He was born 1894 in
Oldenburg and went with his family to
Osnabrück when he was nine years old; four years later the family went to
Leipzig, where Suhr studied
economics,
history and publishing science at the
university, interrupted by his service in the
German Army in
World War I. Suhr joined the SPD in 1919 and from 1922 worked as a secretary at the
Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund trade unions' association in
Kassel and was a member of the local SPD executive committee under
Philipp Scheidemann. He received his doctorate in 1923 and from 1925 taught economics at the
University of Jena. In 1926 he joined the board of the
Allgemeiner freier Angestelltenbund (General Free Federation of Employees) in
Berlin, which had to dissolve in the course of the
Nazi seizure of power in 1933 and the succeeding
Gleichschaltung process. From 1935 on, Suhr worked as a journalist at the
Frankfurter Zeitung and other newspapers. He remained in contact with Social Democratic members of the
German resistance like
Adolf Grimme and had to face several interrogations by the
Gestapo. After
World War II he played a vital role in re-organizing the Berlin SPD chapter as chairman of the party's state association. From 1946 Suhr was president of the Berlin
Stadtverordnetenversammlung city assembly, and from 1951 until 1954 also of its successor, the
Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. He had to cope with the forceful
SED merger of Social Democrats and
Communists in the
Soviet occupation zone and
East Berlin, the
Berlin Blockade and the final division of the city, when the assembly was compelled to move into the
Rathaus Schöneberg in the American sector. In 1948/49 Suhr was a deputy at the
Herrenchiemsee convention and the
Parlamentarischer Rat (parliamentary council) to draft a new German constitution. After ratification of the
Basic Law (
Grundgesetz) in 1949 he was elected as a deputy to the
Bundestag federal parliament of
West Germany in
Bonn, until he resigned his seat in 1952. Suhr lectured as an honorary professor at the
Free University of Berlin (FU) and re-established the private
Deutsche Hochschule für Politik academy, the biggest and one of the most important institute for
political science in Germany, which he led from 1948 to 1955. In 1958 it was integrated into the FU and named
Otto-Suhr-Institut in his honour. In the West Berlin election of December 1954, the
coalition government of
Christian Democrats (CDU) and
Free Democrats (FDP) under Governing Mayor
Walther Schreiber lost its plurality, with the SPD reaching a one-seat absolute majority in the Abgeordnetenhaus assembly. Suhr nevertheless decided to form a coalition with the CDU and was elected
Regierender Bürgermeister on 11 January 1955. His incumbency was driven by the efforts to rebuild the city, marked by the 1957
Interbau exhibition. On 19 July 1957 Suhr also asserted his regular appointment as
President of the Bundesrat despite
Allied reservations, however he did not step into office as he died from
leukemia six weeks later and was succeeded by
Willy Brandt. ==Honours==