Dieter Ertel

Dieter Ertel (born February 25, 1927 in Hamburg ; † October 8, 2013 in Stuttgart ) was a German journalist and editor .

After studying literature, English and pedagogy at the University of Hamburg , Ertel began his journalistic career in 1950 as a volunteer and editor of the Neue Deutsche Wochenschau . Then, from 1954 to 1955, he worked as an editor for the news magazine Spiegel . The journalist and writer Martin Walser finally noticed him and recruited him for the SDR - Ertel worked here from October 1955 to 1974. He later worked, among other things, as television director at Radio Bremen , as program manager for television games, film, entertainment and family at WDR as well as television director at Südfunk in Baden-Baden.

Development of "signs of the times"

In 1955, Ertel started working as a freelancer in the still young television department of the SDR, which had been producing the first programs for the joint television program of German broadcasters since 1954. From 1961 he worked there as an editor.

In 1957, Ertel was working on a documentary film about the history of boxing. As it turned out when editing the material that the material could be used to create an independent program, the documentary film department of the SDR decided to broadcast the film Ein Großkampftag as the first film in the new documentary series “ Signs of the Times” .

Ertel then took over the editorial support of the series, of which a total of 56 episodes had been produced until his departure in 1973. Ertel was responsible for all contributions as an author until 1961. The main focus of his documentaries were sports and classical music. He also addressed the media itself early on, for example in films such as The Great Cannes-Cannes (1958) or in The Customers of the Dream Factory (1958). In his films he often took a rather ironic attitude towards the phenomena of the economic miracle in Germany.

Critical examination of television consumption

In 1963, the SDR Ertels film TV fever was broadcast, in which the importance of the medium of television was discussed for the first time on television itself. The film documents, for example, the fear of professors and students in Tübingen about the new medium, who nevertheless see themselves as the country's future intellectual elite. This confronts the natural television consumption of simple workers and employees in the Ruhr area who simply find everything that comes on the screen somehow interesting. In the final scene, the film shows how a football broadcast creates the illusion of “being there” and turns the audience into a national community of fate.

Further work as a television editor

In his journalistic career, Ertel has developed several successful programs and series for television, such as the series Signs of the Times and Cartoon for the SDR , as well as the animal series Star's Hour . In addition, Ertel also contributed some episodes to the series Watched at Work . The SDR broadcast portrayed various conductors at rehearsals and concerts with their orchestras. It is thanks to Ertel that he discovered Loriot for television in 1967 , who presented international cartoons in the program Cartoon . In 1969 Ertel broke new ground with the two-part documentary television play Der Fall Liebknecht - Luxemburg . Here he developed a new form of representation in contemporary television, as he had the results of his research presented by actors and developed game scenes from historical archive material. In 1968 Ertel became head of the Culture and Society program area at SDR . During this time he directed, for example, the television documentary Schützenfest near the train station - observations in the village . At the end of the 1960s there were some disputes in the SDR about the position of the documentary in the television program and the strategy of the television department.

In 1974 Ertel moved to Radio Bremen as television director . At Radio Bremen, based on his idea, the talk show 3 to 9 and, as a continuation of the cartoon, the television series Loriot . He later worked as program manager for television games, film, entertainment and family at WDR. From 1976 to 1986, the ARD also used him as a coordinator for entertainment programs. 1981 to 1989 Ertel worked again in Baden-Württemberg - as television director at Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden . From 1992 to 1994 he was then chairman of the House of Documentary .

After his retirement, Ertel lived in Besenfeld in the northern Black Forest and in Stuttgart. He was a member of the PEN Center Germany .

Awards

• 1966: Berlin Art Prize

Films for the documentary department of the SDR

For the series " Signs of the Times "

• A major day of the fight, 1957
• When the Christmas box office rings. Remarks in Advent, 1957
• The wild road. Road traffic observations, 1958
• The great Cannes-Cannes. Observations on the sidelines of the film festival, 1958
• The customers of the dream factory. A study of film lovers and fans, 1958
• New building wonders, 1959
• Congress of Ideals. Observations at a vegetrarian meeting, 1959
• The revolt of the revolt. Observations at the Cologne Carnival, 1960
• Torture de France. Report on a cycling tour, 1960 (together with Hans Blickensdörfer)
• Penal system. Observations in German prisons, 1961 (together with Georg Friedel )
• TV fever . Comments on the mass medium and its audience, 1964 (together with Georg Friedel)
• Six days race. Observations in the Berlin Sports Palace, 1964 (together with Georg Friedel)
• The total vacation. Observations in an English holiday paradise, 1967

More movies

• We'll take you on the ice. The history of figure skating, 1955
• Cortina, 1956 (for the SDR series "Im Blickpunkt")
• The German Mozart Festival, 1956
• Heidelberg: Postcard and Reality, 1956
• Bach concert in Wiblingen Monastery, 1956 (together with Rolf Unkel)
• Sport became serious in 1956
• Contemporaries: HG Winkler, 1956
• Film report about the National Theater Mannheim, 1957
• House of the Forgotten, 1957
• Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, 1957 (together with Rolf Unkel)
• The underground cow. A report on the graphic artist Savignac, 1957
• The halls. A report on the Paris market, 1959
• Subject food prices, 1960 (together with Georg Friedel)
• An Englishman sees Germany - what the illustrator Ronald Searle noticed in the Federal Republic, 1960
• Ferenc Fricsay, 1960 (for SDR series "Observed at Work") (together with Rolf Unkel)
• Shooting festival near the train station . Observations in the village, 1961 (together with Georg Friedel)

• Christmas concert from the Ottobeuren basilica, 1961 (together with Rolf Unkel)

• A fairy tale garden, 1963
• Bissigheim, 1964 (for SDR series "Europe in Detail")
• July 14th, 1964 (for SDR series "Europe in Detail")
• Sergiu Celibidache: Till Eulenspiegel's funny pranks, 1965 (for SDR series "Observed at Work")
• How do you feel about politics? Small test of the German voter, 1965 (together with Georg Friedel)
• The draftsman Chaval, 1965
• Greta Garbo. The 'Divine' and the Human, 1965
• Georg Solti: Tannhäuser Overture, 1966 (for SDR series "Observed at Work") (together with Wolfram Röhrig )
• Vaclav Neumann: The Bartered Bride, 1968 (for SDR series “Observed at Work”) (together with Gerald Weinkopf )
• Vaclav Neumann: Leonoren Overture No. 3, 1969 (for SDR series “Observed at Work”) (together with Gerald Weinkopf)
• What's new The Stuttgart anti-magazine, 1971
• Carlos Kleiber: Fledermaus-Overture, 1971 (for SDR series "Observed at Work") (together with Gerald Weinkopf)
• Matterhorn Hut. People and Opinions in the High Mountains, 1972 (for SDR series "Border Stations")
• Richard Wagner, 1974 (for SDR series "Great Germans")

Web links

• Dieter Ertel in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary for Dieter Ertel in: Radio Bremen ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Robert von Lucius: Talent Scout. On the death of Dieter Ertel. Retrieved March 5, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Kay Hoffmann: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school . Ed .: House of Documentary Film. TR-Verlagsunion GmbH, 1996, ISBN 3-8058-3149-8 , p. 68-69 .
4. ↑ Kay Hoffmann: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school . Ed .: House of Documentary Film. TR-Verlagsunion GmbH, 1996, ISBN 3-8058-3149-8 , p. 70-72 .
5. ↑ SWR: Dieter Ertel is dead. Accessed March 5, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Kay Hoffmann: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school . Ed .: House of Documentary Film. TR-Verlagsunion GmbH, 1996, ISBN 3-8058-3149-8 , p. 72 .
7. ↑ SWR: Dieter Ertel is dead. Accessed March 5, 2019 .