Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) politicians

Heinrich_Blücher

Heinrich Friedrich Ernst Blücher (29 January 1899 – 31 October 1970) was a German poet and philosopher. He was the second husband of Hannah Arendt whom he had first met in Paris in 1936. During his life in America, Blücher traveled in popular academic circles and appears prominently in the lives of various New York intellectuals.

Karl_Grönsfelder

Karl Grönsfelder (18 January 1882 – 20 February 1964) was a Bavarian political activist and politician (KPD).When the Communist party was briefly banned in 1923/24, his activism earned him a period in "protective custody" in June 1924. A longer period of detention followed the Nazi take-over in 1933. After 1945 Grönsfelder returned to political activism, despite being marginalised and expelled (not for the first time) from the Communist Party in 1949.

Wolfgang_Abendroth

Wolfgang Walter Arnulf Abendroth (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 Demoractic 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. First, by the CIA-affiliated, anti-communist, Gehlen Organisation and later, after 1956, by the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) both of which were led by Reinhard Gehlen, a prominent Nazi before and during World War II.