Sebastian Haffner
Encyclopedia
Sebastian Haffner was a German
journalist
and author
. He wrote mainly about recent German history.
In 1938 he emigrated from Nazi Germany
with his Jewish fiancée to London
, where he intended to work as an author and journalist. The first time there was very difficult because he was hardly able to speak English at that time (but rapidly became remarkably proficient in the language), had no money and no financial support at all, and his fiancée and later wife was pregnant. He adopted the pseudonym
Sebastian Haffner so that his family, who remained in Germany
, would not be endangered by his writing. It was a combination of Johann Sebastian Bach
and of Mozart's
"Haffner Symphony", later he used the signature of this piece (KV
385) on his vehicle registration plate
.
Under the auspices of his mentor, David Astor
, Haffner wrote for the London Sunday newspaper, The Observer
, and became its editor-in-chief. However, because of differences between Astor, who had become the newspaper's publisher, and the London editorship regarding a divided Germany, he became the German correspondent in Berlin in 1954, a position which he kept until the building of the Berlin Wall
.
He then wrote for a German newspaper, Die Welt
, until 1962, and from then until 1975 was a columnist for the "Stern" magazine
. Haffner was a frequent guest on the television show Internationaler Frühschoppen
(translates roughly to "international morning pint"), hosted by Werner Höfer, and even had his own television program on the German channel Sender Freies Berlin
.
Haffner is considered as one of the most successful German authors on the history of the 19th and 20th century written for a broad, nonacademic audience.
He wrote most of his works in German, some of which have been translated into English, French, Spanish, Hebrew and other languages. The manuscript of Defying Hitler, discovered posthumously by his son, Oliver Pretzel, is an insightful memoir of the Nazis' rise to power, as witnessed by Haffner before he went into exile.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He wrote mainly about recent German history.
In 1938 he emigrated from Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
with his Jewish fiancée to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he intended to work as an author and journalist. The first time there was very difficult because he was hardly able to speak English at that time (but rapidly became remarkably proficient in the language), had no money and no financial support at all, and his fiancée and later wife was pregnant. He adopted the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Sebastian Haffner so that his family, who remained in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, would not be endangered by his writing. It was a combination of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and of Mozart's
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
"Haffner Symphony", later he used the signature of this piece (KV
Köchel-Verzeichnis
The Köchel-Verzeichnis is a complete, chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was originally created by Ludwig von Köchel. It is abbreviated K or KV. For example, Mozart's Requiem in D minor was, according to Köchel's counting, the 626th piece Mozart composed....
385) on his vehicle registration plate
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
.
Under the auspices of his mentor, David Astor
David Astor
Francis David Langhorne Astor CH was an English newspaper publisher and member of the Astor family.-Early life and career:...
, Haffner wrote for the London Sunday newspaper, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, and became its editor-in-chief. However, because of differences between Astor, who had become the newspaper's publisher, and the London editorship regarding a divided Germany, he became the German correspondent in Berlin in 1954, a position which he kept until the building of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
.
He then wrote for a German newspaper, Die Welt
Die Welt
Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by the Axel Springer AG company.It was founded in Hamburg in 1946 by the British occupying forces, aiming to provide a "quality newspaper" modelled on The Times...
, until 1962, and from then until 1975 was a columnist for the "Stern" magazine
Stern (magazine)
Stern is a weekly news magazine published in Germany. It was founded in 1948 by Henri Nannen, and is currently published by Gruner + Jahr, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann. In the first quarter of 2006, its print run was 1.019 million copies and it reached 7.84 million readers according to...
. Haffner was a frequent guest on the television show Internationaler Frühschoppen
Frühschoppen
Frühschoppen is a traditional, German equivalent of brunch, i.e. a combined breakfast and lunch normally eaten in the mid- to late morning. The actual fare varies from region to region....
(translates roughly to "international morning pint"), hosted by Werner Höfer, and even had his own television program on the German channel Sender Freies Berlin
Sender Freies Berlin
Sender Freies Berlin was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003...
.
Haffner is considered as one of the most successful German authors on the history of the 19th and 20th century written for a broad, nonacademic audience.
He wrote most of his works in German, some of which have been translated into English, French, Spanish, Hebrew and other languages. The manuscript of Defying Hitler, discovered posthumously by his son, Oliver Pretzel, is an insightful memoir of the Nazis' rise to power, as witnessed by Haffner before he went into exile.
Selected writings
- 1940 Germany: Jekyll & Hyde, (German language) ISBN 3-930278-04-9
- 1941 Offensive Against Germany - Searchlight BooksSearchlight BooksSearchlight Books was a series of pamphlets and short books edited by T. R. Fyvel and George Orwell. The series was published by Secker & Warburg....
- 1964 Die sieben Todsünden des deutschen Reiches im Ersten Weltkrieg
- 1967 Winston Churchill, Biography (German language) ISBN 3-463-40413-3
- 1968 Die verratene Revolution - Deutschland 1918/19. (about the German RevolutionGerman RevolutionThe German Revolution was the politically-driven civil conflict in Germany at the end of World War I, which resulted in the replacement of Germany's imperial government with a republic...
in November 1918) SternStern (magazine)Stern is a weekly news magazine published in Germany. It was founded in 1948 by Henri Nannen, and is currently published by Gruner + Jahr, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann. In the first quarter of 2006, its print run was 1.019 million copies and it reached 7.84 million readers according to...
-Buch, Hamburg 1969, (no ISBN) - 2nd edition: Die deutsche Revolution 1918/1919 - wie war es wirklich? Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Geschichte. München, Kindler Verlag 1979, ISBN 3-463-00738-X
- 3rd edition: 1918/1919 - eine deutsche Revolution. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1981, ISBN 3-499-17455-3
- 4th edition: 1918/1919 - eine deutsche Revolution. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1986, ISBN 3-499-17455-3
- 5th edition: 1918/1919 - eine deutsche Revolution. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1988, ISBN 3-499-17455-3
- 6th edition: Der Verrat. Deutschland 1918/19. Berlin, Verlag 1900, 1993, ISBN 3-930278-00-6
- 7th edition: Der Verrat. 1918/1919 - als Deutschland wurde, wie es ist. Berlin, Verlag 1900, 1994, ISBN 3-930278-00-6
- 8th edition: Der Verrat. 1918/1919 - als Deutschland wurde, wie es ist. Berlin, Verlag 1900, 1995, ISBN 3-930278-00-6
- 9th edition: Der Verrat. Berlin, Verlag 1900, 2000, ISBN 3-930278-00-6
- 10th edition: Der Verrat. Deutschland 1918/1919. Berlin, Verlag 1900, 2002, ISBN 3-930278-00-6
- 11th edition: Die deutsche Revolution - 1918/19. Kindler, 2002, ISBN 3463404230
- 12th edition: Die deutsche Revolution - 1918/19. rororo Taschenbücher, 2004, ISBN 3-499-61622-X
- 13th edition: Die deutsche Revolution - 1918/19. Anaconda Verlag, 2008, ISBN 3-86647-268-4
- 1978 The Meaning of HitlerThe Meaning of HitlerThe Meaning of Hitler is the title of the English translation of the originally German 1978 book Anmerkungen zu Hitler by the journalist and writer Raimund Pretzel, who published all his books under the pseudonym Sebastian Haffner....
ISBN 0-674-55775-1, translated from Anmerkungen zu Hitler, Publishing house. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3-596-23489-1. - 1979 Preußen ohne Legende
- 1980 Ueberlegungen eines Wechselwaehlers, Publishing house. Kindler GmbH, Muenchen. ISBN 3-463-00780-0
- 1985 Im Schatten der Geschichte: Historisch-politische Variationen,. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart. ISBN 3-421-06253-6
- 1987 Von Bismarck zu Hitler: Ein Rückblick, Publishing house Kindler GmbH, Muenchen. ISBN 3-463-40003-0
- 1989 The Ailing Empire, English translation of Von Bismarck zu Hitler. Fromm International Publishing, New York. ISBN 0-88064-136-3
- 1989 Der Teufelspakt: Die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen vom Ersten zum Zweiten Weltkrieg,.Publishing house Manesse, Zuerich. ISBN 3-7175-8121-X
- 1997 Zwischen den Kriegen. Essays zur Zeitgeschichte, ISBN 3-930278-05-7
- 2000 Defying Hitler: A Memoir ISBN 0-312-42113-3, translated from Geschichte eines Deutschen. Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933. (Written in approximately 1940, was published after he died) ISBN 3-423-30848-6 Book review by Charles Taylor in the webmagazine www.Salon.com
- 2000 Der Neue Krieg, (contains an email from Juergen Kuttner), Publishing house Alexander, Berlin. ISBN 3-89581-049-5
- 2002 Die Deutsche Frage: 1950 - 1961: Von der Wiederbewaffnung bis zum Mauerbau, Publishing house Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3-596-15536-3
External links
- "Stern words from Berlin" published in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
days after Haffner's death, retelling his life (January 14, 1999)