The President Friedrich Ebert Foundation Memorial in Heidelberg is a non-partisan foundation financed by the German Federal Government. It commemorates the life and work of Friedrich Ebert, who was born in the house on 4 February 1871. From humble origins, he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and was finally elected as the first German democratic head of state in 1919. Faced with extreme internal and external pressures, he prepared the way for parliamentary democracy in Germany after the end of World War I. In these years he preserved national unity and made a vital contribution to the creation of a social and democratic republic.