Question

Describe the growth and fall of the Social Democratic Party​

Answer 1

The SPD was outlawed soon after the Nazis came to power in 1933. However, in 1945, with the fall of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, the SPD was revived. It was the only surviving party from the Weimar period with an unblemished record of opposition to Hitler; unlike other Weimar parties, the SPD had maintained exile organizations in Britain and the United States during the Third Reich. In addition, an underground organization had operated within Germany and managed to survive fairly intact. Thus, when democratic elections resumed in occupied Germany after the war, the SPD had a large advantage over its rivals, and it was expected to become the country’s governing party.