Wittrock, Karl

Lawyer, politician, District President, President of the Federal Audit Office

Born: 29.09.1917 in Kassel

died: 01.02.2000 in Wiesbaden

After graduating from high school, Wittrock was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1938 and took part in the Second World War as a soldier from 1939-45. In 1944, he was taken prisoner of war by the Americans (until 1946). In 1949, he continued his law studies in Frankfurt am Main and passed both state law examinations. In 1954, he established himself as a lawyer in Wiesbaden. Before 1933, he had been politically active in the Socialist Workers' Youth. Wittrock joined the SPD in 1946.

He began his political career in 1954 as chairman of the sub-district and the local branch of the SPD in Wiesbaden. From 1956-62, he was an honorary member of the Wiesbaden city council. In 1953, he was elected to the German Bundestag in constituency 138 (Wiesbaden). In 1961, he succeeded in winning the direct mandate for the SPD for the first time. In the Bundestag, he was primarily active in the Legal Affairs Committee. He had been a member of his party's parliamentary group executive since 1955. From 1961, he was also chairman of the SPD parliamentary group's legal policy working group. In May 1963, he took up the office of District President in Wiesbaden. From 1967-74, he was a civil servant state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport under Federal Ministers Georg Leber and Lauritz Lauritzen (1969-72 "Federal Ministry of Transport and Post and Telecommunications"). In 1978 (until 1985) he became President of the Federal Audit Office in Frankfurt am Main.

Wittrock was awarded the Grand Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon. The Free University of Berlin awarded him an honorary doctorate.