Wolfgang Leonhard, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Wolfgang Leonhard

German author, historian

Date of Birth: 16-Apr-1921

Place of Birth: Vienna, Austria

Date of Death: 17-Aug-2014

Profession: writer, historian, university teacher

Nationality: Austria, Germany

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Wolfgang Leonhard (16 April 1921 – 17 August 2014) was a German political author and historian of the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and Communism.
A German Communist whose family had fled Hitler's Germany and who was educated in the Soviet Union, after World War II Leonhard became one of the founders and leaders of the German Democratic Republic until he became disillusioned and fled in 1949, first defecting to Yugoslavia and then moving to West Germany in 1950 and later to the United Kingdom.
In 1956 he moved to the United States, where he was a popular and influential professor at Yale University from 1966 to 1987, teaching the history of communism and the Soviet Union, topics about which he wrote several books.
After the Cold War ended, he returned to Germany.