Albert Wilkening

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Albert Wilkening (born February 5, 1909 in Wittenberg , † July 24, 1990 in Stahnsdorf ) was a German university professor and for many years held a leading position in the film industry in the GDR .

Life until 1945

The son of the pharmacist Friedrich Wilkening and his wife Clara, née Schellhorn, grew up in Heidelberg from 1914 .

After graduating from high school, he studied engineering and law at the Technical University of Munich . In 1932 he graduated here as a graduate engineer for electrical engineering, and in 1934 he received his doctorate in Heidelberg .

Wilkening had been a patent engineer at AEG in Berlin since 1934 , where he had advised the board on international patent issues since 1936.

During the Nazi era, Wilkening was a member of the SA with the rank of SA squad leader . During the Second World War he was a group leader in the Reich Ministry for Armaments and War Production .

On May 16, 1945 he was appointed senior public prosecutor in the Berlin-Treptow district by the Soviet military administration .

Activities in film production in the GDR

On December 1, 1945, Albert Wilkening was appointed acting director of Tobis Filmkunst in the film studio in Berlin-Johannisthal . On August 8, 1946, the studio was leased by the newly founded DEFA and Wilkening became DEFA's technical director. In April 1948 he became head of production and thus responsible for the artistic design and technology of production, in particular for material procurement. He also headed the DEFA research institute.

On October 1, 1952, Wilkening became director of production and technology at the Babelsberg film studio . From 1956 to 1961 he was acting as overall director of the film studio. In 1969 he became chief director of the Babelsberg film studio, a position he held until his retirement on December 31, 1976.

In his managerial role, he also had an influence on the selection and design of the scripts and film productions. Wilkening was involved in the rejection of Ulrich Plenzdorf's plan to film The New Sorrows of Young W.

University teaching and publications

Wilkening, who had been involved in the development of the German Academy for Film Art since 1954 , became a professor there in 1957 and was head of the camera department until 1970.

Wilkening published numerous articles on film technology and film history, especially in the magazine "Bild und Ton", which he founded in 1948 and which he was editor of.

Political offices

In 1977 Wilkening was appointed President of the Film and Television Council of the GDR. He was also a member of the Presidential Council of the Kulturbund , a member of the UNESCO Commission of the GDR, Vice-President of UNIATEC (International Union of Film Technology Associations) and a member of the board of the Association of Film and TV Makers of the GDR.

Private life

tomb

Albert Wilkening was married to the pianist and radio editor Melitta Bolz for the second time. He had five children in total. His son Bernd Wilkening became head of production at GDR television. His son Thomas Wilkening was a television producer.

Albert Wilkening's grave is located in the south-west cemetery Stahnsdorf in the Schöneberg block, field 3, election point 3.

obituary

Angelika Mihan from the Märkische Allgemeine newspaper noted on February 6, 2009 at a celebration on the occasion of Wilkening's 100th birthday:

“Albert Wilkening was a rare species in the GDR: a highly educated bourgeoisie with communist views, a sovereign key figure, almost a patriarch. For almost 40 years he was committed to Defa and its films. So many contemporary witnesses, friends and companions [at a commemorative event on the occasion of his 100th birthday] spoke in the highest terms of the man who had shaped them significantly. From his humor, his smile, his elegance, from his listening skills, whether as technical director, head of production or as the main director of the feature film studio. Or simply as a friend. "

Overall, the votes about Wilkening on the occasion of these celebrations organized by the DEFA Society and the Filmmuseum Potsdam in the regional press were predominantly positive, while the national press did not report on it.

The focus of obituaries on Wilkening, even after the publication of the biography published by Grisko in 2012, was the work in DEFA including the different roles in the evaluation of system-critical substances.

Awards

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , p. 370.
  2. ↑ Bernd-Rainer Barth (ed.) Et al .: Who was who in the GDR. A biographical manual. Greatly expanded and updated edition. Berlin: Ch. Links 1994, p. 794
  3. ^ Ingrid Poss, Peter Warnecke (ed.): Trace of films . Licensed edition of the Federal Agency for Civic Education , Bonn 2006, p. 283.
  4. ↑ Günther Rüther: Grab your pen, buddy. Writer, literature and politics in the GDR 1949–1990 . 2nd revised edition, Düsseldorf: Droste 1992
  5. ↑ Reminder of Albert Wilkening  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Märkische Allgemeine , February 6, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.maerkischeallgemeine.de  
  6. ↑ z. B. Ralf Schenk in the Berliner Zeitung on February 5, 2009 and Klaus Brüstin in the Potsdamer Neuesten Nachrichten on February 6, 2009
  7. ↑ See also 30 Years: Günther Agde's double talent in Neues Deutschland from July 4, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Wilkening, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German university professor, in leading positions at DEFA
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittenberg
DATE OF DEATH July 24, 1990
Place of death Stahnsdorf