- Wolfgang Leonhard
Wolfgang Leonhard (born
16 April 1921 ,Vienna ) is a German political author, publicist, and historian.Leonhard fled in 1935 with his mother from Nazi Germany to the
Soviet Union . In 1943 he became a member of the national committee "Freies Deutschland". As one of the first exiled communists he returned to Germany in late April 1945 with the so-called "Gruppe Ulbricht", a special command of politicians and instructors.As he recognised that the aim of the communists was a new authoritarian regime he fled again in 1949 and went first to
Yugoslavia , then to West Germany.Knowing well the mechanisms of Stalinism, Leonhard became an expert on the
Soviet Union , worked as a lecturer atColumbia University , N.Y., andYale University , but also as a political advisor in Germany, where he was known as the "astrologer of the Kremlin".Leonhard's most famous book is "Child of the Revolution" (Pathfinder Press, 1979, ISBN 0-906133-26-2) describing his political way from 1935 up to his flight in 1949.
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