Otto Ernst Heinrich Hermann Suhr German politician Date of Birth: 17.08.1894 Country: Germany

Biography of Otto Ernst Heinrich Hermann Suhr

Otto Ernst Heinrich Hermann Suhr was a German politician and member of the SDPG (Social Democratic Party of Germany). He served as the governing mayor of West Berlin from January 11, 1955. Suhr was born on February 24, 1904, in Berlin, Germany. At the age of nine, he moved with his family to Osnabrück, and four years later, they relocated to Leipzig. In 1914, Suhr began studying economics, history, and journalism. However, due to the outbreak of World War I and his conscription into the army, he had to interrupt his studies for five years.

In 1922, Suhr became the secretary for workers' affairs in the General Federation of German Trade Unions. The following year, he obtained his doctorate degree. Unfortunately, when the Nazis came to power, they burned Suhr's book, "Die Welt der Wirtschaft vom Standort des Arbeiters" (The World of Economy from the Worker's Perspective). From 1933 to 1935, Suhr worked as an editor for the Berlin weekly newspaper "Blick in die Zeit," as well as an economic journalist for the newspaper "Frankfurter Zeitung" and the illustrated magazine "Deutscher Volkswirt." During this time, Suhr resided at Kurfürstendamm 28 in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin.

Shortly after, Suhr got married and moved to Dahlem, at Hüningerstraße 4. From 1946 to 1950, he worked as the editor-in-chief of the biweekly magazine "Das sozialistische Jahrhundert" (The Socialist Century) alongside Luise Schröder. During the blockade of West Berlin, the magazine's circulation decreased from 20,000 to 10,000 copies.

Suhr became a member of the Berlin City Assembly in 1946 and served as its president until 1951. From 1948 to 1955, he directed the German University of Politics (now Otto Suhr Institute at the Free University of Berlin). In 1949, Suhr was elected as a member of the Bundestag, where he remained until January 31, 1952.

From 1951 to 1953, Suhr served on the board of the Student Loan Fund. He was also the president of the Berlin Chamber of Deputies from 1951 to 1954. In 1954, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In the December 1954 elections for the Berlin Chamber of Deputies, Suhr was the top candidate on the SDPG list, and the party aimed to achieve an absolute majority of votes. The SDPG, which received 44.6% of the votes, formed a coalition with the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) as proposed by Suhr, giving them three-quarters of the seats in the chamber. In January of the following year, Suhr was elected as the governing mayor of West Berlin. On July 21, 1957, he was also elected as the president of the Bundesrat. However, before officially assuming the position, Suhr passed away from leukemia on August 30.

Suhr was laid to rest at the Waldfriedhof-Zehlendorf cemetery in Nikolassee. Four days after his death, Berlinerstraße was renamed Otto-Suhr-Allee in his honor.