Communist Party of Germany

The Communist Party of Germany (in German, Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD) was formed in a split within the Social Democratic Party of Germany after the end of World War I, and was led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, who were both murdered in January 1919. Other prominent members included Leo Jogiches, Clara Zetkin, Paul Levi, Franz Mehring and Ernst Meyer.

In the Weimar republic era, the KPD pursued on direction from Moscow the somewhat disastrous policy of concentrating on the Social Democrats first, assuming that this would lead to a Nazi regime that would soon collapse and be replaced with socialism. During this period they maintained a solid electoral performance, gaining 100 deputies in the November 1932 elections. In the presidential election in 1932, Ernst Thälmann took 13.2% of the vote, compared to 30.1% that Hitler got.

Soon after the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor, the Reichstag was set fire to. This was blamed by the Nazis on Communist agitators, and used as a pretext to introduce laws enabling suppression of political parties, and the KPD was wound up.

During World War II, many German Communists ended up dead (Ernst Thälmann, Werner Seelenbinder), in exile (Walter Ulbricht), or were imprisoned (Erich Honecker).

In East Germany, the party was forced to merge after World War II with the Social Democratic Party of Germany to form the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

In West Germany, the party was banned in 1956 by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.