Leadership of The SPD
After Schumacher's unexpected death in 1952, the SPD elected Ollenhauer as its leader. He ran as the SPD's candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 1953- and 1957 German elections, both of which were lost to Konrad Adenauer's CDU.
In 1957, Ollenhauer called for a trans-European security alliance (in place of NATO and the Warsaw Pact), in which a reunified Germany would serve as an equal partner. While the plan was denounced as radical at the time, it helped pave the way for Brandt's Ostpolitik, as well as indirectly influencing some developments within the European Union, such as a European common security policy) and the eventual reunification of Germany. Ollenhauer's proposal is also known as the Ollenhauer Plan.
In 1961, Ollenhauer declined to run for Chancellor a third time, instead supporting the candidacy of Berlin mayor Willy Brandt.
Ollenhauer died in Bonn on December 14, 1963.
Read more about this topic: Erich Ollenhauer
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