Abendroth, Wolfgang

Wolfgang Walter Arnulf Abendroth (German: [ˈaːbn̩tˌʁoːt]; 2 May 1906 – 15 September 1985) was a German socialist, jurist, and political scientist. He was born in Elberfeld, now a part of Wuppertal in North Rhine-Westphalia. Abendroth was a radical social democrat and an important contributor to the constitutional foundation of post-World War II West Germany. In 1943, he was forcibly drafted into one of the 999th Division's "probation units" and while stationed in Greece, he deserted to the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). After the war, he briefly held a Law professorship in East Germany. However, in 1948 he left for West Germany with his family, refusing to disassociate himself from the Social Democratic Party and join the, overwhelmingly stalinist, Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) which in 1949 became the ruling party of East Germany. In 1950, he was appointed professor of Political Science at Marburg and also served as a senior judge in the state court of Hesse. In 1961, he was expelled from the Social Democratic Party for refusing to disassociate himself from the Socialist German Student Union (SDS). Due to his socialist principles and politics, Abendroth was for many years after the end of the war under surveillance by West Germany's Intelligence services.