Ebert, Friedrich

Ebert, Friedrich

(frē`drĭkh ā`bərt), 1871–1925, first president (1919–25) of the German republic. A Social Democratic deputy in the Reichstag, in 1913 he became party leader, succeeding BebelBebel, August
, 1840–1913, German Socialist leader. A wood turner by trade, he became a Marxian Socialist under the influence of Wilhelm Liebknecht. At a congress at Eisenach (1869) he was instrumental in founding the German Social Democratic party, which he later
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; a gradualist, or moderate, he was seen as pragmatic and non-ideological. Ebert supported the war effort during World War I. In 1917, leftists split from the party over the war budget and called for revolution. Ebert's party formed a coalition with Catholic and centrist parties. He would have preferred a parliamentary monarchy to the republic, but he succeeded Maximilian, prince of BadenMaximilian, prince of Baden
(Max of Baden), 1867–1929, German statesman, last chancellor of imperial Germany. A liberal, he was made imperial chancellor at the end of World War I as Germany neared defeat.
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 as chancellor when the monarchy collapsed and was elected president in 1919. As president, he provided strong, nonpartisan leadership. He suppressed the uprising (1919) of the Communist Spartacus partySpartacus party
or Spartacists,
radical group of German Socialists, formed c.Mar., 1916, and led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The name was derived from the pseudonym Spartacus used by Liebknecht in his pamphlets denouncing World War I, the government, and the
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 and the reactionary putsch (1920) of Wolfgang KappKapp, Wolfgang
, 1858–1922, German right-wing politician. In 1920 he led the uprising known as the Kapp putsch, an armed revolt in Berlin aimed at restoring the German monarchy. He seized the Berlin government, but a general strike broke his power.
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. During his presidency Germany accepted the Treaty of Versailles and adopted the Weimar constitution, but his coalition lost its majority because of resentment over the treaty.

Ebert, Friedrich

 

Born Feb. 4, 1871, in Heidelberg; died Feb. 28, 1925, in Berlin. German political and state figure. One of the right-wing leaders of the German Social Democratic movement.

Ebert was a saddler by trade. He became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDPG) in 1889. In 1905 he was elected to the administrative board of the SDPG, and in 1913 he became one of the chairmen of the board. In 1912, Ebert was elected to the Reichstag, and in 1916 he became the leader of the Reichstag’s Social Democratic faction. During World War I, he held socialist and chauvinistic views.

On Nov. 9, 1918, during the Revolution of November 1918, Ebert accepted the position of chancellor from Prince Max of Baden. On November 10 he became cochairman of the provisional government, which was called the Council of People’s Commissioners. On the same day, he concluded a secret agreement with members of the supreme military command concerning the introduction of military units into Berlin in order to suppress the revolution. In January 1919 the Ebert-Scheidemann government suppressed a revolutionary demonstration by the Berlin proletariat.

In February 1919, Ebert was elected president of the Weimar Republic.


Ebert, Friedrich

 

Born Sept. 12, 1894, in Bremen. Party and state figure of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Son of F. Ebert.

Ebert joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDPG) in 1913 and was editor of a number of Social Democratic newspapers. From 1928 to 1933 he served as a deputy to the Reichstag. After the establishment of the fascist dictatorship in 1933 he carried on illegal antifascist work; as a result he was arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp. In 1945 and 1946, Ebert served as chairman of the administrative board of the SDPG organization in Brandenburg.

From 1946 to 1948, Ebert served as chairman of the Brandenburg organization of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and president of the Landtag of Brandenburg. In 1946 he became a member of the Central Board (later the Central Committee) of the SED, and in 1949 he was named a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee. From 1948 to 1967, Ebert was Ober-biirgermeister (lord mayor) of Berlin. In 1949 he became a deputy to the People’s Chamber of the GDR; from 1950 to 1963 he served as deputy chairman of the body, and in 1971 he was again named deputy chairman. In 1960 he became a member of the Council of State of the GDR, and in 1971 he became the council’s deputy chairman. From 1949 to 1958 he served as president of the Society for German-Soviet Friendship.

Ebert has been named a Hero of Labor of the GDR twice. Among the orders awarded to him by the GDR are several Orders of Karl Marx. Ebert has also been awarded Soviet orders, including the Order of Lenin and the Order of Friendship of Peoples.