). It operated in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
from 1933 to 1938, from 1938 to 1940 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and until 1945 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
History
After the occupation of the trade union houses by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
on 2 May 1933, the party executive committee decided that some particularly endangered members of the board would immediately have to flee from the grasp of the Nazis.
Otto Wels,
Paul Hertz,
Friedrich Stampfer,
Erich Ollenhauer and others were assigned to build up a foreign party structure in Prague.
When the Sopade could not reach an agreement with the remaining party executive committee in Berlin about acting with
Paul Löbe against
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
's peace resolution, which was interpreted as sanctioning the fascist foreign policy by the SPD, nothing could prevent the break between Berlin and Prague, which came two weeks later, in mid-May 1933. Because of the final Nazi prohibition of the SPD on 22 June 1933, it no longer came to a split between the home and foreign SPD.
Under pressure from the intra-party opposition groups ''
Neu Beginnen
Neu Beginnen (English: " obegin anew") was an anti-fascist opposition group formed in 1929 by left-wing members of the Social Democratic Party. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the members of the small group discussed what the future of Germa ...
'' and ''
Revolutionäre Sozialisten Deutschlands,'' the Sopade in 1934 published the
Prague Manifesto, penned by Rudolf Hilferding. This document called for the revolutionary overthrow of the Hitler regime.
With the cooperation of
Rudolf Hilferding, the Sopade published ''Germany Reports'' through a secret correspondence system. These dealt with the situation in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. The reports appeared in published form from April/May 1934 to December 1936 under the title ''
Germany Report of the Sopade'', from January 1937 until April 1940 under the title of “Germany Reports of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (Sopade)”, by order of the executive committee in exile of the SPD, edited by
Erich Rinner
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
, until March 1938 in Prague, from May 1938 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
In 1945, the Allied occupants in the Western zones initially allowed four parties to be established, including the re-establishment of the SPD.
Secretaries
*
Franz Bögler Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...
(1902–1976)
*
Hans Dill
Hans may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Hans (name), a masculine given name
* Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician
** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans
** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...
(1887–1973)
*
Gustav Ferl (1890–1970)
*
Richard Hansen (1887–1976)
*
Willy Lange
Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William (given name), William or Wilhelm (name), Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
* Willie Aames (born 1960), American ...
(1899–nach 1949)
*
Georg Reinbold
Georg may refer to:
* ''Georg'' (film), 1997
*Georg (musical), Estonian musical
* Georg (given name)
* Georg (surname)
* , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker
See also
* George (disambiguation)
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* G ...
(1885–1946)
*
Erwin Schoettle Erwin may refer to:
People Given name
* Erwin Chargaff (1905–2002), Austrian biochemist
* Erwin Dold (1919–2012), German concentration camp commandant in World War 2
* Erwin Hauer (1926–2017), Austrian-born American sculptor
* Egon Erwin Kisc ...
(1899–1976)
*
Ernst Schumacher
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a German-British statistician and economist who is best known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies.Biography on the inner dustjacke ...
(1896–1958)
*
Emil Stahl
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
(1879–1956)
* Otto Thiele (1896–??)
*
Waldemar von Knoeringen
Waldemar, Valdemar or Woldemar is an Old High German given name. It consists of the elements ''wald-'' "power", "brightness" and ''-mar'' "fame".
The name is considered the equivalent of the Slavic name Vladimir, Volodymyr, Uladzimir or Włodz ...
(1906–1971)
See also
*
Union of German Socialist Organisations in Great Britain The Union of German Socialist Organisations in Great Britain (German: ''Union deutscher sozialistischer Organisation in Großbritannien'') was the amalgamation of German socialist and social democratic oriented organisations of exiled Germans during ...
Bibliography
*''German Reports of the Sopade''. From the copy in the “Archives of Social Democracy” of the
Friedrich Ebert Foundation
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as the ...
given change and with a register provided by Klaus Behnken in the Petra Netelbeck publishing house, Salzhausen and Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 1980 (7 volumes).
External links
*{{in lang, de}
Online publication: Socialist reports released by the SOPADE, 1939 - 1948 Diaspora organizations of political parties
Organizations established in 1933
Organizations disestablished in 1945
Socialist organisations in Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany