Erwin Scharf (29 August 1914 in Wittingau – 6 September 1994 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n politician. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was a partisan fighter in the Freedom Battalions in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. He then became the central secretary of the

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

. He was also involved in the

Revolutionary Socialists The Revolutionary Socialists (; ) (RS) are a Trotskyist organisation in Egypt originating in the tradition of ' Socialism from Below'. Leading RS members include sociologist Sameh Naguib. The organisation produces a newspaper called ''The Social ...

. In the beginning of the post-war era he objected to the pact between SPÖ and

ÖVP The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

, and favoured an alliance with the

KPÖ The Communist Party of Austria (, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of Republic of German-Austria, German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest Communist party, communist parties. The KP� ...

. He was eventually expelled from the SPÖ, and joined the KPÖ where he would become a

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

member.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scharf, Erwin 1914 births 1994 deaths People from Třeboň German Bohemian people 20th-century Austrian people Austrian communists Austrian people of German Bohemian descent Austrian newspaper editors Politicians affected by a party expulsion process